It was Kitty who put me wise as to the advantages and disadvantages of certain local workhouses. But whatever their varying degrees of discomfort, one and all prescribe the same penalty for poverty. You have to pay for your night’s bed by a day and night’s detention. It is argued that were this punishment abolished, the Houses would be flooded with the destitute. This I deny⁠—for however the externals may be softened, the interior fact remains the same. You are in an institution, the machinery of which, if you are not wary, may catch you up⁠—and once caught in the toils you may abandon hope.