A New Home

John began to ask the passers-by if they knew of any houses that were available for renting. One man laughed loudly and carried on walking without even bothering to answer the question. John did not understand why, so when the next person he asked also laughed John asked what was so amusing. The stranger, still smiling, said, "You've got a hope, haven't you mate ! You must be a millionaire if you're looking for a house !"

The Knight family continued on their slow journey, asking still more people if they knew of anywhere they might live. They were getting more and more worried as one person after another told them that there was nowhere to live in Birmingham and that they had better go back to where they had come from. They next asked an old woman, and this time they were pleased to hear her say that she thought she knew of a place. It was where her son lived, she said. The people who lived underneath her son's rooms, in the cellar of the building, had been thrown out only yesterday for not paying their rent.

John Knight quickly asked the woman where it was, and she told him that the house was in a courtyard off an alley called Needless Alley, which joined New Street, right in the heart of Birmingham.The driver of the cart said that he would take the Knight family straight there, and that it was only a few minutes away. In those days Birmingham was very small and they soon arrived at Needless Alley and found that the entrance to the court was so narrow that the cart could not enter it. John told his family that he had better find out where the landlord lived. Just as he was about to go down the entry into the courtyard, a man came out and John asked if he knew who the landlord of the houses was.

"I own some of them. Why ?" he asked

"We're looking for somewhere to live," said John. "We have just come all the way from Sheldon."

"Have you got any money ?" said the man. "You'll need to pay your rent in advance, you know."

When John said that he had money and could pay in advance, the man suddenly became more friendly and said his name was Jones. Putting his arm around John's shoulders he said, "You're very lucky, you know. I have two lovely rooms available and you can have them straight away. They will be just right for you and your family. Come on, I'll show them to you."

He started to follow Mr. Jones along the entry, and found that Will had joined him. He could not see Will because it was so dark in the entry, but he heard his voice and felt him bump into his back.Both John and Will began to notice a strong and very unpleasant smell. They had been aware of it ever since they had reached this part of Birmingham, but here the smell was stronger and far worse than anything they had noticed so far.

They quickly came into the courtyard, off Needless Alley. They had expected it to be lighter once they left the entry, but it wasn't much better. After a couple of seconds they had got used to the poor light, and still following Mr. Jones they began to look around them.

John Knight had never seen anything like it before. They were in a long, narrow courtyard, with tall houses on both sides. They thought that they were walking on cobble stones, but it was difficult to tell because the ground was covered with rubbish of every kind. They had to take care to walk around some large piles of rubbish that were just lying in the middle of the courtyard.

The houses were in no better state than the yard.