196 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



weekly sixteen and sixpence. The single bedroom for 

 the eleven persons was ten feet " square/' but that 

 does not mean ten feet high for the room was im- 

 mediately under the sloping roof, and at its highest part 

 the centre was only seven feet ! There were, 

 however, two small recesses about eighteen inches deep, 

 one on each side of the chimney-piece. This tiny 

 sleeping chamber was lighted by one small window 

 placed opposite the fireplace, and about fifteen inches 

 each way. Three beds were placed in this tiny, ill- 

 lighted and ill-ventilated chamber. The diagram below 

 will indicate the positions of the chimney and window, 

 and the relative spaces occupied by the beds ; and it 

 will, at a glance, tell its own tale. 



Door to 

 Staircase. 



Chimney. 



A 



Bed. 



B 

 Bed. 



C 



Bed. 



Window. 



It does not appear there was any curtain or screen to 

 separate the beds. In the one marked A the father, 

 mother, a little boy called Jeremiah, a year and a 

 half old, and a baby of four months slept. In B three 

 girls slept twins, Sarah and Elizabeth, aged twenty, 

 and Mary, aged four. Bed C had to accommodate four 



