Ragged homes and how to mend them

Transcribed from the 1860 James Nisbet edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
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.
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.