[The People of the Abyss by Jack London]@TWC D-Link book
The People of the Abyss

CHAPTER XXI--THE PRECARIOUSNESS OF LIFE
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Come along 'ith me an' I'll show you women sleepin' in a passage, a dozen of 'em.

An' I'll show you worse, wot she'll come to if anythin' 'appens to me and the ten shillings." The certitude of this man's forecast is worthy of consideration.

He knew conditions sufficiently to know the precariousness of his wife's grasp on food and shelter.

For her game was up when his working capacity was impaired or destroyed.

And when this state of affairs is looked at in its larger aspect, the same will be found true of hundreds of thousands and even millions of men and women living amicably together and co-operating in the pursuit of food and shelter.
The figures are appalling: 1,800,000 people in London live on the poverty line and below it, and 1,000,000 live with one week's wages between them and pauperism.


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