The man in charge of this store was an extremely good-looking and gentlemanly young follow of University education, who had been a writer of fiction, and once acted as secretary to a gentleman who travelled on the Continent and in the East.  Losing his employment, he took to a life of dissipation, became ill, and sank to the very bottom.  He informed me that his ideals and outlook on life were now totally changed.  I have every hope that he will do well in the future, as his abilities are evidently considerable, and Nature has favoured him in many ways.

I interviewed a number of the men employed in these works, most of whom had come down through drink, some of them from very good situations.  One had been the superintendent of a sewing-machine company.  He took to liquor, left his wife, and found himself upon the streets.  Now he was a traveller for the Salvation Army, in the interests of the Waste-Paper Department, had regained his position in life, and was living with his wife and family in a comfortable house.

Another was a grocer by profession, all of whose savings were stolen, after which he took to drink.  He had been three months in the works, and at the time of my visit was earning 6s. a week with food and lodging.

Another had been a Barnardo boy, who came from Canada as a ship’s steward, and could find nothing to do in England.  Another was a gentleman’s servant, who was dismissed because the family left London.

Another was an auctioneer, who failed from want of capital, took to drink, and emigrated to Canada.  Two years later he fell ill with pleurisy, and was sent home because the authorities were afraid that his ailment might turn to consumption.  He stated that at this time he had given up drink, but could obtain no employment, so came upon the streets.  As he was starving and without hope, not having slept in a bed for ten nights, he was about to commit suicide when the Salvation Army picked him up.  He had seen his wife for the first time in four years on the previous Whit Monday, and they proposed to live together again so soon as he secured permanent employment.

Another had been a soldier in the Seaforth Highlanders, and served in the Egyptian Campaign of 1881, and also in the American Army.  Subsequently he was employed as a porter at a lodging-house at a salary of 25s. a week, but left because of trouble about a woman.  He came upon the streets, and, being unable to find employment, was contemplating suicide, when he fell under the influence of the Army at the Blackfriars Shelter.

All these men, and others whom I spoke to at random but have no space to write of, assured me that they were quite satisfied with their treatment at the works, and repudiated—­some of them with indignation—­the suggestion that I put to them tentatively that they suffered from a system of sweating.  For the most part, indeed, their gratitude for the help they were receiving in the hour of need was very evident and touching.