if I don t py up the ten shillings ? S posin', now,
just s posin a accident appens to me, so I cawn t
work. S posin I get a rupture, or the rheumatics,
or the cholera. Wot s she goin to do, eh ? Wot s
she goin to do?"

He shook his head sadly. " No ope for er. The
best she cawn do is the work ouse, an that s ell.
An if she don t go to the work ouse, it ll be worse
ell. Come along ith me an I ll show you women
sleepin in a passage, a dozen of em. An I ll show
you worse, wot she ll come to if anythin appens to
me and the ten shillings."

The certitude of this man s forecast is worthy of
consideration. He knew conditions sufficiently to
know the precariousness of his wife s grasp on food
and shelter. For her the game was up when his
working capacity was impaired or destroyed. And
when this state of affairs is looked at in its larger
aspect, the same will be found true of hundreds of
thousands and even millions of men and women
living amicably together and cooperating in the
pursuit of food and shelter.

The figures are appalling; 1,800,000 people in
London live on the poverty line and below it, and
another 1,000,000 live with one week s wages between
them and pauperism. In all England and Wales,
eighteen per cent of the whole population are driven
to the parish for relief, and in London, according to

[[251]]

p250 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p251w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p252

v?