"Can't say I'm particularly gone on them," she said, whereupon I replied
that that was probably because she had not yet had much experience.
"Oh, haven't I? Perhaps I haven't," she said, and then with a hard
little laugh, she added "Mother's had nine though."
I asked if she was a shop assistant, and with a toss of her head she
told me she was a typist.
"Better screw and your evenings off," she said, and then she returned to
the subject of children.
One of her chums in the office who used to go out with her every night
to the music-halls got into trouble a year or two ago. As a consequence
she had to marry. And what was the result? Never had her nose out of the
wash-tub now!
The story was crude enough, yet it touched me closely.
"But couldn't she have put her baby out to nurse and get another
situation somewhere?" I asked.
"Matter o' luck," said the girl. "Some can. Some can't. That's their
look out. Firms don't like it. If they find you've got a child they
gen'r'lly chuck you."
In spite of myself I was a little down when I started on my journey
again. I thought the parcel was cutting my wrist and I felt my feet
growing heavier at every step.
Was Maggie Jones's story the universal one?
If a child were born beyond the legal limits, was it a thing to hide
away and be ashamed of?
And could it be possible that man's law was stronger than God's law
after all?