I am a tie-maker, who, after working
all the week, cannot earn more than five shillings, and I have a poor
afflicted husband to keep who hasn't earned a penny for more than ten
years.
Imagine a woman, capable of writing such a clear, sensible, grammatical
letter, supporting her husband and self on five shillings per week! Mr.
Holmes visited her. He had to squeeze to get into the room. There lay
her sick husband; there she worked all day long; there she cooked, ate,
washed, and slept; and there her husband and she performed all the
functions of living and dying. There was no space for the missionary to
sit down, save on the bed, which was partially covered with ties and
silk. The sick man's lungs were in the last stages of decay. He coughed
and expectorated constantly, the woman ceasing from her work to assist
him in his paroxysms. The silken fluff from the ties was not good for
his sickness; nor was his sickness good for the ties, and the handlers
and wearers of the ties yet to come.
Another case Mr. Holmes visited was that of a young girl, twelve years of
age, charged in the police court with stealing food. He found her the
deputy mother of a boy of nine, a crippled boy of seven, and a younger
child.
Pages:
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191