The Old House in the City by Agnes Giberne

THE floor on which the Forsyths lived was immediately below the garrets, and they too were inhabited. One sheltered a father, mother, and six children. In another a sickly shoemaker lived with his four little ones. The third was rented by old Job Kippis.

It was a small room, and it had not been his home long, for he had only moved into this locality a week or two earlier, so as to be near a fresh opening in the way of work. But already it had a home-like appearance. Not that Job Kippis was otherwise than poor-very poor. The room contained but a scanty supply of furniture. There was an old iron bedstead in one corner, with a patched coverlid laid over it; a square table, standing against the wall; a chair, supported rather insecurely upon three legs; and the board in the window, upon which Job Kippis did his tailoring work. But the floor had been well scrubbed, and the walls were clean, though bare; the small window-panes were free from cobwebs, and the table and chair showed signs of many a rubbing. A couple of common china ornaments stood upon the narrow mantel-shelf, and over it was pinned up a large "Illustrated News" likeness of the Duke of Wellington.