less men and women may not come in at night
and sleep upon it.

As we entered the garden, an old woman, be
tween fifty and sixty, passed us, striding with
sturdy intention if somewhat rickety action, with
two bulky bundles, covered with sacking, slung
fore and aft upon her. She was a woman tramp,
a houseless soul, too independent to drag her fail
ing carcass through the workhouse door. Like
the snail, she carried her home with her. In the
two sacking-covered bundles were her household
goods, her wardrobe, linen, and dear feminine pos
sessions.

We went up the narrow gravelled walk. On the
benches on either side was arrayed a mass of miser
able and distorted humanity, the sight of which would
have impelled Dore to more diabolical flights of
fancy than he ever succeeded in achieving. It was
a welter of rags and filth, of all manner of loathsome
skin diseases, open sores, bruises, grossness, inde
cency, leering monstrosities, and bestial faces. A
chill, raw wind was blowing, and these creatures
huddled there in their rags, sleeping for the most
part, or trying to sleep. Here were a dozen women,
ranging in age from twenty years to seventy. Next
a babe, possibly of nine months, lying asleep, flat on
the hard bench, with neither pillow nor covering,
nor with any one looking after it. Next, half a

[[62]]

p061 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p062w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p063

v?