Transcribed from the 1860 James Nisbet edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org [Picture: Public domain book cover] [Picture: Tucker’s cottage. The Oldest House in Kensington Potteries] RAGGED HOMES, AND HOW TO MEND THEM. * * * * * BY MRS BAYLY. * * * * * “The corner-stone of the commonwealth is the hearth-stone.” * * * * * Fifth Thousand. * * * * * LONDON: JAMES NISBET AND CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. M.DCCC.LX. DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION, TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURY. MY LORD, I do not inscribe this narrative of facts to you in the expectation of adding to that acquaintance with the working-classes which you have gained from personal intercourse with them. It is for my own satisfaction that I have dedicated this little Volume to you. An opportunity, which might not otherwise have occurred, now offers for thanking you in the name of the poor whom you have cheered by your sympathy, and of the rich whom you have stimulated by your example. Compliments between fellow-workers are not seemly, however humble the bestower, however illustrious the receiver. That you have allowed your name to appear in these pages cannot but be gratifying to the writer. The reader will rejoice no less, and from higher than personal motives. He will see in this kindness another proof of your hearty interest in that class which, if rightly considered, is, from its very poverty, a blessing to the land, by putting our indolence and selfishness to shame. I have the honour to be, MY LORD, Your Lordship’s obliged Servant, MARY BAYLY. PREFACE. AMIDST the excitements of political contests at home, with wars and rumours of wars abroad, the voice of “Social Science” is occasionally heard, and listened to, with a growing conviction of its importance. The Politician, the Moralist, and the Christian are impelled by various reasons to its consideration, and will listen with equal interest to its details. Experience is always valued by practical men, and the records of what has been done are anxiously sought, to assist our judgment in future and more extended exertions.