284 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



that there are twenty thousand individuals in Leeds who 

 are living on IIV2 pence a week each — about twenty 

 cents ! The report said : 



" The most harrowing descriptions were given by 

 some of the visitors of the scenes they had witnessed. 

 "The cases of distress," says Dr. Smiles (editor of the 

 Leeds Times)/ "of extreme distress that had come under 

 his notice that morning, had harrowed up his very soul. 

 [Hear, Hear.] There was one case which he would par- 

 ticularly mention. He had noted down the name, and he 

 was sure, if any doubts existed, individuals might satisfy 

 themselves as to the correctness of the statements. At 

 the end of Brooke street there was a small cellar dwell- 

 ing, nine feet by twelve, into which they were introduced 

 by the enumerator. The dwelling was so considerably 

 beneath the street, that only half of the window was 

 above it. It was a damp, disagreeable, ill-lighted, ill- 

 aired, den. [Hear, Hear.] In that apartment they found 

 three families, consisting of sixteen individuals, nine who 

 slept in it every night. [Sensation.] There were four 

 adults, and twelve children. Six individuals, constitut- 

 ing one family, slept upon a litter of straw, huddled to- 

 gether, not like human beings, not even like animals, for 

 their situation was nothing to be compared to the comfort 

 of our dogs and our horses in our stables. [Hear, hear,] 

 Other four or five slept on a bed of shavings, and the 

 remaining five slept on another miserable bed in the 

 apartment. When they entered, the poor mother was 

 weeping, her infant was on her knee in the last stage 

 of a fatal disease, dying without any medical assistance. 

 [Sensation.] The family were entirely destitute, no 

 means of subsistance, no weekly earnings, no parish re- 

 lief. [Hear, hear.] That was one instance." We fear 



^ Samuel Smiles, author, lecturer, editor, born December 23, 1812, 

 at Haddington; died 1904. Wrote Life of George Stephenson, Lives 

 of the Engineers, Self-Help, Thrift, Duty. Editor of Leeds Times, 

 1838-1842. Wrote A History of Ireland, Guide to America, and 

 numerous other works. Mackay, Thomas (ed.). Autobiography of 

 Samuel Smiles (London, 1905). 



