Transcribed from the 1860 James Nisbet edition ,
RAGGED HOMES,
AND
HOW TO MEND THEM.
BY
MRS BAYLY.
“The corner-stoneof the commonwealth is the hearth-stone.”
Fifth Thousand.
LONDON:
JAMES NISBET AND CO., 21 BERNERS STREET.
M.DCCC.LX.
p.vDEDICATED,
BY PERMISSION,
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURY.
My Lord,
I do not inscribe this narrative of facts to you in theexpectation of adding to that acquaintance with theworking-classes which you have gained from personal intercoursewith them.
It is for my own satisfaction that I have dedicated thislittle Volume to you. An opportunity, which might nototherwise have occurred, now offers for thanking you in the nameof the poor whom you have cheered by your sympathy, and of therich whom you have stimulated by your example.
Compliments between fellow-workers are not seemly, howeverhumble the bestower, however illustrious the receiver.
That you have allowed your name to appear in these pagescannot but be gratifying to the writer. The reader willrejoice no less, and from higher than personal motives. Hewill see in this kindness another proof of your hearty interestin that class which, if rightly considered, is, from its verypoverty, a blessing to the land, by putting our indolence andselfishness to shame.
I have the honour to be,
MyLord,
Your Lordship’s obliged Servant,
MARY BAYLY.
p.viiPREFACE.
Amidst the excitements of politicalcontests at home, with wars and rumours of wars abroad, the voiceof “Social Science” is occasionally heard, andlistened to, with a growing conviction of its importance. The Politician, the Moralist, and the Christian are impelled byvarious reasons to its consideration, and will listen with equalinterest to its details.
Experience is always valued by practical men, and the recordsof what has been done are anxiously sought, to assist ourjudgment in future and more extended exertions.
The condition of the young, and the education of children,naturally engaged the earliest attention of SocialReformers. Experience has shewn the importance of genialinfluences at home, and that it is necessary to improvethe homes of the poor, in order to save the children fromdestruction. It has also been p. viiifound that much can be thuseffected. Poor