Dame Henrietta Burnett treats as an expert of Matters Ilan
Matter (John Murray, Ts. lid.) She has given her whole life to the improvement of social conditions. She has had excep- tional success in her efforts, and what she says has a definite weight. Her chapters upon the housing question as we see A here, and as she has seen it in America, arc full of interest. She is not inclined to make so much as most experts do now of the mystery and difficulty of the problem. If men cared about it as they cared about the War, for instance, if they cared to the extent of making a real money sacrifice, condi- tions would not be as bad as they are. To our surprise she tells us that she has not seen in London anytl g so terribly distressing as the housing conditions in Washington. She is very hard upon municipal authorities, and hard also upon the clergy, where this all-important matter is concerned. Now and then she is a little severe-- even harsh, perhaps - in her common sense, but the severity softens and every trace of harshness disappears when she speaks of children. All her advice with regard to boarding out and poor law institutions of every sort is instinct with sympathy and inspired by experience.
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