house in a vain attempt to express their gregarious-
ness. And when a family is housed in one small
room, home-life is impossible.

A brief examination of such a dwelling will
serve to bring to light one important cause of
drunkenness. Here the family arises in the morn
ing, dresses, and makes its toilet, father, mother,
sons, and daughters, and in the same room, shoulder
to shoulder (for the room is small), the wife and
mother cooks the breakfast. And in the same
room, heavy and sickening with the exhalations of
their packed bodies throughout the night, that
breakfast is eaten. The father goes to work, the
elder children go to school or on to the street, and
the. mother remains with her crawling, toddling
youngsters to do her housework still in the same
room. Here she washes the clothes, filling the
pent space with soapsuds and the smell of dirty
clothes, and overhead she hangs the wet linen to
dry.

Here, in the evening, amid the manifold smells
of the day, the family goes to its virtuous couch.
That is to say, as many as possible pile into
the one bed (if bed they have), and the surplus
turns in on the floor. And this is the round of
their existence, month after month, year after year,
for they never get a vacation save when they are
evicted. When a child dies, and some are always

[[303]]

p302 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p303w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p304

v?