he daily required. Further, this son, weak and
dying, did not taste meat oftener than once a
week; and the kind and quality of this meat can
not possibly be imagined by people who have never
watched human swine eat.

"The w y e coughs is somethin terrible," volun
teered my sweated friend, referring to the dying
boy. " We ear im ere, w ile we re workin', an
it s terrible, I say, terrible!"

And, what of the coughing and the sweetmeats,
I found another menace added to the hostile en
vironment of the children of the slum.

My sweated friend, when work was to be had,
toiled with four other men in this eight-by-seven
room. In winter a lamp burned nearly all the day
and added its fumes to the overloaded air, which
was breathed, and breathed, and breathed again.

In good times, when there was a rush of work,
this man told me that he could earn as high as
thirty bob a week. Thirty shillings! Seven
dollars and a half !

"But it s only the best of us can do it," he quali
fied. " An then we work twelve, thirteen, and four
teen hours a day, just as fast as we can. An you
should see us sweat! Just running from us! If
you could see us, it d dazzle your eyes tacks
flyin out of mouth like from a machine. Look
at my mouth."

[[58]]

p057 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p058w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p059

v?