WILLIAM INGRAHAM HAVEN,

_Vice-President for Mercy and Help Department_.

INWOOD LODGE, PINE ISLAND N.H. _August_ 1893




AUTHOR'S PREFACE

This volume had its origin in experiences which came to me in the daily
duties of a city pastorate. The inadequate wages received by some of
the members of my own congregation, and the impoverished and unhealthy
surroundings of many of the poor people who came for me to christen
their children, pray with their sick, or bury their dead, so aroused my
sympathy for the victims, and my indignation against the cruel or
indifferent causes of their misery, that I determined upon a thorough
and systematic investigation of the conditions of life among the worthy
Boston poor. By the word "worthy" I do not mean to indicate a class of
saints, but the poor people of the city who are willing and anxious to
exchange honest hard work for their support. I have not, in the series
of studies here presented, entered into a discussion of the vicious and
criminal classes. I have tried to perform, as it seemed to me, a far
more important task--to make a plea for justice on behalf of the
crushed, and often forgotten, victims of greed, who work and starve in
their cellars and garrets rather than beg or steal.

The larger part of the matter contained in these pages was originally