114 fl> o s t c I s 1 a 



when not lying in a drunken sleep, 

 maundered aimlessly about the rooms, 

 carrying on a monologue in a most 

 peculiar, high-pitched, whining tone. 

 The food was scanty, unpalatable 

 and poorly served. 



We had the entire first floor to 

 ourselves, the family occupying the 

 basement, the fumes of the landlady's 

 rum often coming up through our floor. 

 My bed was far the worst I had yet 

 encountered. Our sheets and pillow- 

 cases we saw washed, starched and 

 ironed after our arrival, though we had 

 telephoned for our rooms several days 

 before. Two immensely heavy mat- 

 tresses filled with something hard and 

 lumpy were piled on a bedstead with- 

 out springs. These mattresses were 

 so much thicker at one side than at 

 the other that to keep on the bed I 

 must lie crossways, my head on the sill 



