s to say, I met her in the
police-court. A short time afterwards she came to tell me that she was
married. She had a good home, her husband was in good circumstances, and
knew of her life. A few years of home life, two little children to
call her mother; then back to her sensual ways. Prisons, rescue homes,
workhouses, inebriate reformatories, all have failed to reclaim her, and
she lives to spread moral corruption.

CHAPTER IX. BRAINS IN THE UNDERWORLD

I hope that, in some of my chapters, I have made it clear that a large
proportion of the underworld people are industrious and persevering.
I want in this chapter to show that many of them have also ability and
brains, gifts and graces. This is a pleasant theme, and I would revel in
it, but for the sorrowful side of it.

It may seem strange that people living under their conditions should
possess these qualities, but in reality there is nothing strange
about it, for Nature laughs at us, and bestows her gifts upon whom she
pleases, though I have no doubt that she works to law and order if we
only understood.

But we do not understand, and therefore she appears whimsical and
capricious. I rather expect that even when eugenists get their way and
the human race is born to order, that Dame Nature, the mother of us all,
will not consent to be left out of the reckoning. Be that as it may, it
is certain she bestows her personal gifts among the very poor equally
with the rich. She is a true socialist, and, like Santa Claus, she
visits the homes of the very poor and bestows gifts upon their children.

Some of the most perfect ladies I have ever met have been uneducated
women living in poverty and gloom. I do not say the most beautiful, for
suffering and poverty are never beautiful. Neither can rings of care
beneath the eyes, and countless furrows upon the face be considered
beautiful. But, apart from this, I have found many personal graces
and the perfection of behaviour among some of the poorest. All this I
consider more wonderful than the possession of brains, though of brains
they are by no means deficient.

Have you ever noticed how pretty the healthy children of the very poor
are? I am not speaking of unhealthy and feeble children, who are all too
numerous, but of the healthy; for, strange as it may appear, there are
many such, even in the underworld. Where do you find such beautiful
curly hair as they possess? in very few places! It is perfect in its
freedom, tex