Who can wonder that some of them "are made bitter by misfortune"?
Who can wonder that others "are driven to wrong"?
Who can be surprised that "many drift into lives of hopeless uselessness"?
Surely our friend knew what she was talking about, in the underworld though she be.

She sees that there are deeps below the depths, that she herself is in.

Though ill, starving and hopeless about her own future, she is troubled for others, for she adds, "since I have known the horror of this life, my heart goes out to others that are enduring it." Now this class of woman is not much in evidence till the final catastrophe comes, when the doors of a one-roomed home are closed against them.

Even then they do not obtrude themselves on our observation, for they hide themselves away till the river or canal gives up its dead.
But it is not every woman that maintains such a high tone, for once in the underworld the difficulty of personal cleanliness confronts them, and dirt kills self-respect.

Poverty makes them acquainted with both physical and moral dirt, and the effect of one night in a shelter or lodging-house is often sufficient to destroy self-respect and personal cleanliness for life.
I am quite sure that I am voicing the opinion of all who have knowledge of the underworld in which such women are compelled to live, when I say that the great want in London and in all our large towns is suitable and well-managed lodging-houses under municipal control and inspection, where absolute cleanliness and decency can be assured.