fourteen. The measurement of one, taken
at hap-hazard (and there was very little
difference between them), was as follows:
ninety-three feet long by thirty-six wide,
and twelve feet high. In this room there
are thirty-three beds. The sleepers, therefore,
have more than twelve hundred and
seventeen cubic feet of air each. The
windows are large and abundant. No daintiest
lady's bedchamber could be more free from
the faintest taint of foul air than the whole
of this vast range of dormitories. Each bed
consists of a paillasse, a very good woollen
mattress, a pillow, two sheets, and three
thick woollen blankets. They were excellent
beds. Large lavatories and other
conveniences are attached to the chambers.

In some of the rooms we found several of
the infirm. Those whom the doctor
pronounced to be such, were allowed to
remain in their chamber; and were also free
to go out at pleasure into the very large
yard, with its extensive covered colonnades.
They were also free to remain up, or to
stay in bed as they would.

The men go to bed at about half-past seven,
and get up at seven. The boys do not get
to bed till about an hour later, because they
are attending the different schools. Lights
are burned in all the chambers during the
night. Guards go their rounds two or
three times during the night; and each
dormitory has a small chamber attached to
it, in which a guard or inspector sleeps,
who can at all times be called to. In the
women's department, the arrangements
are the same.

The separation of the sexes is
complete. In cases where a husband and wife
are both inmates of the establishment,
they are permitted to see each other on
Sundays. In the exercise yards, as well as
in the interior of the building, the children
are wholly separated from the adults.

On Sundays and other holidays the
inmates are permitted to see their friends in a
"parlour" devoted to that special purpose.
Only in cases where the inmate is so
infirm as to be incapable of leaving his or
her bed, is a visitor by special permission
allowed to see such persons in the
dormitories. On holidays, also, the inmates are
sent out for a walk in parties, but always
accompanied by a guardian, and along a
line of route specially indicated by the
director. Individual permissions to go out
into the town are quite exceptional, and
granted only by the director in each
particular case.

The punishments for misconduct consist
of, first, Admonition; second, Short commons
applied principally as a means of
repaying to the administration the value
of any articles destroyed or injured by
negligence or malice to be applied not more
than three times a week, and to consist in
stopping the allowance of meat and that of
wine; third, Privation of wine altogether
for a time; fourth, "Mortification" on
bread and water at a separate table for a
period not exceeding fifteen days, and
relieved by a day of full diet every third day;
fifth, Fines levied on the daily gain of the
culprit, and also on the sum of his savings,
to the extent of half of the latter; sixth,
Committal to labour in the "discipline
chamber" without wine or meat, extending
to fifteen days in the case of children, and
to a month in the case of adults; seventh,
Expulsion from the establishment.

One great object with Signer Peri has
been to find employment as far as possible
for all the members of his "family," with
the exception of the absolutely bedridden.
Even the invalid women, including the
blind, are made useful in some way; either
in pumping water, or knitting, or spinning.
"For the male invalids," says the director,
in his last annual report, "I have, with
much advantage, succeeded in opening a
bookbinding and paper working establishment,
in which nine individuals are occupied
at the present moment, producing a profit
of three francs a week to the institution,
and as much more for themselves.

I will conclude this account of a
Florentine workhouse with the only objection that
its arrangements suggested to me. The
very courteous and intelligent inspector,
who at the director's request conducted me
through the dormitories, remarked, that
few of those who were received there had
ever been so well lodged before! It did
not strike him that this could be other than
a great advantage and source of self-
congratulation to the managers of the Pia
Casa. But it did occur to me to fear, that
that most difficult problem, how to make
public charity all that humanity requires
it to be, without making it something more
desirable than the most lowly placed of
those who have to pay for it, enjoy themselves,
was not satisfactorily solved here.
And it must be remembered that in
Florence, even the most miserable of those
who are not in the workhouse, contribute
to the support of those who are in it. For
the franc a day which is paid by the
corporation comes out of the general taxation
of the taxpayers; to which the poorest man