ABSTRACT
Many of the houses of the operatives of the northern counties are characterised by an air of cleanliness, freshness, and an appearance of general comfort that is altogether wanting in a similar class of houses. Working men and working women in this neighbourhood have not the remotest notion of the attraction of a Yorkshire fireside. The advantages of painted walls are well known by those who live in high-rented houses, where, as a rule, the best kitchens are always painted, and cleaned frequently with soap and flannel. Well, the walls of the living-rooms of the northern dwellings have many of them an occasional cleaning with soap and flannel, and the ceilings are whitewashed twice a year. The magnificent factories, with every appliance and contrivance that could be suggested by human ingenuity for securing most favourable conditions upon which the gigantic industries could be carried on, have aroused and kept alive the desire of the factory employees for clean, convenient houses.
