Page:London - The People of the Abyss.djvu/278

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
228
THE PEOPLE OF THE ABYSS

from heaven. The very cobblestones are scummed with grease. In brief, a vast and complacent dirtiness obtains, which could be done away with by nothing short of a Vesuvius or Mount Pelée.

Here lives a population as dull and unimaginative as its long gray miles of dingy brick. Religion has virtually passed it by, and a gross and stupid

The Ghetto Market.

materialism reigns, fatal alike to the things of the spirit and the finer instincts of life.

It used to be the proud boast that every English man's home was his castle. But to-day it is an anachronism. The Ghetto folk have no homes. They do not know the significance and the sacredness of home life. Even the municipal dwellings, where live the better-class workers, are overcrowded