writer. Matters will be easier, said the
latter, when the debt shall have been all
wiped out. "Ah," said the director, "if
I live long enough for that, I shall offer
spontaneously to the corporation to take
the poor for eighty centimes—eightpence—
a head." It may be assumed, then, that
eightpence a head per diem supplies all
that is needed for the clothing, food, service,
medicine, and instruction, of the inmates.

The clothing is very good of its kind.
We were invited to visit the extraordinarily
extensive magazines, and walked through
a long suite of rooms lined by capacious
presses on either side, in which were
laid out in order, enormous quantities of
jackets and trousers, of coarse brown
cloth for winter, and striped blue and
white linen for summer; shoes, stockings,
hempen shirts, and neckerchiefs. Let no
one clothed in flimsy cotton turn up his
nose at hempen shirts. They are very
excellent clothing, quite white, and by no
means so coarse as to be uncomfortable.
Then followed huge cupboards full of
sheets, blankets, and towels. At the time of
the last statement of the financial position
of the establishment, the mass of property
represented by these stores of clothing was
ninety thousand francs, or three thousand
eight hundred pounds.

In connexion with the clothing department,
the baths may be mentioned. Before
the incoming pauper is clothed in the
uniform of the house, he is placed in a warm
bath. There are six baths in the bath-room
attached to the men's department. The
whole lining of the room and the baths is of
white marble; all the fittings are of polished
brass; and it is impossible to conceive a
bath-room more comfortably arranged, or
kept in a state of more spotless cleanliness.

Now, as to the important question of food.

The Italians generally think very little
of breakfast. Many persons in easy
circumstances take nothing that answers to our
notion of breakfast; and many more take
only a small cup of coffee without milk.
But the inmates of the Pia Casa di Lavoro
receive a portion of bread the first thing in
the morning. On asking the quantity of
the allowance, I was assured that it was
enough, and often more than enough. I
saw several portions, and found the bread
to be of excellent quality. Referring to
the printed rules of the house, I found that
the exact quantities distributed are as
follows:

The refectory on the men's side of the
building is a noble hall, one hundred and
eight feet long by forty-two wide, and high
in proportion. It was scrupulously clean
and sweet. The tops of the tables are of
marble.

From the refectory we proceeded to the
dormitories. They form a series of huge
chambers, the largest of which holds eighty-
eight beds, and the smallest that I noticed,