n,
where her difficulties are increased by high rent and a long absence
of the husband. She has the four everlasting walls to look at, eternal
anxieties as to the future, the repeated weekly difficulties of making
ends meet, and too often the same lack of consideration from the
husband.

The week's washing for the family she must do, the mending and darning
for the household is her task, the children must be washed and clothed
and properly cared for by her. Of her many duties there is no end.

Sickness in the family converts her into a nurse. She herself must bear
the pangs and sufferings of motherhood, and for that time must make
preparation. For death in the family she must also provide, so the
eternities are her concern. Things present and things to come leave her
little time to contemplate the past.

Ask me the person of many duties, and I point to the wife of a poor man.

Thank God, the law of compensation rules the universe, and she is not
exempt from its ruling. She has her compensations doubtless, but I am
seriously afraid not to the extent to which she is entitled, though,
perhaps, they are greater than we imagine.

Her duties are not always pleasant, for when her husband falls out of
work the rent must be paid, or she must mollify a disappointed landlord.
In many of our London "model" dwellings, if she is likely to have a
fourth child, three being the limit, she must seek a new home. And it
ought to be known that on this account there is a great exodus every
year from some of our London "dwellings."

It seems scarcely credible, but it is nevertheless a fact, that in some
dwellings she may not keep a cat, a dog, or even a bird, neither may
she have flowers in pots on her window-sills. She is hedged round with
prohibitions, but she is expected to be superior and to abide in staid
respectability on an income of less than thirty shillings per week. And
she does it, though how she does it is a marvel.

Come with me to visit Mrs. Jones, who lives at 28, White Elephant
Buildings. Mr. Jones is a painter at work for eight months in the year,
if he has good luck, but out of work always at that time of the year
when housekeeping expenses are highest. For every working man's wife
will tell you that coal is always dearer at the time of the year when it
is most required. In White Elephant Buildings there is no prohibition as
to the number of children, or the Jones family would not be there, for
they number eight all