l8o HEREDITY AND CHRISTIAN PROBLEMS 



comes from the approval of the good is absent, 

 and the wonder is that so many live decent 

 lives. The poor drinking-water is a contribu- 

 tory cause of intemperance. Where vile water is 

 supplied to the people, a large proportion of them 

 will prefer beer, which is usually made with water 

 from artesian wells, to water that comes in pipes 

 saturated by the filth of sewers. In many cities 

 any very considerable temperance reform is impos- 

 sible until a good water supply is secured. 



Tenement-house education, too, is an ever-active 

 influence for evil. Children grow where the social 

 atmosphere is vile, the words they hear are vic- 

 ious, and liquor is the common drink. A child 

 born and reared in such circumstances is almost 

 past praying for, unless he is taken out of them 

 and placed where purity and virtue can have a 

 fair chance with him. A large number of those 

 who become drunkards are young men who live 

 in cities and towns, in boarding-houses. A young 

 man works all day. Evening comes ; where shall 

 he go .■* He has no fire in his room, and is not 

 wanted at his lodgings. He naturally craves 

 society ; where shall he get it .-• In the street } 

 The streets of any large city at night are full of 

 temptations. He thinks he will try the Young 

 Men's Christian Association. That is for mem- 



