here rats made it
difficult for them to sleep, and where, on the many unexpected
calls I paid, I never once found a fire.

"We are not people wot feel the cold like some, Miss," they told
me; "and the room's so small it likely wouldn't be 'ealthy to
have a fire all day" so the "bit of washing" used to hang on a
string for days and days before it dried, and they did their
"bit of cooking" on a small gas ring. One day I called and found
Friedrich still in bed; he was quite well, he said, "but we take
turns to stay in bed, Miss, for it's warmer there and you don't
seem to feel so hungry in bed as when you're up."

They were trying to save something out of a weekly 12s. 6d.,
after 6s. had been paid for rent, for the time when Bertha would
have to go into hospital, and to buy some clothes that her
little babe would need. Then _you sent me_, and let me tell her
you would remember her when that time came, and you sent her
flannel and wool to make the little clothes: after that a
shilling a week could be spent on coals, and each time I went
they sent you thanks and blessed you for your love.

We say good-bye here and go north to Camden Town where we call
on Ludwig and Marie and their five children, the eldest of whom
is six. He is Austrian and she is Irish, and they live in two
rooms for which they pay 8s. 6d. a week. He was a waiter for
thirteen years in a well known London restaurant, and his master
has told him many times he would take him back if only the
public or the newspapers would let him. But _they won't_. So
Ludwig had nothing to do, and tells me he thinks he shall go
out of his mind sitting in idleness in his miserable
surroundings. Marie has been in hospital, too, and then Ludwig
_had_ plenty to do looking after his four little children alone
for two weeks, and says it was the hardest work he ever had to
do, and is glad his lot in life is not to be a woman!

The doctor in the hospital told Marie she must have plenty of
milk every day, and we smiled together, for we knew their weekly
income left no margin for milk for her--the children must be fed
first. So _you_ are helping, and Marie has her milk each day,
and she and her babe are growing strong and well again.

The work done by the Friends' Emergency Committee, Dr. K. E. Markel and
others on this side, and by Dr. Ro