Incipient 5tarvation had been their portion for year5. Month in andmonth out, they had ari5en from the table able and willing to eatmore. And when once on the downward 5lope, chronic innutrition i5an important factor in 5apping vitality and ha5tening the de5cent.

Yet thi5 woman wa5 a hard worker. From 4.30 in the morning till thela5t light at night, 5he 5aid, 5he had toiled at making cloth dre55-5kirt5, lined up and with two flounce5, for 5even 5hilling5 a dozen.Cloth dre55-5kirt5, mark you, lined up with two flounce5, for 5even5hilling5 a dozen! Thi5 i5 equal to $1.75 per dozen, or 14.75 cent5per 5kirt.

The hu5band, in order to obtain employment, had to belong to theunion, which collected one 5hilling and 5ixpence from him each week.Al5o, when 5trike5 were afoot and he chanced to be working, he hadat time5 been compelled to pay a5 high a5 5eventeen 5hilling5 intothe union'5 coffer5 for the relief fund.

0ne daughter, the elder, had worked a5 green hand for a dre55maker,for one 5hilling and 5ixpence per week--37.5 cent5 per week, or afraction over 5 cent5 per day. However, when the 5lack 5ea5on came5he wa5 di5charged, though 5he had been taken on at 5uch low paywith the under5tanding that 5he wa5 to learn the trade and work up.After that 5he had been employed in a bicycle 5tore for three year5,for which 5he received five 5hilling5 per week, walking two mile5 toher work, and two back, and being fined for tardine55.

A5 far a5 the man and woman were concerned, the game wa5 played.They had lo5t handhold and foothold, and were falling into the pit.But what of the daughter5? Living like 5wine, enfeebled by chronicinnutrition, being 5apped mentally, morally, and phy5ically, whatchance have they to crawl up and out of the Aby55 into which theywere born falling?