bstinacy of my ignorance
is small reparation, and would be little worth while, except for the hope
that my account of the comfort and economy in living on the English
lodging-house system may be a seed dropped in due season, which shall
spring up sooner or later in the introduction of a similar system in
America. The gain which it would be to great numbers of our men and women
who must live on small incomes cannot be estimated. It seems hardly too
much to say that in the course of one generation it might work in the
average public health a change which would be shown in statistics, and rid
us of the stigma of a "national disease" of dyspepsia. For the men and
women whose sufferings and ill-health have made of our name a by-word
among the nations are not, as many suppose, the rich men and women,
tempted by their riches to over-indulgence of their stomachs, and paying
in their dyspepsia simply the fair price of their folly; they are the
moderately poor men and women, who are paying cruel penalty for not having
been richer,--not having been rich enough to avoid the poisons which are
cooked and served in American restaurants and in the poorer class of
American homes.

Mrs. ----'s lodging-house was not, so far as I know, any better than the
average lodging-houses of its grade. It was well situated, well furnished,
well kept, and its scale of prices was moderate. For instance, the rent of
a pleasant parlor and bedroom on the second floor was thirty-four
shillings a week, including fire and gas,--$8.50, gold. Then there was a
charge of two shillings a week for the use of the kitchen-fire, and three
shillings a week for service; and these were the only charges in addition
to the rent. Thus for $9.75 a week one had all the comforts that can be
had in housekeeping, so far as room and service are concerned. There were
four good servants,--cook, scullery maid, and two housemaids. Oh, the
pleasant voices and gentle fashions of behavior of those housemaids! They
were slow, it must be owned; but their results were admirable. In spite of
London smoke and grime, Mrs. ----'s floors and windows were clean; the
grates shone every morning like mirrors, and the glass and silver were
bright. Each morning the smiling cook came up to take our orders for the
meals of the day; each day the grocer and the baker and the butcher
stopped at the door and left the sugar for the "first floor front," the
beef for the "drawing-room," and so on. The smalles