No. 216.] 431 



sir, bring out most prominently the absolute futility of any sanitary 

 measures, for the health, or morals of this city as a whole, until that 

 curse of all curses most direful, that most prolific source of poverty, 

 crime, disease and death, " intoxicating drink," be considered and 

 treated legislatively and judiciously as a most dangerous, deleterious, 

 and deadly poison, and those who make and sell the same as a beve- 

 rage for gain, as unworthy, not only of the name of christian but of 

 man, and should henceforth be ranked with fiends — and those who 

 drink it as such — as maniacs, and fools, and treated accordingly. 

 With great respect, yours, 



J. B. HORTON. 



From Samuel Russell, Jr., Missionary of the 8th Ward. 



New-Yokk, Aug. 26, 1844. 



Dr. Griscom — Dear Sir, — Whether the sentiment of the great 

 Teacher, " The poor ye have always," is the mere record of an im- 

 portant fact or a prediction, I shall not stop to inquire; one thing, 

 however, is certain, it ever has been, and is now, a sentiment of 

 truth; and a true disciple of that teacher, will rejoice in any efforts 

 of others, and contribute his own, for the well-being of that large 

 class of community. 



Having been engaged for several years in labors for the benefit of 

 the poor, the following opinions have been formed, and are submitted 

 in reply to your series of questions; hoping that they may, in some 

 humble measure, subserve the best interests of that class whose servant 

 I am, and hope to be, during the remainder of my life. 



1st. The instances are many, in^which one or more families, of 

 from three to seven or more members, of all ages, and both sexes, 

 are congregated in a single, and often contracted apartment. Here 

 they eat, drink, sleep, wash, dress and undress, without the possibili- 

 ty of that privacy which an innate modesty imperatively demands; 

 in sickness or in health it is the same. What is the consequence? 

 The sense of shame, that greatest, surest safeguard to virtue, except 

 the grace of God, is gradually blunted, ruined, and finally destroyed. 

 Now scenes are witnessed and participated in, with a countenance 

 of brass, the very thought of which, once would have filled the sen- 

 sitive heart of modesty with pain, and covered its cheek with burn- 

 ing blushes. The mind of one thus brought in daily and nightly 



