wives bringing their husbands'
dinners, used to stand and sometimes sit down over the gratings, but
their legs when seen were rarely worth the seeing; it was usually but a
sight of dingy petticoats, and dirty stockings. We were however content
to look up at them, for they belonged to women, but soon tired of doing
so.

One night (we had never been there at night before), for some reason
or the other which I don't recollect we went down and found two women
pissing down the grating, then a man and woman together, and discovered
it to be the pissing-place of the gay women, in the main thoroughfare;
and where if the nights were dark, couples used to come for a grope, a
frig, or even for a fuck at times. The pissing often took place over a
grating, we could hear, and feel, but not see.

Then we got a common dark lantern, had the top shade taken of, and a
funnel, or short chimney put with a slide, so that when we pushed the
slide off, the light shot up through the chimney, and throw a strong
light on a circle about one foot across. With this we went down waiting
till we heard some one above, then opened the light and saw what was to
be seen. Sometimes we waited for hours without seeing anything, but it
is astonishing what cute-loving, baudy young men will go through for the
sake of seeing a woman's privates. At other times we saw a good deal. If
it were a light night, we saw nothing. No one knew we went down at those
hours, the workmen had gone, and the private staircase from the dwelling
house at any time let us into the factory; from the factory we could go
anywhere on the premises.

When we heard feet, or a rustle of petticoats over the grating, taking
up the light we sometimes saw a white hum, a split gaping like a dog
with its throat cut, and a stream of water splashing from it. We never
used to move, but sooner than not see it all and as well as possible,
let the stream come over us. Sometimes two women came together;
sometimes we could hear to our mortification that they were pissing on
the pavement close by, without coming over the grating. We could often
hear their conversation. Now and then a woman shit down the grating,
we used to watch the turds squeeze out with a fart or two, with great
amusement. Once a man did the same, we saw prick, balls, and turd, all
hanging down together, we could not help laughing, and off he shuffled
as if he had been shot. He must have heard us.

There was one woman whose face we n