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SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE POOR. 67
ings are appointed to take place in the common
room every evening at 9 o'clock ; and copies of the
Scriptures, with other well-chosen books, are left
in charge of the superintendent for distribution
among the lodgers, in the hope that they may thus
be induced to occupy their leisure to advantage.
In the construction of all these establishments,
equally, the greatest pains have been taken to bring
sanitary science to bear on the comfort, and convenience,
and health of the inmates. Ventilation,
drainage, facilities for decency and for cleanliness,
have in every instance been made the leading considerations
of the architect.
In regard of these model houses and model
lodgings, it would, I think, be a great error to
estimate their benefit as merely relative to the
number of persons at any one time inmates of
them. No doubt it is a great advantage that they
furnish, at the ordinary prices of the day, or at a
still lower price, so excellent accommodation to
several hundreds of persons; and it is a still
greater good, (particularly in regard of those
established for single men and single women), that
they drill their inmates into decent and orderly
habits, and accustom them^to a high standard of
household accommodation, which will probably
influence their subsequent married lives in the
same desirable direction. But, indirectly, their
utility has a far wider scope. They stand in bright
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