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62 SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE POOR.
perimental establishment particularly expensive, it
has more than supported itself by the small payments
of the poor; and its arrangements are sufficiently
extensive for it to have given in one day as
many as 932 baths. This fact, having occurred in
the first year of its establishment, shows how much
the poor must have appreciated the additional comfort
placed within their reach; and I may add that,
from the first opening of the building, the annual
receipts have been progressively on the increase.
Somewhat earlier, and under the influence of the
same parent-committee, though specially directed
by a branch-committee, a similar establishment was
founded in George street, Euston square. During
the year 1848 the number of payments made here
for bathing was 111,788; the number of payments
for washing in the laundries, 246,760. This
establishment has not only proved self-supporting,
but has been enabled to accumulate a large surplus,
which is now being applied to enlarge and improve
the building. At Glasshouse Yard, near the entrance
to the London Docks, there has been
founded, on the same model, a small establishment
of free baths and washhouses for the destitute poor.
It was opened in May, 1845. In the first year the
baths given amounted to 27,662; the usings of
the laundry to 35,840; and its total working
expenses were covered by £378.
No language, however eloquent—no comment,
however instructive, could equal the significance of