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10
sanitary improvement. But your efforts have been
almost nullified by the passive resistance of landlords,
and by the sullen indifference of the poor.
Until, indeed, the latter can be made to feel
the advantages of an improved social condition,
and can be taught that human beings ought not to
herd together like brute beasts, it will be hardly
possible to lessen the death-rate of our large cities,
or to keep down the unwholesome influences which
are ever fostering endemic disease. This kind of
teaching, however, is fast becoming an obligation
of society; for it is perceived that the evils of
such ignorance are not confined to the poor alone.
They spread among the rich, and largely affect
the interests of all. It would not become me
to speak more fully of the way in which such
a mission should be fulfilled, but I may venture
to state, from a very large experience, that one
of the prime means of accomplishing it will be
by giving to the poor a better kind of house
accommodation than they now possess ; by teaching
them through practical lessons, the advantages
of cleanliness; by showing them that filth is
not a necessity; and by proving that decent and
orderly habits are not only conducive to comfort
and economy, but are also essential to health.
It may be that all such teaching would be
at first discouraging; for it could scarcely be
expected that any immediate good would come