of modern offices for the loan of paltry sums depends on this manoeuvre; but it is a fact nevertheless. It is rarely that the truth is exposed before a magistrate, but when it is, the victim invariably declares that he never signed what purported to be a bill of sale, and that such an instrument was never mentioned during the negotiation. If asked what it was that he did sign, the reply is, "a mere scrap of paper with the items of my furniture jotted down on it." "Do you think it could have been this very document, with the upper part folded over?" "Well, it may have been." "And do you mean to tell me," says the incredulous magistrate, "that you were so foolish as to affix your signature to a paper of the nature of which you profess to be so ignorant that you cannot tell whether it was a folded paper or not?"

Well, it is astounding, but such things do happen. As the victim on the preceding day left the document, it was merely the skeleton of a bill of sale, with the printed technical wording, and spaces left for filling in. It is not till the conclusion of the transaction that the loan office clerk, at his leisure, fills it in with as much liberty to set what value he pleases on it as though it was a signed bank cheque. One day at Slaughter's Rooms I had an opportunity of examining three of these nefariously obtained securities, and in the worst case of all, it was made to appear that a man who had lent his name to a friend for the sum of £7, 10s., had been hoodwinked into giving the loan office shark a bill of sale authorising him, in case of default in payment of any one of the agreed on instalments, to come and peremptorily take possession of "the goods herein mentioned," or any others that may be found on the premises, to the value of £27, by the sale of which the said shark might satisfy himself in the matter of "balance

due," with any amount of " expense " he might please to heap up. This was a bootmaker in a small way, and there being £4, 15s. still unpaid of the loan, he had been "troubled" for £11, 9s., and not only had all his furniture been seized, but his little stock of boots and shoes, and the poor fellow, who had managed to scrape together £7 or £8, was there on the auction day to try what he might buy back.

As it seemed to me, almost everybody was there whose goods since the preceding Thursday had been pounced on and swept away to Slaughter's. You might tell them by their haggard anxious visages, and by the way in which, as brethren in misfortune, they kept together, and compared notes of their grievances. They never will learn wisdom, these people. Having been fleeced by the loan office people, they flock here to Slaughter's, and tender their carcases to the butchers of the auction room for disjointing. Were they so utterly friendless that there was no one who would open their eyes to the act of simplicity they were committing when they ventured to that sale room to buy their own goods? No doubt it was the auctioneer, or one of those shabby harpies that haunt his premises, that advised the step, but it was only a trap to catch a poor bird already maimed.

They know how the matter stands-the pack of hungry brokers' men, and the scoundrelly touts and "commission agents who attend Slaughter's place. They know a man's affection for the home that has been built up and bettered year by year by dint of self-denial and extra spells of work, that meant extra shillings for the savings' bank. True, there is not much romance in tables and chairs, or in a Kidderminster carpet, or a loo-table, or a chimney-glass. Whatever

the pattern may be, you may match them for money any day of the week, and they will be just as substantial and useful-the chairs to sit on, the table to spread a dinner on, and the looking-glass to make splendid the mantel-shelf; but if there are two words more than any other two opposite in signification, they are home and newness. To be a real home, solidly comfortable and satisfactory, every item that comprises it must undergo, under the roof-tree, a process of mellowing and ripening; and though meanwhile a considerable portion of its original gloss and polish may be rubbed off, an armchair or a dining-table at which every day in the year the children assemble, has a more than compensating amount of affection rubbed into it. When the familiar

old home is ruthlessly broken up, it is no more than natural that a man should feel a yearning to pick up the pieces, and endeavour to restore something of the original shape.

It is this weakness that takes so many anxious faces to Slaughter's sale-room on a Thursday; and again, it is this weakness that causes to gather there the grimy, hawk-eyed horde of brokers' men. They are present to keep watch, and take care that the despoiled ones, who are so ridiculously bent on reclaiming their goods, shall not do so unless they pay handsomely for their sentimental whistle. I am unable to say who hires these fellows, or whether, in shabby malice, they attend there. for the brutal fun of the thing. Anyhow, there they were, and it required no uncommon degree of penetration to discover that their chief aim was to take note of every bid that was made by an unfortunate whose goods had been seized and "run him up" most villainously. I feel quite convinced that many persons there who had come to repurchase their furniture, might have got it,

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taking it at its market value, at half the sum they had to pay; but it was a value much more precious than that of the market that these poor creatures set on their feather beds, their children's cribs, and other articles sanctified by long and loving usage. They stuck desperately to their intention of making them once again their own, and often enough the auctioneer's hammer fell amid the derisive laughter and unsavoury "chaff" of the broker crew, who telegraphed to each other by winks and gestures, and seemed to be on terms of easy acquaintance with the auctioneer.

But it was only a few selected articles that these impoverished ones could afford to buy-articles that were needed for the immediate necessities of the family, such as bedsteads and bedding, and a table and a few chairs. After the doubly-sweated victims had taken their departure, then came the time when the hungry pack of brokers' men, who had been "running up" the prices, earned their reward. It was stern business now, for under the conditions of the sale the goods must be disposed of without reserve.

No more chaffing or horse play. They didn't quarrel much over the tit-bits in shape of lots that the auctioneer threw to them from his rostrum. Occasionally, some discontented dog snarled and growled a little when he thought that he had missed a bite at something or other; but, as a rule, except for their clamour to the auctioneer "not to dwell, sir," but to knock the rubbish down, they were orderly enough-as well they might be, for the goods "knocked down" belonged to no one at present. Only three or four men were making the bids, which were kept discreetly low, as they easily. might be, when there was nothing in the shape of competition going on. The various lots were merely being

collected together out of the auctioneer's hands, to be fairly apportioned amongst the members of the pack, when by-and-bye it assembled at the "knock out." There is a public house within a stone's-throw of Slaughter's that possesses the advantage of a very large club-room. This is where the knock-out--i.e., the division of the spoil-takes place. I was informed by the confiding potman that ever since Slaughter had "took to the bill of sale business, there wasn't a Thursday but there was quite a mob of brokers and brokers' men settling their business upstairs."

And all this mischief and ruin inextricable comes of the want of a simple Act of Parliament regulating the doings of petty loan-office keepers. The law is stringent enough as regards pawnbrokers and "leaving-shops;" why cannot its repressive hand be laid on these devourers of the poor, whose bait is "money without security," but who, having hooked their gudgeon, strip him and flay him without mercy?