and babies and chattels. There were not many,
but I found them, usually in the singular, for one
appears to be considered sufficient for a poor man s
family in which to cook and eat and sleep. When
I asked for two rooms, the sublettees looked at
me very much in the manner, I imagine, that a
certain personage looked at Oliver Twist when he
asked for more.

Not only was one room deemed sufficient for a
poor man and his family, but I learned that many
families, occupying single rooms, had so much space
to spajre as to be able to take in a lodger or two. When
such rooms can be rented for from 75 cents to $1.50
per week, it is a fair conclusion that a lodger with
references should obtain floor space for, say from
15 to 25 cents. He may even be able to board with
the sublettees for a few shillings more. This,
however, I failed to inquire into a reprehensible
error on my part, considering that I was working
on the basis of a hypothetical family.

Not only did the houses I investigated have no
bath-tubs, but I learned that there were no bath-tubs
in all the thousands of houses I had seen. Under
the circumstances, with mv wife and babies and a
couple of lodgers suffering from the too-great spa
ciousness of one room, taking a bath in a tin wash
basin would be an unfeasible undertaking. But,
it seems, the compensation comes in with the sav-

[[25]]

p024 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p025w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p026

v?