Arthur Morrison

“ All the hundred trifling things that commonly come freely to hand in a mile or two of streets were somehow swept out of the world's economy; and Scuddy tramped into Baker's Row in melting mood. Why were things so hard for some and so easy for others? ”

“ He stood for some minutes torpid and mindless, oozing with sentiment: till the song ended, and he went on. Fine feelings—fine.
He crossed the road, and took a turning. A lame old woman sat in a recess selling trotters, where a dark passage led back to a mission-hall. About the opening a man hovered—fervent, watchful—and darted forth on passers-by. He laid his hand on Scuddy's shoulder, and said: "My dear friend, will you come in an' 'ear the word of the Lord Jesus Christ?"
Scuddy turned: the sound of an harmonium and many strenuous voices came faintly down the passage. It was his mood. ”

“ After his month Scuddy went regularly into business as a lob-crawler: that is to say, he returned to his first love, the till: not narrowly to any individual till, but broad-mindedly to the till as a general institution, to be approached in unattended shops by stealthy grovelling on the belly. ”