The Trap of the Institution
When I began this account of my experiences, I made the point that it was impossible for a woman without a reference or a friendly recommendation to find employment of a regular and recognised description. I steadily tried to get some sort of daily work, but all I succeeded in obtaining was, as I have said, occasional charing jobs, the cleaning of steps, and washing up in a cheap restaurant. And, meanwhile—and I want to emphasise this point—I had a skilled trade at my fingers’ ends. I can cook sufficiently well to get a situation tomorrow, backed up by a personal character from an employer or a friend. But, because I could produce no such proofs of honesty, I was compelled to earn my bread from a different angle.