Cerito turn white with envy. She made also
a free use of her arms and elbows, for she
was bent on seeing every plume and every
yard of lace belonging to the pomp of the
occasion. From'the right hand I was pushed
to the left by a motherly dame, who was
providing for a country gentleman, her friend,
two sights at once, by showing him the towers
of Westminster Abbey, that are visible above
the trees. On the left hand there was no
resistance. On the left stood a group of pale,
dirty, and ragged children; such children
formed also a very noticeable feature in the
front line of the rows between which her
Majesty was presently to pass. They had
crept out into the sun from many a place as
filthy as the borders of the Chelsea Serpentine.
They were not courtly. The Prince
Consort was  not ceremoniously referred to by
one of them,  who had his mind full of a
popular melody, and  shouted from under my
left ear to a young friend  at a distance,
"Hollo, Sam! You'll soon see Villikins and
his Dinah!" When the great gates opened,
and the royal carriages came forth,  that little
fellow's voice was very audible among the
cheering. He meant no disloyalty, not he!
Follow him home.

This happy day is Saturday. He will be
dirtier to-morrow than he is to-day. Most
likely, where he lives, there is no water supply
at all on Sundays. There is a flow, perhaps,
on Saturday for half-an-hour. during which
time there is a rush and scramble at the tap,
—women with tin pots, old tubs, and broken
pitchers, fight for what they can catch. When
they have used that, they must beg or go
without; water is even stolen. "For example,
in one of these little courts," says Mr. Godwin,*
"the people hearing us make inquiries
respecting the water, rushed out from all sides,
speaking with bitter rage of the inadequate
provision. We managed to gather, amid the
din, that they suspected a person who keeps a
small general shop (one of those curiously
squalid attempts at trading met with in these
neighbourhoods), and through which the
water-pipe passed, of 'thieving the water on
the way to them.' On examining the shop we
found that the shopkeeper had bored a small
hole in the water-pipe, to prevent him, as he
said, from struggling and fighting with the
people in the court when the water came in,
'there being so many of them, and so little
water, that they were often like so many
devils.' " When there is a fire in such a
neighbourhood, the water is turned on and
flows, of necessity as extra supply out of the
taps in courts and alleys. The same
gentleman relates how, while he was talking to
a woman, an alarm of a house on fire
resounded through the street. She exclaimed
suddenly with pious gratitude, "Thank God
there is a fire!" We will soon get some water."

* London Shadows: a Glance at the Homes
of the Thousands.

As for drainage, thousands are ready to lift up
the rotten boards that represent their floors,
and show you the poisonous filth trickling
undemeath. What follows upon this? Ask
mothers of the children they have buried.
"How many have you had?" "Seven." "How
many are living?" "One." "How many have
you had?" "Thirteen." "How many are
living?" Read her answer in her eyes. NONE.
Fit homes must be placed within the reach
of these neglected people. We have spoken
more than once of the Metropolitan Societies
for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious
Classes. To the admirable sanitary
results obtained by them we referred when
calling attention to a small pamphlet recently
issued, on the Results of Sanitary Improvement,
by Dr. Southwood Smith. The pamphlet
does not cost more than a number of this
journal, and we cannot do better than
distinctly refer to it as containing the best
brief exposition of what has been done
hitherto, and may be done more effectually
hereafter, in the way of amending the homes
of working men. We hinted lately an objection
to the policy of placing benevolence
before profit, as a motive for shareholding in
these societies. It is the best motive, but, in the
Share-List and Money-Market, profit is the
strongest, and the whole nervous power of any
such society lies in its dividend. Benevolence
is the heart, and profit is the brain, of every
public body of this kind—the heart beats in
proportion as the brain is active. Of all this
it would appear the societies in question have
from the first been thoroughly aware; we were
misled into a false impression by the very
laudable energy of philanthropic advocates,
(with whom we thoroughly agree) who took
ground that was quite unexceptionable so
long as it was not official.

The Metropolitan Association for Improving
the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes,
of which the offices are at number nineteen,
Coleman-street, City of London, obtained last
year from its dwellings for families a return
upon outlay of four and four-fifths per cent.;
to five per cent.; its dividends are limited by
Parliament. Dividends so large, however, it
has never yet paid, partly on account of loss
hitherto incurred in the article of rooms for
single men, partly for reasons that have now
ceased to exist. That this society will, in a
few years, return a safe dividend of four or
five per cent, for all moneys invested in it, we
have reasons to believe confidently. The
money so invested will, at the same time, be
lent to the most valuable uses.

Another association of this nature is called
the Society for Improving the Condition of
the Labouring Classes. That has been
equally successful, and is equally deserving of
support. At present its means are, we believe,
more limited, but it has already provided
wholesome accommodation for nine hundred
residents. The committee-room of this
sociery is at number twenty-one, Exeter Hall.