The Miller Press

Phil May and His Models.

Many of the figures in Phil May's book "Guttersnipes" were sketched from memory while staying up the river.

"One day," he said, when speaking on the subject, "I saw a delightful little model for my purpose, a dirty, ragged bit of girl humanity. I spoke to her and wrote a message on my card for her to give to her mother. Next morning she came in charge of an older sister, as tattered and unkempt as herself. When I had made my sketches of the two of them I asked the elder one if she had any more sisters like herself. 'Oh, yes, four or five, worse than I am.' 'Bring them round,' said I. 'Is the little un to come again?' she asked. 'No, I've done with her.' The next day they came, the little un included. She had persisted in it, for she said: 'He's my artist. I found him first.'"—London Tit-Bits.