Line 1.0.0 The strange story of a woman

Line 1.0.1 whose sense of thrift and her hopeless

Line 1.0.2 future exceeded her desire for per-

Line 1.0.3 sonal comfort is related by Mr. P.

Line 1.0.4 Fyfe in his annual report on the san-

Line 1.0.5 itary condition of Glasgow.

Line 1.0.6 This woman lived on the top floor

Line 1.0.7 of a three-storey tenement in the cen-

Line 1.0.8 tre of the city. In addition to the

Line 1.0.9 money she earned as a fringer In a

Line 1.0.10 tassel-maker's establishment, her em-

Line 1.0.11 ployer allowed her to take away any

Line 1.0.12 pieces of useless fringing or cotton

Line 1.0.13 waste lying on the floors of the work

Line 1.0.14 rooms. Every night for years she had

Line 1.0.15 brought home her little bundle of

Line 1.0.16 waste and stored it up against the

Line 1.0.17 time when she could work no more.

Line 1.0.18 One night the Sanitary Inspector

Line 1.0.19 had a look at the apartment, and this

Line 1.0.20 is what he found: —

Line 1.0.21 "The room could not be entered ex-

Line 1.0.22 cept by climbing over a mountain of

Line 1.0.23 cotton waste, which filled the whole

Line 1.0.24 room from the window to the door

Line 1.0.25 up to within three feet of the celling.

Line 1.0.26 No part of the floor was to be seen.

Line 1.0.27 The window had to be taken out, and

Line 1.0.28 the waste thrown down on to the court

Line 1.0.29 below, where it was packed in can-

Line 1.0.30 vas sheets. The total weight of the

Line 1.0.31 material found in the house was 2

Line 1.0.32 tons 15ewt.

Line 1.0.33 "Buried beneath the heap were two

Line 1.0.34 chairs, the only furniture in the

Line 1.0.35 house; and two dead cats, which

Line 1.0.36 somehow had found entrance to this

Line 1.0.37 strange domicile to die."

Line 1.0.38 The wonder is that the place did

Line 1.0.39 not catch fire, for scattered through

Line 1.0.40 the heap of highly inaflmmable mater-

Line 1.0.41 ial were found loose matches which

Line 1.0.42 had not been lighted.

Line 1.0.43 According to her own story, the

Line 1.0.44 woman crept over the heap every

Line 1.0.45 night and slept in a corner near the

Line 1.0.46 window.

Line 1.0.47 The rags were sold to a merchant

Line 1.0.48 at 4d. per stone, and the total sum re-

Line 1.0.49 alised was £7 7s. 9d.

Line 1.0.50 "Here was a hoarding citizen," the

Line 1.0.51 report concludes, "who did not be-

Line 1.0.52 lieve in banks—probably did not un-

Line 1.0.53 derstand them—and who in her mis-

Line 1.0.54 placed thrift tried to make provision

Line 1.0.55 for the 'rainy day' without a thought

Line 1.0.56 of the consequences to others."

Line 1.0.57 Janet: Viola says there was only

Line 1.0.58 one drawback to her wedding.

Line 1.0.59 Fanny: What was that?

Line 1.0.60 Janet: She says her father looked