had occurred to
him. But he never raised the subject of his difficulties of his own
accord, and his very silence, born, as it seemed to me, of the
majestic dignity of the man, was infinitely pathetic. Now and again
came a fitful gleam of light. His second daughter would be given a
week's work for a few shillings by his landlord, a working
master-tailor in a small way, from whom he now rented two tiny rooms
on the top floor. But that was only when there was an extra spasm of
activity. His half-blind daughter would do a little washing, and the
landlord would allow her the use of the backyard.

At last one day I found he had an idea, and an idea, moreover, that
was carefully worked out in all its details. The scheme was certainly
a novel and surprising one to me, but it showed how the art of forcing
a livelihood amid impossible circumstances had been cultivated among
these people, forced for centuries to exist under impossible
conditions.

Briefly his scheme was this. In the innumerable tailors' workshops of
his district great piles of cuttings of every kind and quality of
cloth accumulated, and for the purchase of these cuttings a certain
competition existed among a class of people, known as piece-sorters.
The sale of these cuttings by weight and for cash brought the
master-tailors a pleasant little revenue, which was the more prized as
it was a sort of perquisite. The masters were able to command payment
for their cuttings in advance, and the sorter would call to collect
them week by week as they accumulated, till the amount he had advanced
was exhausted. Quarriar would set up as a piece-sorter, and thus be
able to employ his daughters too. The whole family would find
occupation in sorting out their purchases, and each quality and size
would be readily saleable as raw material, to be woven again into the
cheaper woollen materials. Through the recommendation of his
countrymen, there were several tailors who had readily agreed to give
him the preference. His own landlord in particular had promised to
befriend him, and even now was allowing his cuttings to accumulate at
some inconvenience, since he might have had ready money for them.
Moreover, his friends had introduced him to a very respectable and
honest sorter, who would take him into partnership, teach him, and
allow his daughters to partake in the sorting, if he could put down
twenty pounds! His friends would jointly advance him eight on the
security of his silver