View report page

48
Difficulties of crowded and undesirable sleeping arrangements
arose which were satisfactorily adjusted after consideration by the
staff. The rent paid was very often deemed to be too large, when
considered in relation to the amount of the weekly wage or weekly
earnings. Many families were being continually ejected for nonpayment
of rent, or removed clandestinely to avoid being "sold
up." It is curious how the poor cling to a locality. Instances are
from time to time brought to the notice of the health visitors
where a parent earning twenty shillings a week or less has been
known to pay sixpence or eightpence a day in fares rather than
move elsewhere. Most tenements had a washhouse or copper in
the yard, or some other facilities for washing clothes. When
however, the yard was small, cramped, dirty, dusty, or otherwise
unsuitable for the baby, the mother was frequently compelled to
do her washing in the living room. The mothers, who took in
washing, littered the room with dirty clothes and hanged them
to dry on lines stretched across the room.
In many homes the mothers made cardboard boxes, artificial
flowers, wreaths, or worked as dressmakers and tailoresses. In
some households the children were ricketty, under-fed, badly
clothed, and badly shod. Many parents or other members of the
families were ill with tuberculosis or some other communicable
affection.
When deaths occurred, families who lived in one room were
placed in difficult circumstances. In such a home the only furniture
consisted of a table, 2 broken chairs, and a bedstead. The
coffin was kept on the table until, at the suggestion of a health
visitor, the body was removed to the mortuary. Many families
spent far too much on life insurance and on death clubs. In these
humble households, clubs are an important means of making pro
vision for emergencies and for purchasing necessaries. There
are loan clubs, sharing-out clubs, boot clubs, hat clubs, feather
clubs, and possibly many other clubs.
Illustrative Cases
1. The baby was 11 weeks old and the eighth child. Two
children had died. The family occupied 2 rooms. The father
was at home, out of work. There was no food in the house and