and in town. For instance, I own
about a dozen cottages in this village in which I write, and the
highest rent that I receive is 2_s_. 5_d_. a week. This is paid for a
large double dwelling, on which I had to spend over L100 quite
recently to convert two cottages into one. Also, there is a large
double garden thrown in, so large that a man can scarcely manage it in
his spare time, a pigsty, fruit trees, etc. All this for 1_d_. a week
less than is charged for the two broken chairs, the rickety bed, and
the shaky table! Again, for L10 a year, I let a comfortable farmhouse;
that is, L3 a year less than the out-of-work coachman pays for his
single room without the furniture. And yet, as the Sister said, people
continue to rush from the country to the towns!

Nor, it seems, do they always make the best of things when they get
there. Thus the Sister mentioned that the education which the girls
receive in the schools causes them to desire a more exalted lot in
life than that of a servant. So they try to find places in shops, or
jam factories, etc. Some get them, but many fail; and of those who
fail, a large proportion go to swell the mass of the unemployed, or to
recruit the ranks of an undesirable profession. She went so far as to
say that most of the domestic servants in London are not Cockneys at
all, but come from the country; adding, that the sad part of it was
that thousands of these poor girls, after proper training, could find
comfortable and remunerative employment without displacing others, as
the demand for domestic servants is much greater than the supply.
These are cold facts which seem to suggest that our system of free
education is capable of improvement.

It appears that all this district is a great centre of what is known
as 'sweating.' Thus artificial flowers, of which I was shown a fine
specimen, a marguerite, are made at a price of 1_s_. per gross, the
workers supplying their own glue. An expert hand, beginning at eight
in the morning and continuing till ten at night, can produce a gross
and a half of these flowers, and thus net 1_s_. 6_d_., minus the cost
of the glue, scissors, and sundries. The Officers of the Army find it
extremely difficult to talk to these poor people, who are invariably
too busy to listen. Therefore, some of them have learnt how to make
artificial flowers themselves, so that when they call they can join in
the family manufacture, and, while doing so, carry on their
conversation.