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charred and disfigured. Both these methods bespeak an utter
disregard for house cleanliness, and inflict an added hardship upon
the owner, who may be called upon to strip, cleanse, and purify
the rooms three or four times a year. When verminous rooms are
found, the Lady Health Visitors see that the bedding is all turned
out and disinfected. The personal clothing is steam-disinfected.
The floor and woodwork are scrubbed. The room is then sulphur
fumigated by the Borough officers. Some municipalities supply a
disinfecting soap, gratis, to poor people, on request, for such a
cleansing.
It would tend to prevent houses becoming verminous if the
rooms were distempered and not papered. House owners, how
ever, state that tenements that are only distempered are let with
great difficulty. The poor have an obssssion for papeied walls.
In Finsbury, the walls may be covered with only one wall paper.
When re-papering takes place, all the old wall papers are stripped
off.
Illustrative Cases. -
1. A baby, 4 weeks old, very dirty and unwashed, was left in
sole charge of a girl 9 years of age while the mother went out to
her work in the early morning.
2. The mother was a machinist "to keep the home together."
The father was " always out of work." There had been 7 children,
of whom now only 4 were alive, all dirty and neglected, and left
in charge of the eldest boy, 10 years. All the children were thin,
and suffered from ophthalmia.
3. A family consisted of the parents and two children. The
father earned 16s. weekly. The mother was unable to get
sufficient food. In spite of the great poverty, the home and the
children were exceedingly clean and well cared for.
4. The father was in prison. The mother had been out all
night, and was returning home where she had left her child of 2
weeks in bed the previous evening. The baby was very dirty and
unwashed.