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COTTAGE HABITATIONS. 79
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
-«Sg3»- To The Editoe.
every exertion should be made not to impart instruction , whether by word of mouth or bmeans of bookswithout an endeavor to excite
immediate action ( conj y ointly it may , be with yourself ) towards the realisation of the better plans therein proposed . In fact , let them
catch from their teachers that earnest activity which is the main thing" wanted in all reforms .
This may often be given with a very small outlay . Sometimes I have offered to pay a joiner if our families would get a window
made to open and shut , which had never done so before ; or to pay for the lime , etc ., if they would whitewash their kitchens , ceilings ,
etc . ; or give them a cheap paper , if they would put it up instead of that dirty one which disgraced their front room .
to I bring am happy further to attention add that and these improved little _encouragements _arrangement into seldom the cot fail
tage home . Our higher class cottages let for two shillings and sixpence , two shillings and nine-pence , and three shillings a week . In the
closer parts of the town these have no garden , but perhaps a first rate shop or room with long windows at which to place their looms , and
this room is _generally on the floor above the ground floor ; a much better plan than having * it , as it is in some houses , on the top story
above the bed-rooms ; this latter plan in almost all houses throws the bed-rooms open , in coming * and going , to all the male weavers ,
some of whom may happen to be no part of tlie family . I wa _& once in a house of this description , where I believe there were nine
.. children , if not ten , besides the father and mother , in two bed-rooms , where the bed stocks so completely covered the floor of the room
through which the stairs had to be gained , that it was not easy to pass up . I remonstrated several times with this family as to the
wrong done to their own health , etc ., and even offered to provide a _, lodging for a delicate young growing girl if they would let her
sleep in better air ; but they declined , and subsequently she , as well as a sister and a brother , all grown up , have died of consump _*
tion , the seeds of which were no doubt sown by sleeping in such crowded rooms .
The houses on the outskirts of the town , which pay as much as three shillings a week , are mostly built with a weaving shop just
behind the two lower rooms ; and they have generally a nice piece of garden ground attached , which is highly prized , especially as a
change of occupation to the man who has to sit so much at his loom , as well as for its produce .
The greatest number of cottages are those which , would be sought by a day laborer whose wife went out to work , and these consist
of either one pretty good sized room below , and one or two tiny ones aboveor else of two small rooms both above and below , with
, perhaps a little garden ground before and behind ; these would be rented at about one shilling and three-pence per week , and in each
be perhaps of both Rve sexes or six and children all have sbetween to be stowed the away ; bab and these and may the ageyoung
, y , youth or maiden of twenty years .
Cottage Habitations. 79
COTTAGE HABITATIONS . 79
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Oct. 1, 1859, page 79, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01101859/page/7/
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