176 
THE COTTA HE HARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Decembeb 22, 1857. 
connection with that absence of self-respect, and care¬ 
lessness of the feelings and comforts of others, which 
are generally found united with filth and slovenliness. 
But it has not, until lately, been so well understood, 
that want of cleanliness, want of the possibility of 
being so, want of direct sunlight, and want of pure 
air, have constituted some of the greatest obstacles in 
l the pathway of the moral and social reformer. Some 
j years ago, I noticed in another publication, the bene- 
! ficial change produced upon a neighbourhood, merely 
j by moving the inhabitants into clean, comfortable, 
commodious cottages, out of tumble-down, dirty hovels, 
J which no contrivance could enable the inmates to keep 
| long in tidiness and comfort. The neat cottage was 
i an ever-present sermon against slovenliness. The boots 
1 that never were cleaned, from the time they left the 
I maker, were regularly polished, or oiled, at least every 
Saturday evening. The tatters were exchanged for 
! good, whole, plain, substantial clothing. The flower- 
i plot occupied the place near the door and window, 
I where the cesspool and dunghill used to be ; and the 
! attractions of such a house and garden were greater 
: than the snug quarters at the village inn, where most 
of the spare time of the head of the family was wont 
to be spent. 
Many country gentlemen, from a felt sense of duty 
and responsibility, and looking upon the mere rent- 
roll from cottages as a very secondary consideration, 
have done great things in this direction ; and, as a 
general result, have found themselves surrounded by 
an industrious, respectable peasantry. Mere sanitary 
considerations alone—those imperative laws, that will 
unite in one common interest, for weal or for woe, the 
rich and the poor, the dweller in the palace, and the 
exister in the hovel, independently of those heartfelt 
benevolent considerations that are more actively prac¬ 
tical than ever they were before—have led to energetic 
inquiries ; and, in many cases, adoption of means for 
improving and rendering more healthy the dwellings of 
the huge hives of human industry that are congre¬ 
gated in large cities and towns. 
Before these improvements are effected, a great 
barrier will ever be opposed to the higher efforts of 
the philanthropist. Take a couple of instances at 
random. A temperate temperance advocate—and such 
a person is nearly as rare as a white blackbird—appeals 
to those who generally work in a stifling room; and 
tells them that the gin and the porter they consume 
do them no real lasting good ; that they act chiefly as 
a stimulus to the system ; and that, when that is gone, 
their whole physical powers will be more depressed 
than ever; and that all such stimuli, instead of length- 
ening, will have the tendency to shorten their existence. 
The men will thank him very kindly for the interest 
lie has taken in their welfare ; but if they do not tell 
him, they will be sure to remark when he is gone— 
“All! now if he worked so long hours in such a place 
as this, and then had such a small place to live and 
. sleep in, and with all his toil could scarcely get two 
ends to meet, perhaps he might think less badly of us, 
for taking something to stimulate our flagging energies, 
in order to help us for the present, though well aware 
it would be no benefit for the future.” 
A clergyman finds but a small fraction of his flock 
attends the services on the Sabbath. He knows it is 
but little use to denounce or to plead on such matters 
from the pulpit; he more wisely visits the people at 
their homes and their workshops, and kindly urges 
them to attend the services of the sanctuary. And 
though many thank him for his kindness, many moro 
in answer to his remonstrance as to Sabbath wander¬ 
ings, will moodily murmur, “ I wish he had our place 
lor a twelvemonth ; here for years, except Sundays, I 
have never had a day to myself; but he is engaged in 
one place only on Sunday, and goes where he likes 
during the week. He knows nothing of the want of 
fresh air for week after week.” One great cause of 
the ministers of the Gospel losing hold of the masses, 
proceeds partly, I believe, from a presumed inattention 
to their physical condition. A great change has taken 
place in this respect, within a few years ; and princi¬ 
pally owing to the fact, that the most strenuous ad¬ 
vocates for improving the dwellings of the working- 
classes, for shortening the hours of labour, and for 
securing a half-holiday in the week, have been found 
amongst the clergymen of all denominations. 
The gentleman I have referred to, as well as his 
partners in a large establishment, felt anxious to have 
moral and religious men in their employment; and 
were very sorry, on inquiry, to find that a great many 
of the men very seldom went to any place of worship. 
They instituted no test between cliurch-going and em¬ 
ployment, as some might have been disposed to do ; 
they condescended to take counsel with the men, and 
patiently listen to their reasons, which were chiefly 
these :—That they worked long hours ; that they lived 
in crowded courts and alleys ; that they saw little of 
their families except on Sundays ; and that, cherishing 
any thing but dislike for church or chapel, they yet 
did feel anxious to take their wives and families to 
Primrose Hill, Hampstead Heath, or even Greenwich, 
on the only day of the week in which they could do 
so; and thus, by breathing uncontaminated air, lay up 
a stock of cheerfulness and health for another week or 
two. Did these gentlemen scout such simple reasons, 
and refuse to make any allowance for circumstances P 
Ho! they said they would consider upon what could 
be done ; and shortly afterwards it was decided that a 
certain number, fifty, I believe, should leave the 
establishment every day of the week, at twelve o’clock. 
So that all might have their half-holiday in turn : and 
it is affirmed, that in a pecuniary point in view, little 
or no loss has been sustained by the granting of such 
a favour. 
In the case of workmen in the country, in the midst 
of pure air, there would not be a similar necessity: 
and in other cases it would be next to impossible to 
institute anything like such regularity. And while all 
who advocate such a measure should do so on the 
principle that the workman should consent to an equi¬ 
valent deduction, until, at least, he had satisfied his 
employer that he had sustained no loss by the change; 
still, as we are all fond of variety, and liberty and 
change of scene have a tendency to make us buoyant 
and cheerful, I must say that the giving of holidays 
now and then, that tend to the benefit of the workman, 
so far as my experience goes, is so attended with in¬ 
creased energy, that the employer gains rather than 
loses by his generosity. As the gentleman referred to 
employs many workmen at his country residence, I 
regret I did not make inquiry as to what system of 
that kind had been introduced there. To that country 
residence our two or three other facts will be confined ; 
passing over the building of a church, and the insti¬ 
tution of schools, as circumstances happily not at all 
peculiar among our landed gentry. 
Among the means for enlightening and elevating the 
moral susceptibilities of the rising race, a first place 
must be given to Sunday schools. They will generally 
be found most useful, when the children have access 
also to good day schools besides. Even now, however, 
there are many places where all the education the 
working man’s child receives, is obtained at a Sunday 
school. As a nation, wc have never felt our gratitude 
to the self-denying men and women who, in such cir¬ 
cumstances, have cheerfully undertaken such arduous 
duties. Leaving out of calculation higher conside¬ 
rations, and looking upon these institutions in their 
