he most part in taking dictation from the editor
of the periodical published weekly by the house--letters to
contributors, editorials, and special articles. Also, when it was found
that I had some intelligent, practical knowledge of grammar and
English--and here was where my studies of the preceding year bore
fruit--I was intrusted with the revision and correction of the least
important of the manuscripts, thus relieving the busy editors of one of
their most irksome tasks.

One day I had occasion to mention to the editor some of the strenuous
experiences I had undergone in my struggle to attain a decent living. He
was startled--not to say a little shocked--that a young woman of
apparently decent birth and upbringing should have formed such an
intimate acquaintance with the dark side of life. Inspired by his
sympathetic interest, I boldly interviewed the editor of a well-known
monthly magazine, with the result that I immediately prepared two papers
on certain of my experiences; and, to my surprise and delight, they were
accepted.

And, somehow, with the appearance of those two articles--the first
fruits of authorship--part of the horror and loathing of that unhappy
period of servitude fell away from me; the sordid suffering, the hurt to
pride, the ineffaceable scar on heart and soul I felt had not been in
vain. I can now look back upon the recent, still vivid past without a
shiver; for there is comfort in the thought that what I have undergone
is to be held up to others as a possible lesson and warning.

And now a word as to the verity of this narrative. Have I actually been
through all that I have described? Yes, and more; and in other cities
beside New York.

Yet for the sake of unity the order of things has been somewhat
changed; and no record is given of many weeks, and even months, when
life flowed uneventfully, if not smoothly, on.

"But," says the thoughtful reader, "do your sordid experiences of some
two or three years ago match conditions of to-day?" and I answer:
Generally speaking, they do; because lately I reinforced memory by
thorough investigation.

I went further than that: when it came to me to write this little
book--that is so absolutely a transcript from real life--I voluntarily
labored, a week here, a week there, at various trades allied to those
that previously had been my sole means of livelihood, and all the time
living consistently the life of the people with whom I was thus
temporarily as