I have been watching the clearance of some rural slums.
There are many which will compare with any urban slum, so far as the house itself is concerned. One cottage consisted of three rooms. The walls were a joint affair of brick, lath, plaster, wood and corrugated iron. The ceiling of the room you entered was just over six feet from the floor and was as black as the floor, except where it had more recently crumbled. The window hi one upper room was about a foot square and on the floor level. There was no fireplace for ventilation. Such cottages are, and have been, inhabited by large families. There was no sanitation of any sort. Uncondenmed cottages of a similar nature are let at a rent of 6s. or 7s. a week in many villages. Worse than leaky roof and draughty walls is the darkness, that prime evil of the old cottage. This particular slum is now provided with electric light. Goethe's last wish is fulfilled ; and " more light " should prove a most potent agent in furthering both the health and happiness of our rural folk.
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