From dinner the shop assistant returns, generally after a bare half hour, to the counter. An extra interval of even ten minutes to be passed in rest and solitude would be precious, and even the institution-like dormitory would be a welcome refuge. But, no; rare indeed is the “house of business” in which the assistant is allowed to enter his or her own bedroom during the day, except by special permission from the shopwalker. For tea, which affords a welcome break at about five o’clock, a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes will, as a rule, be allotted, and the meal will in most cases consist of tea and ready-cut bread and butter. After tea work will go on again till closing time. That happy hour varies enormously according to the locality and nature of the shop. In the West End of London most shops are closed by seven, and on Saturdays by two; but in poorer districts shops will habitually be kept open until 9.30, and on Saturdays until much later. When the shop has been cleared of customers the business of tidying up and covering in for the night begins. After that comes supper, rather a Spartan meal as a rule; and then—then, the assistant is free till 11 P.M., or on Saturdays till 12. Fifteen minutes after that hour the gas of the firm is turned out, and no private light must be kept burning. “Any one having a light after that time will be discharged.” The “young lady” may now sleep, if she can, in her narrow bed, with her companions around her, until the morning’s bell calls her to rise, wash and dress—still not alone—and begin another day like the last. In lower-class shops the assistant does not always have even her bed to herself, and has, of course, no choice as to the companion who shares it. In such shops, where the hours are long, many young women never, except on Sundays or holidays, go out of doors in the daylight. What wonder that they grow anæmic, that they suffer continually from headaches and indigestion and from all the long train of woes that lie in wait for the overworked, underfed, and shut-in women.