Minnie’s Bishop and Other Stories/Biddy Canavan

XXIV.—BIDDY CANAVAN"THE fact is," said the mistress of the house, "that she can't wash one little bit, and there's no use talking to her."
I was complaining of the condition of a flannel shirt which had returned to me in a curiously greasy state, considerably shrunk, and smelling strongly of soap. I felt bitterly on the subject, because the shirt was a new one and I had hoped the sort of things which no one but a fool does hope about flannel shirts.
"Why don't you dismiss her then and get some one who can wash?"
"She has three small children, and her husband is dead. I really don't know what would happen if she lost her work here."
Biddy Canavan earns one-and-sixpence a week from us for one day's work. She also has a shilling a week as outdoor relief from the Union. That, so far as we can find out, is her whole income, and she lives on it, she and the three small children. I do not know how the thing is done, but plainly it would be much more difficult to do if the one-and-sixpence were taken away from her. I could not press for her dismissal. I smelled the shirt again and felt that some steps must be taken. ​
"Why not make her go up to the Technical School and learn how to was

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