Sometimes the families
living in the close rooms we have described, take "boarders," who pay a
part of the expenses of the "establishment." Formerly the occupants of
these buildings emptied their filth and refuse matter into the public
streets, which in these quarters were simply horrible to behold; but of
late years, the police, by compelling a rigid observance of the
sanitary laws, have greatly improved the condition of the houses and
streets, and consequently the health of the people. The reader must not
suppose the house we have described is a solitary instance. There are
many single blocks of dwellings containing twice the number of families
residing on Fifth Avenue, on both sides of that street, from Washington
Square to the Park, or than a continuous row of dwellings similar to
those on Fifth Avenue, three or four miles in length. There is a
multitude of these squares, any of which contains a larger population
than the whole city of Hartford, Connecticut which covers an area of
seven miles. [Footnote: Annual Encyclopaedia, 1861] There is one single
house in the city which contains twelve hundred inhabitants.
FALLEN FORTUNES.
You will see all classes of people in these tenement houses, and,
amongst others, persons who have known wealth and comfort. Alas! that
it should be so. You will see them stealing along quickly and
noiselessly, avoiding the other inmates with an aversion they cannot
conceal, and as if they fear to be recognized by some one who knew them
in their better days.
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