The "new subtraction" (which I suffer under)
From what I earn or save
By toiling like a slave
Is just a euphemistic name for plunder.
"At Richmond a discharged soldier was charged with stealing a pillow, valued at 7/6, the property of the Government.... The prisoner, who had a clean sheet, was fined 40/-."—Local Paper.
We can understand his wanting a fresh pillow to go with his clean sheet.
