434 [Assembly 



Suppose a respectable mechanic or merchant reduced by unavoida" 

 ble misfortune to penury. He must leave his comfortable home. Ac" 

 customed to fulfil his promises, the least possible promise for rent 

 will, in his opinion, be the best arrangement for the present; and, 

 however the hearts of those accustomed to domiciliary cleanliness 

 and comfort, may sicken as they enter where twenty or more families 

 are domiciled on the same lot, with passage and yard conveniences 

 common to all, yet they will make a virtue of necessity — it is a shelter 

 — its walls encircle all now dear to their hearts — and most prized 

 of all, perhaps, because it hides them from their acquaintances of 

 more prosperous days. They, of course, purify their narrow home, 

 and, as far as may be, make it comfortable. When weary nature 

 must have rest, their one room, which has served both as kitchen and 

 parlor, must also be their place of retirement. 



What modesty would recently have shrunk from, must now be 

 submitted to, and once submitted to, is ever after less and less painful. 

 Then commences a deterioration of moral perception. It is impossi- 

 ble for one, of so many families, to keep the places common to all, 

 clean and orderly; and what is habitually witnessed in the halls and 

 the apartments of neighbors, will soon be permitted, for the present, 

 in their own, especially as none accustomed to other appearances 

 will probably be their visitors. 



This downward course is so rapid, and the result so certain, that 

 few will fail to discern the cause. Yet as the influence of this pi ys- 

 ical and mental condition upon the moral susceptibilities, may not 

 be so apparent, there may be a necessity for saying, in answer to 

 your first inquiry — that I have observed a depreciation of suscepti- 

 bility of moral and religious teachings, towards either extreme of 

 society; but as the poor are more accessible, my opportunities have 

 been almost exclusively confined to that extreme. With this expla- 

 nation, I answer, unhesitatingly, that I have observed, with, perhaps, 

 no more than the usual exceptions to a general rule, a graduation of 

 appreciation of morals and character, according to physical condition. 

 And in answer to your second, that I have often found an obtuse- 

 ness of perception induced by physical condition, and an insuperable 

 bar to moral and religious instruction. And to your third — that I 

 have no doubt that domiciliary and personal cleanliness would in- 

 crease self-respect, and an aptitude to receive moral and jeligious 

 instruction, while their negligence would diminish them. 



To your fourth and fifth inquiries, I may be allowed to answer, 

 that compulsory measures in relation to domiciliary arrangements 



