25 THE LETTER THAT 



PROMPTED THIS BOOK 



cities. Some of these houses carry thousands 

 of such accounts, so you can judge for yourself 

 how many persons are sleeping on what the mar- 

 shal may take away in the morning because four 

 weeks' instalments of fifty cents or a dollar are 

 in arrears. 



WHERE "HOME" is NOT "SWEET HOME." 



During the summer their houses are prac- 

 tically untenantable. In the evenings you will 

 find the occupants sitting in the streets, on the 

 roofs, in the parks, or in other places more at- 

 tractive to the body and soul. " There's no place 

 like home " is a farce to more than 75 per cent, 

 of the inhabitants of every large city. 



Has it not come to a bad pass when cities 

 like New York or Chicago and others have to 

 grant special permission for the millions of ten- 

 ement dwellers to utilize the public parks and 

 piers and playgrounds as lodging houses, be- 

 cause their homes are so stifling during the dog 

 days as to make it a torture for a human being 

 to sleep in them? Is it not as revolting to see 

 families sleeping on fire-escapes and roofs in 



