formatories, and gave
the following account of those who had been in such institutions: 2,277
had been treated in reformatories; of these he says 51 were insane
and sent to lunatic asylums, 315 others were pronounced defectives or
imbeciles. Altogether he tells us that 62 out of every hundred were
irresponsible women and unfit for social and industrial life.

My many years' experience of London's underworld confirms the testimony
of the Home Office, for I am persuaded that a very large proportion
of homeless women on our streets are homeless because they are quite
unfitted for, and have no desire for decent social life.

Should I be asked about the birth and parentage of these women, I reply
that they come from all classes. Born of tramps and of decent citizens,
born in the slums and sometimes in villas, almost every rank and station
contributes its quota to this class of wild, hopeless women.

But I pass on to the second class, those who by misfortune have become
submerged. This, too, is a large class, and a class more worthy of
sympathy and consideration than the others, for amongst them, in spite
of misfortune and poverty, there is a great deal of womanliness and
self-respect. Misfortune, ill-health, sorrow, loss of money, position or
friends, circumstances over which they have had but little or no control
have condemned them to live in the underworld. Such women present a
pitiful sight and a difficult problem. They cling to the relics of their
respectability with a passionate devotion, and they wait, hope, starve
and despair.

Often misfortune has come upon them when the days of youth were passed,
and they found themselves in middle age faced with the grim necessity of
earning a living. I have seen many of them struggle with difficulty, and
exhibit rare courage and patience; I have watched them grow older and
feebler. Sometimes I have provided glasses that their old eyes might be
strengthened for a little needlework, but I have always known that it
was only helping to defer the evil day, when they would no longer be
able to pay the rent for a little room in a very poor neighbourhood. My
mind is charged with the memory of women who have passed through this
experience, who from comfortable homes have descended to the underworld
to wander with tired feet, weary bodies and hopeless hearts till they
lie down somewhere and their wanderings cease for ever.

But before we consider these women, let us take a peep at the