SWEEPING A CROSSING. “Spare a copper! Spare a copper!” Every Londoner knows the hackneyed phrase. Walking one day from Oxford Circus to Charing Cross, I heard it fourteen times. “Help a poor chap!” “Pity an old sweep!” These were the variations which occasionally broke the monotony of the appeal. Into each outstretched hand I dropped…

Chapter 2 All the members of the Gilliken Gang possessed the privilege which the London girl demands—that of having their evenings for their very own. Some were engaged in a large mineral water factory in Albany Road; two walked over Blackfriars Bridge to the City every morning; the remainder did nothing of a definite character….

Flops’s Gymnasium belonged to Shoreditch; the entrance was from Kingsland Road, where a passage led to the club, members of which were gentlemen interested in sport generally, and the racing of horses in particular. Flops’s nights occurred twice a month, and a good many patrons went into them for nothing, in spite of the announcement…

Chapter 16 Mord Em’ly said good-bye to Mitchell’s Dining-Rooms, and Mrs. Mitchell kissed her, cried a good deal, and gave to her ten shillings over and above her wages, a number of ham sandwiches, and a bunch of coral that originally came (Mrs. Mitchell said) from goodness only knew where. Miss Mitchell so far unbent…