people of different sexes and ages, two of whom were man and wife,
sleeping in the same bed, three with their heads at the top and three
with their heads at the foot of the bed. Another tells us of adult
uncles and nieces sleeping in the same room close to each other;
another of the uncles and nieces sleeping in the same bed together;
another of adult brothers, and sisters sleeping in the same room with
a brother and his wife just married; many tell us of adult brothers
and sisters sleeping in the same beds; another tells us of rooms so
filled with beds that there is no space between them, but that
brothers, sisters, and parents crawl over each other half naked in
order to get to their respective resting-places; another of its being
common for men and women, not being relations, to undress together in
the same room, without any feeling of its being indelicate; another
of cases where women have been delivered in bed-rooms crowded with
men, young women, and children; and others mention facts of these
crowded bed-rooms much too horrible to be alluded to. Nor are these
solitary instances, but similar reports are given by gentlemen
writing in ALL parts of the country.

"The miserable character of the houses of our peasantry, is, of
itself, and independently of the causes which have made the houses so
wretched, degrading and demoralising the poor of our rural districts
in a fearful manner. It stimulates the unhealthy and unnatural
increase of population. The young peasants from their earliest years
are accustomed to sleep in the same bed-rooms with people of both
sexes, and with both married and unmarried persons. They therefore
lose all sense of the indelicacy of such a life. They know, too, that
they can gain nothing by deferring their marriages and by saving;
that it is impossible for them to obtain better houses by so doing;
and that in many cases they must wait many years before they could