The present state of the dwellings of the poor, chiefly in Dublin

Abstract

FOR the last few years considerable attention has been given to the condition of the working classes. One of the most obvious tests of that condition is the state of their dwellings, and as I have daily opportunities of observing these, the present question is one that often passes through my mind. It is generally allowed that the dwelling or the house accommodation is closely connected with the improvement and elevation of the occupier. Let any one become acquainted with some of the poorer classes in the streets in which they generally live, and let him try to point out the duty of charity, the evil of drunkenness, or let him dwell on higher interests, and tell of the time and place when sorrow and death will be no more, he will find the most serious obstacles to his teaching in the state of things around him; that the wretchedness by which he is surrounded certainly does not open the poor man's mind to charity and love, that squalor and destitution are most serious hindrances to his entertaining those just views of Providence, which are as essential to human happiness as they are to leading the mind to more solemn convictions.