The lady in charge of the Slum Settlement in Liverpool informed me that the poverty in that city is very great, and during the past winter of 1919 was really terrible owing to the scarceness of work in the docks.  The poor, however, are not so overcrowded, and rents are cheaper than in London, the cost of two dwelling-cellars being about 2_s_. 6_d_., and of a room about 3_s_. a week.  The sisterhood of fallen women is, she added, very large in Liverpool; but most of these belong to a low class.

In this city the Army has one Institution for women called the ’Ann Fowler’ Memorial Home, which differs a good deal from the majority of those that I have seen.  It is a Lodging-Home for Women, and is designed for the accommodation of persons of a better class than those who generally frequent such places.  This building, which was provided in memory of her mother by Miss Fowler, a local philanthropist, at a cost of about L6,000, was originally a Welsh Congregational chapel, that has been altered to suit the purpose to which it is now put.  It is extremely well fitted-up with separate cubicles made of oak panelling, good lavatory accommodation, and kitchens in which is made some of the most excellent soup that I ever tasted.

Yet strange to say this place is not as much appreciated as it might be, as may be judged from the fact that although it is designed to hold 113 lodgers, when I visited it there were not more than between forty and fifty.  This is remarkable, as the charge made is only 4_d_. per night, or 2_s_. a week, even for a cubicle, and an excellent breakfast of bread and butter, fish, and tea can be had for 2_d_.  Other meals are supplied on a like scale, with the result that a woman employed in outside work can live in considerable comfort in a room or cubicle of her own for about 8_s_. a week.

The lady in charge told me, however, that there are reasons for this state of affairs.  One is that it provides for people of a rather higher class than usual, who, of course, are not so numerous as those lower in the social scale.

The principal reason, however, is prejudice.  It is known that most of the women accommodated in the Army Shelters are what are known as ‘fallen’ or ‘drunks.’  Therefore, occupants of a Home devoted to a higher section of society fear lest they should be tarred with the same brush in the eyes of their associates.

Here is a story which illustrates this point which I remember hearing in the United States.  A woman, whose inebriety was well known, was picked up absolutely dead drunk in an American city and taken by an Officer of the Army to one of its Homes and put to bed.  In the morning she awoke and, guessing where she was lodged from various signs and tokens, such as texts upon the wall, began to scream for her clothes.  An attendant, who thought that she had developed delirium tremens, ran up and asked what was the matter.

‘Matter?’ ejaculated the sot, ’the matter is that if I don’t get out of this ——­ place in double quick time, I shall lose my character!’