He did not risk the ordinary kind of
bankruptcy, but came down and down, until at length he was the only
workman in his own shop; then the shop itself had to be abandoned;
then he was searching for someone who would employ him,
Bob had been put to the die-sinker's craft; Clara was still going to
school, and had no thought of earning a livelihood--ominous state
of things, When it shortly became clear even to John Hewett that he
would wrong the girl if he did not provide her with some means of
supporting herself, she was sent to learn 'stamping' with the same
employer for whom her brother worked. The work was light; it would
soon bring in a little money. John declared with fierceness that his
daughter should never be set to the usual needle-slavery, and indeed
it seemed very unlikely that Clara would ever be fit for that
employment, as she could not do the simplest kind of sewing. In the
meantime the family kept changing their abode, till at length they
settled in Mrs. Peckover's house. All the best of their furniture
was by this time sold; but for the two eldest children, there would
probably have been no home at all. Bob, aged nineteen, earned at
this present time a pound weekly; his sister, an average of thirteen
shillings.
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