Mr. S., scene-shifter. Wage 24s. Allows 22s. Six children alive.
s. d. Rent (two very bad rooms, ground-floor; lost five children) 5 0 Burial insurance 2 0 ½ cwt. of coal 0 8 Wood 0 2 Gas 0 6 Mr. T.’s bus fares 1 0 Newspaper 0 2 Soap, soda, etc. 0 5½ Boracic ointment 0 2 Gold-beater’s skin 0 1 Collar 0 3 Pair of socks 0 4½ Boy’s suit (made at home) 1 2 ------ 12 0
s. d. Rent 5 0 Burial insurance 2 0 ¾ cwt. of coal 1 0 Wood 0 2 Gas 0 8 Soap, soda 0 4 Bus fares 1 0 Newspaper 0 2 Children’s Band of Hope (two weeks) 0 6 Mending boots 0 6 Material for dress 0 4½ Cotton and tape 0 3 ------ 11 11½
s. d. Rent 5 0 Burial insurance 2 0 ½ cwt. of coal 0 8 Wood 0 1 Gas 0 3 Soap, soda 0 4½ Lamp oil 0 2 Matches 0 1 Bus fares 1 0 Newspaper 0 2 Children’s Band of Hope 0 3 Mending boots 1 0 Print 0 6 Pair of stockings 0 4½ Boy’s coat (made at home) 0 9 ------ 12 8
In this family there is no regular provision for clothes, which are paid for as they must be bought. No extra money is at any time of the year forthcoming. Mr. S. clothes himself, but extracts from his wife his newspaper as well as his fares. The latter are usually paid by the men. The mother is an excellent needlewoman, and makes nearly all the children’s clothes. She is also a wonderful manager, and her two rooms are as clean as a new pin. This had not prevented her from losing five children when these particular budgets were taken. She soon after lost a sixth. The rent is far too low for healthy rooms. Though she pays for the same number of rooms as Mrs. L., she pays 1s. 6d. less a week for them, and they are wretchedly inferior. Her burial insurance is extremely high. Her record shows that she thought herself wise to make the sum so liberal. Even then she had to borrow 10s. to help to pay the 30s. for the funeral of her last child, because the burial insurance money only amounted to £1.
All the women, with the exception of Mrs. K., are notable managers, and all but Mrs. K. and Mrs. P. are extremely tidy and clean. Mrs. K., who has five sons and a daughter, is more happy-go-lucky than the others, as, fortunately for her, her husband “can’t abide ter see the ’ouse bein’ cleaned,” and when it is clean “likes to mess it all up agen.” Mrs. K. doesn’t go in for worryin’ the boys, either. Her eldest child is Louie, the only girl, who is thirteen, and rather good at school, but doesn’t do much to help at home, as Mrs. K. likes to see her happy. With all her casual ways, Mrs. K. has a delicate mind, and flushes deeply if the visitor alludes to anything which shocks her. Louie’s bed is shared by only one small brother; Louie’s clothes are tidy, though Mr. and Mrs. K. seem to sleep among a herd of boys, and Mrs. K.’s skirt looks as though rats had been at it, and her blouse is never where it should be at the waist.