Because she is a mother, poor and helpless, she becomes the prey of the house farmer.

Henceforward half her earnings must go in rent, though her house and its concomitants are detestable beyond words.
But though she is poor, her children must be fed, and though she is a widowed mother, she, even she, must eat sometimes.

Henceforward she must buy food of a poor quality, in minute quantities, of doubtful weight, at the highest price.

She is afraid that death may enter her home and find her unprepared for a funeral, so she pays one penny weekly for each of her children and twopence for herself to some collection society.
All through this procedure her very extremities provide opportunities to others for spoliation, and so her continued life in the underworld is assured.

But her children are ill-nourished, ill-clothed, ill-lodged and ill-bathed, and the gutter is their playground.