The People of the Abyss

ndpoint, on the other hand, it was rudely furnished, uncomfortable, and small. By the time I had added an ordinary typewriter table to its scanty furnishin

ent out for a walk. Lodgings being fresh in my mind, I began to look them up, bear

, that though I walked miles in irregular circles over a large area, I still remained betwe

e my wife and babies and chattels. There were not many, but I found them, usually in the singular, for one appears to be considered sufficient for a poor man's family in which to coo

such rooms can be rented for from three to six shillings per week, it is a fair conclusion that a lodger with references should obtain floor space for, say, from eightpence to a shilling. He may even be

the circumstances, with my wife and babies and a couple of lodgers suffering from the too great spaciousness of one room, taking a bath in a tin was

I had fitted them, my mind's eye had become narrow-angled, and I could not quite take in all of my own room at once. The immensity of it was awe-inspiring. Cou

reets were like this eight or ten years ago, and all the people were very respectable. But the o

ation, by which the rental value of a neigh

-class people, can get five and six families into this house, where we only get one. So they can pay more rent for the house than

that be are pouring eastward out of London Town. Bank, factory, hotel, and office building must go up, and the city poor folk are a nomadic breed; so they migrate eastward, wave upon wave, saturating and deg

when Johnny Upright's street m

to stay. But any day he may sell, or any day he may die, which is the same thing so far as we are concerned. The house is bought by a money breeder, who builds a

ghters, and frowzy slavey, like so many ghosts flitting eastwa

d elbow room, and breathing space. They inflate themselves with pride, and throw out their chests when they contemplate the Abyss from which they have escaped, and they thank God that they are not as other men. And lo! down upon them come