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1908]
26
seeing me indulge myself in this melancholy prospect, told me I had dwelt
long enough upon it: 'Take thine eyes off the bridge,' said he, 'and tell
me if thou yet seest anything thou dost not comprehend.' Upon looking
up, ' What mean,' said I, ' those great flights of birds that are perpetually
hovering over the bridge, and settling upon it from time to time? I see
vultures, harpyes, ravens, cormorants; and among many other feathered
creatures several little winged boys, that perch in great numbers upon the
middle arches.' ' These,' said the Genius, 'are envy, avarice, superstition,
despair, love, with the. like cares and passions that infest human life.'
" I here fetched a deep sigh. ' Alas,' said I, ' man was made in vain!
How is he given away to misery and mortality, tortured in life, and swallowed
up in death ! '"
How true and graphic a representation of human life this is, especially
in its very early stages, for here we see that the trapdoors and pitfalls on the
bridge were very thickly set at its commencement, or just where we know
that infants encounter those great ills and dangers which chiefly arise through
the ignorance and neglect of people who have the rearing of them.
It is not necessary to follow the story right through ; it is sufficient to say
that the pitfalls and trapdoors grow less tcwards middle age, but as life draws
to a close they again become more numerous and more frequent. It is,
however, the duty of sanitary authorities wherever they see those trapdoors
and pitfalls to remove them, and so enable the people to pass along in safety,
and without fear of coming to an untimely end. This is a sacred obligation !
It is the reason of their existence !
The Mortality of the Borough contrasted with that of other
places.—When we compare the Islington death-rate of 1315 per 1,000 of its
inhabitants with that of other places, it is found to be satisfactory, for in England
and Wales the deaths were 14.7 per 1,000 ; in the 76 great towns 14.9 per
1,000, and in the 142 smaller towns 14.0 per 1,000, while in the rural districts,
viz., England and Wales, less the 218 towns, it was 14 7 per T000. It is also
slightly below the average rate (13.8 per 1,000) in the County of London.
It would be a matter of congratulation if the death-rate of Islington were
to continue as low as it is now, especially when it is remembered what a
diverse population lives within its boundaries. It is hardly, however, to be
expected that such will be the case, for no one can close his eyes to
the fact that the days of Islington as a residential district, by which is meant
a district occupied by the higher classes of society, have nearly come to a close.