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18 Parish of St. George the Martyr, Southward.
self no rest until it be accomplished: he must act as the pioneer to the teacher and pastor,
otherwise their labours will prove of no advantage. Reformation of the masses must begin
by making them homes; homes worthy of the name, such as a man could rejoice in, and
be proud of. Not allowing them to dwell in places where no man would put his horse,
or his ass. Nay, I have read that some sties were built in a provincial town, but not
being found suitable for pigs, they were converted into cottages. The state and condition
of the dwellings of the poorer classes are a stain upon our civilization, but fortunately
one which maybe effectually rubbed out. And the sooner this is brought to pass, the better
will it be for society. It is a subject, not for regret, to hear of the sweeping away of
court, alley, lane, and obscure street. It is a benefit to the Parish, morally and economically,
that cannot be too highly valued. For the construction and arrangements of the houses
are such as to defy any good being obtained in the way of sanatory improvement.
Liverpool had the unenviable notoriety of being the unhealthiest town in England.
In 1837 the mortality was at the death rate of 39 in 1000. And why? There were 4,700
cellars in which were no windows, and no openings, except the entrance door at the top.
The flooring was simply bare earth, and the receptacle of all the filth and refuse of the
dwellers in them. "What wonder that this merchant city enjoyed such a bad preeminence?
It took from 1842-9 to clear out the 20,000 occupiers. This done, the result shewed
in 1849 that the mortality had fallen to 29; 10 in 1000 thus being annually saved.
Neither man nor woman can always strive. Those who contend long and bravely
against their untoward lot, at last give up the strife. And no one can conceive, nor would
they believe—unless eye-witnesses—the wretched circumstances in which vast numbers of
families have to spend their lives. It is indescribable. The daily task of keeping clean
their houses and families—once a pleasure to them as well as a duty—having to be constantly
performed amid overwhelming obstacles on every side, from which no hope of escape
remains to cheer them on,—is gradually neglected, and ultimately abandoned: their spirits
become torpid and depressed; and this is necessarily followed by the derangement of the
functions of the body. Finally they become recldess, and this recklessness increases the evil
which gave it birth. There is action and reaction. What marvel, then, that bke unto
those about them, they float down the ebb tide towards the dead sea of physical dirt and
moral degradation. It has been truly said by Dr. South wood Smith, "the wretchedness
being greater than humanity can bear, annihilates the mental feelings, the faculty distinctive
of the human being." Hence, then, the good which must follow the destruction of
unfit habitations. The decrease of them even, will drive their occupants to better houses,
situated in more open neighbourhoods, where surrounded by higher influences, and more
exposed to the view of the passer by, they will be induced to practise habits of self-denial,
thriftiness, and respect to the proprieties of life: and opportunity will be given for the
developement of faculties hitherto lying dormant, and repressing those wluch have been
too active, or quite wrongly directed. The ascent in the scale of humanity will be commenced,
and their minds prepared to receive tho elements of education and religion.
The heedlessness shewn in the building of houses is astonishing. No care is taken
about the nature of the subsoil, the position, the ventilation, and means of cleanliness.
They are run up anywhere, and almost anyhow, and too often become the prolific source of
disease. "No man has a right to erect a nuisance: and the public has clearly as good a
right, and as great an interest in enforcing cleanliness, to prevent the outbreak of an