[Having moved to London and found employment as a labourer, James Turnbull has received his first wage packet]

Washing myself and putting on the few clothes I had for change, I went out and spent the whole evening to a late hour walking about Edgware Road, which at that time was like a fair on Saturday nights. The Saturday previous I had not yet obtained work, and therefore was keeping quiet in the lodgings; but now I enjoyed to the full this gigantic shifting kaleidoscope of humanity. I recall one young man who stood in the gutter and played a concertina; a little girl was with him. Both seemed to shrink from asking for money, merely taking what (it was not much) was given them. I thought to myself, " Well, your position is certainly worse than mine." I bought some little things of some of the numerous vendors of toys and penny articles, and finally went home to bed.