Preparations made for giving employment to the poor.
Difficulties attending that undertaking.
The measures adopted completely successful.
The poor reclaimed to habits of useful industry.
Description of the house of industry at Munich.
But before I proceed to give a more particular account of the
funds of this institution, and of the application of them, it
will be necessary to mention the preparations which where made
for furnishing employment to the poor, and the means which were
used for reclaiming them from their vicious habits, and rendering
them industrious and useful subjects. And this was certainly the
most difficult, as well as the most curious and interesting part
of the undertaking. To trust raw materials in the hands of
common beggars, certainly required great caution and management;
--but to produce so total and radical a change in the morals,
manners, and customs of this debauched and abandoned race, as was
necessary to render them orderly and useful members of society,
will naturally be considered as an arduous, if not impossible,
enterprize. In this I succeeded; --for the proof of this fact I
appeal to the flourishing state of the different manufactories in
which these poor people are now employed,--to their orderly and
peaceable demeanour--to their cheerfulness--to their industry,--
to the desire to excel, which manifests itself among them upon
all occasions,--and to the very air of their countenances.
Strangers, who go to see this institution, (and there are very
few who pass through Munich who do not take that trouble,) cannot
sufficiently express their surprise at the air of happiness and
contentment which reigns throughout every part of this extensive
establishment, and can hardly be persuaded, that among those they
see so cheerfully engaged in that interesting scene of industry,
by far the greater part were, five years ago, the most miserable
and most worthless of beings,--common beggars in the streets.
An account of the means employed in bringing about this change
cannot fail to be interesting to every benevolent mind; and this
is what has encouraged me to lay these details before the public.
By far the greater number of the poor people to be taken care of
were not only common beggars, but had been up from their very
infancy in that profession; and were so attached to their
indolent and dissolute way of living, as to prefer it to all
other situations. They were not only unacquainted with all kinds
of work, but had the most insuperable aversion to honest labour;
and had been so long familiarized with every crime, that they had
become perfectly callous to all sense of shame and remorse.
With persons of this description, it is easy to be conceived that
precepts;--admonitions;--and punishments, would be of little or
no avail. But where precepts fail, HABITS may sometimes be
successful.
To make vicious and abandoned people happy, it has generally been
supposed necessary, FIRST to make them virtuous. But why not
reverse this order? Why not make them first HAPPY, and then
virtuous? If happiness and virtue be INSEPARABLE the end will be
as certainly obtained by the one method as by the other; and it
is most undoubtedly much easier to contribute to the happiness
and comfort of persons in a state of poverty and misery, than,
by admonitions and punishments, to reform their morals.
Deeply struck with the importance of this truth, all my measures
were taken accordingly. Every thing was done that could be
devised to make the poor people I had to deal with comfortable
and happy in their new situation; and my hopes, that a habit of
enjoying the real comforts and conveniences which were provided
for them, would in time, soften their hearts;--open their
eyes;--and render them grateful and docile, were not
disappointed.
The pleasure I have had in the success of this experiment is much
easier to be conceived than described. Would God that my success
might encourage others to follow my example! If it were generally
known how little trouble, and how little expence, are required to
do much good, the heart-felt satisfaction which arises from
relieving the wants, and promoting the happiness of our
fellow-creatures, is so great, that I am persuaded, acts of the
most essential charity would be much more frequent, and the mass
of misery among mankind would consequently be much lessened.
Having taken my resolution to make the COMFORT of the poor
people, who were to be provided for, the primary object of my
attention, I considered what circumstance in life, after the
necessaries, food and raiment, contributes most to comfort,
and I found it to be CLEANLINESS. And so very extensive is the
influence of cleanliness, that it reaches even to the brute
creation.
With what care and attention do the feathered race wash
themselves and put their plumage in order; and how perfectly
neat, clean and elegant do they ever appear! Among the beasts of
the field we find that those which are the most cleanly are
generally the most gay and cheerful; or are distinguished by a
certain air of tranquillity and contentment; and singing birds
are always remarkable for the neatness of their plumage. And so
great is the effect of cleanliness upon man, that it extends even
to his moral character. Virtue never dwelt long with filth and
nastiness; nor do I believe there ever was a person SCRUPULOUSLY
ATTENTIVE TO CLEANLINESS who was a consummate villain[7].
Order and disorder--peace and war--health and sickness, cannot
exist together; but COMFORT and CONTENTMENT the inseparable
companions of HAPPINESS and VIRTUE, can only arise from order,
peace, and health.
Brute animals are evidently taught cleanliness by instinct; and
can there be a stronger proof of its being essentially necessary
to their well-being and happiness?--But if cleanliness is
necessary to the happiness of brutes, how much more so must it be
to the happiness of the human race?
The good effects of cleanliness, or rather the bad effects of
filth and nastiness, may, I think, be very satisfactorily
accounted for. Our bodies are continually at war with whatever
offends them, and every thing offends them that adheres to them,
and irritates them,--and through by long habit we may be so
accustomed to support a physical ill, as to become almost
insensible to it, yet it never leaves the mind perfectly at peace.
There always remains a certain uneasiness, and discontent;--
an indecision, and an aversion from all serious application,
which shows evidently that the mind is not at rest.
Those who from being afflicted with long and painful disease,
suddenly acquire health, are best able to judge of the force of
this reasoning. It is by the delightful sensation they feel,
at being relieved from pain and uneasiness, that they learn to
know the full extent of their former misery; and the human heart
is never so effectually softened, and so well prepared and disposed
to receive virtuous impressions, as upon such occasions.
It was with a view to bring the minds of the poor and unfortunate
people I had to deal with to this state, that I took so much
pains to make them comfortable in their new situation. The state
in which they had been used to live was certainly most wretched
and deplorable; but they had been so long accustomed to it, that
they were grown insensible to their own misery. It was therefore
necessary, in order to awaken their attention, to make the contrast
between their former situation, and that which was prepared for
them, as striking as possible. To this end, every thing was done
that could be devised to make them REALLY COMFORTABLE.
Most of them had been used to living in the most miserable
hovels, in the midst of vermin, and every kind of filthiness; or
to sleep in the streets, and under the hedges, half naked, and
exposed to all the inclemencies of the seasons. A large and
commodious building, fitted up in the neatest and most
comfortable manner, was now provided for their reception.
In this agreeable retreat they found spacious and elegant
apartments, kept with the most scrupulous neatness; well warmed
in winter; well lighted; a good warm dinner every day, gratis;
cooked and served up with all possible attention to order and
cleanliness;-- materials and utensils for those who required
instruction;--the most generous pay, IN MONEY, for all the labour
performed; and the kindest usage from every person, from the
highest to the lowest, belonging to the establishment. Here,
in this asylum for the indigent and unfortunate, no ill usage;--
no harsh language, is permitted. During five years that the
establishment has existed, not a blow has been given to any one;
not even to a child by his instructor.
As the rules and regulations for the preservation of order are
few, and easy to be observed, the instances of their being
transgressed are rare; and as all the labour performed, is paid
for by the piece; and not by the day; and is well paid; and as
those who gain the most by their work in the course of the week,
receive proportional rewards on the Saturday evening; these are
most effectual encouragements to industry.
But before I proceed to give an account of the internal economy
of this establishment, it will be necessary to describe the
building which was appropriated to this use; and the other local
circumstances, necessary to be known, in order to have a clear
idea of the subject.
This building, which is very extensive, is pleasantly situated in
the Au, one of the suburbs of the city of Munich. It had
formerly been a manufactory, but for many years had been deserted
and falling to ruins. It was now completely repaired, and in
part rebuilt. A large kitchen, with a large eating-room
adjoining it, and a commodious bake-house, were added to the
buildings; and such other mechanics as were constantly wanted in
the manufactory for making and repairing the machinery were
established, and furnished with tools. Large halls were fitted
up for spinners of hemp;--for spinners of flax;--for spinners of
cotton;--for spinners of wool;--and for spinners of worsted; and
adjoining to each hall a small room was fitted up for a clerk or
inspector of the hall, (spin-schreiber). This room, which was at
the same time a store-room, and counting-house, and a large
window opening into the hall, from whence the spinners were
supplied with raw materials;--where they delivered their yarn
when spun;--and from whence they received an order upon the
cashier, signed by the clerk, for the amount of their labour.
Halls were likewise fitted up for weavers of woollens;--
for weavers of serges and shalloons;--for linen weavers;--
for weavers of cotton goods, and for stocking weavers;--
cloth shearers;--dryers;--sadlers;--wool-combers;--knitters;--
sempstresses, etc. Magazines were fitted up as well for finished
manufactures, as for raw materials, and rooms for counting-houses,
--store-rooms for the kitchen and bake-house,--and dwelling-rooms
for the inspectors and other officers who were lodged in the house.
A very spacious hall, 110 feet long, 37 feet wide, and 22 feet
high, with many windows on both sides, was fitted up as a
drying-room; and in this hall tenters were placed for stretching
out and drying eight pieces of cloth at once. The hall was so
contrived as to serve for the dyer and for the clothier at the
same time.
A fulling-mill was established upon a stream of water which runs
by one side of the court round which the building is erected;
and adjoining to the fulling-mill, is the dyers-shop; and the
wash-house.
This whole edifice, which is very extensive, was fitted up,
as has already been observed, in the neatest manner possible.
In doing this, even the external appearance of the building was
attended to. It was handsomely painted; without, as well as
within; and pains were taken to give it an air of ELEGANCE, as
well as of neatness and cleanliness. A large court in the middle
of the building was levelled, and covered with gravel; and the
approach to it from every side was made easy and commodious.
Over the principal door, or rather gate, which fronts the street,
is an inscription, denoting the use to which the building is
appropriated; and the passage leading into the court, there is
written in large letters of gold upon a black ground--
"NO ALMS WILL BE RECEIVED HERE."
Upon coming into the court you see inscriptions over all the
doors upon the ground floor, leading to the different parts of
the building. These inscriptions, which are all in letters of
gold upon a black ground, denote the particular uses to which the
different apartments are destined.
This building having been got ready, and a sufficient number of
spinning-wheels, looms, and other utensils made use of in the
most common manufactures being provided; together with a
sufficient stock of raw materials, I proceeded to carry my plan
into execution in the manner which will be related in the
following Chapter.