or to a miserable den, somewhere, in which the
mother will desperately endeavor to hold the family
together on the 10 shillings she may possibly be
able to earn.

While in Lesser London there are 1,292,737 people
who receive 2 1 shillings or less a week per family, it
must be remembered that we have investigated a
family of five living on a 21 shillings basis. There
are larger families, there are many families that
live on less than 21 shillings, and there is much
irregular employment. The question naturally
arises: How do they live ? The answer is that
they do not live. They do not know what life is.
They drag out a subter-bestial existence until mer
cifully released by death.

Before descending to the fouler depths, let the
case of the telegraph girls be cited. Here are clean,
fresh, English maids, for whom a higher standard
of living than that of the beasts is absolutely neces
sary. Otherwise they cannot remain clean, fresh
English maids. On entering the service, a tele
phone girl receives a weekly wage of $2.75. If she
be quick and clever, she may, at the end of five
years, attain a maximum wage of $5.00. Recently
a table of such a girl s weekly expenditure was fur
nished to Lord Londonderry. Here it is:

[[205]]

p204 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p205w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p206

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