for the through which i have dragged it and forgiveness of my stomach for the which i have thrust into it have been to the and slept in the and eaten in the also i have run away from the after my two unsuccessful attempts to penetrate the casual ward i started early and joined the desolate line before three o clock in the afternoon they did not met in till six but at that early hour i was number while the news had gone forth that only twenty two were to be admitted by four o clock there were thirty four in line the last ten hanging on in the slender hope of getting in by some kind of a miracle many more came looked at the line and went m the people of the abyss is concerned he is a broken man his only chance to earn a living was by heavy work he is now incapable of performing heavy work and from now until he dies the the and the streets are all he can look forward to in the way of food and shelter the thing happened � that is all he put his back under too great a load of fish and his chance for happiness in life was crossed off the books several men in the line had been to the united states and they were wishing that they had remained there and were cursing themselves for their folly in ever having left england had become a prison to them a prison from which there was no hope of escape it was impossible for them to get away they could neither scrape together the passage money nor get a chance to work their passage the country was too by poor devils on that lay i was on the man who had lost his money tack and they all with me and gave me much sound advice to sum it up the advice was something like this to keep out of all places like the there was nothing good in it for me to head for the coast and bend every effort to get away on a ship to go to work i� possible and scrape together a pound or so with which i might bribe some steward or to the give me chance to work my passage they envied me my youth and strength which would sooner or later get me out of the country these they no longer possessed age and english hardship had broken them and for them the game was played and up there was one however who was still young and who i am sure will in the end make it out he had gone to the united states as a young fellow and in fourteen years residence the longest period he had been out of work was twelve hours he had saved his money grown too prosperous and returned to the mother country now he was standing in line at the for the past two years he told me he had been working as a cook his hours had been from a m to p m and on saturday to a p m � hours per week for which he had received twenty shillings or five dollars but the work and the long hours was killing me he said and i had to the job i had a little money saved but i spent it living and looking for another place this was his first night in the and he had come in only to get rested as soon as he emerged he intended to start for a one hundred mile walk where he thought he would eventually get a ship for the states i the people of the abyss but the men in the were not all of this some were poor wretched beasts inarticulate and but for all of that in many ways very human i remember a evidently returning home after the day s work stopping his cart before us so that his young hopeful who had run to meet him could climb in but the cart was big the young hopeful little and he failed in his several attempts to swarm up whereupon one of the most degraded looking men stepped out of the line and hoisted him in now the virtue and the joy of this act lies in that it was service of love not hire the was poor and the man knew it and the man was standing in the line and the knew it and the man had done the little act and the had thanked him even as you and i would have done and thanked another beautiful touch was that displayed by the and his woman he had been in line about half an hour when the woman his mate came up to him she was fairly clad for her class with a bonnet on her gray head and a covered bundle in her arms as she talked to him he reached forward caught the one stray of the white hair that was flying wild it between his fingers and tucked it back properly behind her ear from all of which one may conclude many things he the liked her well enough to wish her to be neat and tidy he was proud of her standing there in the line and it was his desire that she should look well in the eyes of the other who stood in the line but last and best and all these motives it was a sturdy affection he bore her for man is not prone to bother his head over neatness and in a woman for whom he does not care nor is he likely to be proud of such a woman and i found myself questioning why this man and his mate hard workers i knew from their talk should have to seek a lodging he had pride pride in his 