336 AUSTRALIA AND HOMEWARD. 



herself, I'd skid a waggon-wheel with my body rather 

 than that her precious skin should be grazed. 



" Well, take my word for it, I never go out of a 

 mornin' and the young un says, ' Good-bye dad ! ' I 

 thinks, says I, ya'as perhaps, it's good-bye for a longer 

 spell than you're dreamin' about, you poor little shaver. 

 And when I get into the street, how long do you 

 think I feels safe ? Why only for the straight length 

 of that street as long as I can see the coast clear. 



" I may find a stopper at any turnin', or any corner, 

 and when you feels a hand on your collar ! ! I've often 

 wondered what must be a chap's feelin's when the 

 black cap's pulled over his peepers and old Calcraft's 

 pawin' round his throat to get the rope right. It 

 must be a sight more'n the other feelin', you'll say. 

 Well, if it is, I wonder how the chap manages to 

 hold on till he's let go." 



Some of these poor creatures are rescued from this 

 dreadful life by such noble workers as those whose 

 names I have given, but thousands of them go on to 

 the end in their badness and their degradation, evading 

 those who would save them with as much ingenuity 

 as they would evade the policeman. To the end of 

 time, probably, men will find London a world in itself, 

 embracing all grades of society, and all phases of 

 human experience. 



