The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-05-04
ihe Average EnglisIrman at Home
HOW he Minds his Own BUSINESS
Mans House his Cass,e

"A Mans HoHse his Castle.
Moncure d. Conway writes as follows IN
one OF his interesting letters in the Cincin.
natl Commercial:
lake the Englishman with his foot upon
ms native heath, living his own individual life
III nus own country, and he has rs much solid
sooa sense and as good heart as any man
IN existence. Day in and day out--everv
uay, That is. but Sunday, when he il the Gtri.
piaeSt man ont of Boston-he shows foot
d clcferness in. adapting himself to society
a,iu philosophical superiority to disagree,
aDle trllies, which, / sometimes think mnst
nave come to him through one or two thor.
sahd years Of natural selection-as feetness
s t. 10 one animal and sagacity to another
n.,lhs MN exactly to his island. But the
siasulaiiSts show us that every aptitude is the
o'ner SIDE of an inaptitude. That which
uhiheS the crane precisely the bird to live
.hos1 comfortably where there is shallow wa-
.er ana plenty of fish, is just the adapted.
ness winch makes it the most helpless of
nm.s ~ region where there is no shallow
"a.sr 10 DE waded in nor fish to be caught,
. L,nu 80 whenever you take your English
a .il.'ii On MS normal beat you find him
tendency of living in these crowded cit;o.
made up of the floating odds and ends 81
creation, to put every man, rs it were on tba
defensive. Each learns TO restrict h;s ;n1
tereSts and his dealings to the circle which
belongs 10 him. The rich man buillsa hiul
and hard wall in front Of his house. Won
may not even see Into his yard unless Won
have the card which will give II up to vour
enjoyment completely. The poor man sur.
rounds his abode and life with an inyisihl.
but equally hard wal, built of his perfect III.
difference to and sccuson from everything
and everybody which Is unrelated to him.
never knew until | came to dwell in this
country the full significance of the legal
adage that every mans house is his castle.
The English laborer hears the cry of murder
in the house next door. and strai9htwuy
yoes-to sleep.
Let me point my statement with the last
instance, though there is hardly Il week that
does not furnish several. At Maryland Point,
in one Of the suburbs of London, there is a
house which has long been known as the
"Mystcri5us Closed House, Its shutters
have not been seen down for twenty-one
years. except once, when the gunpowder eX-
ploSion at Firth blew them down, They
were then soon put Up again, and the house
has, during the recent years, remained closed
as before. 1t stands Oh one OF the busiest
thorouGhtareS, yet nobody felt it his or her
business to make any inquiry concerning it,
though it was known that people lived in it.
Some three or four days ago physician was
called in to see Il woman in he house. On
entering he found 4 WOMAN lying OIL the
door, with nothing but Two or three dirty
rag, upon her. Her skin WIS filthy and
she was 50 eHElriatrd that the bones almost
protrrdcd. She was surrounded by every
conceivable Wretchudncss. She was perfect
ly sane. Her brother, John Hope, said
that his sister, Sarah Hope, had no in
come. The house was his property. He said
he had not called in Il doctor to see her be-
cause he had rs lief have the devil in his
house rs a doctor. Another brother guyc
the saline reply. He had nDt called doctor
because he would rather lave the devil in
the house than Il doctor. The brothers said
their sister had food. hut wouldn't eat it, and
clothes, but wouldn't wear them. The
woman died soon after the doctor saw her,
and tile verdict Of the jury was, "starvation
by her own fault The only witness who
was called was Mrs. Harvey, wife Ola green
grocer near by, who said that she had known
the deceased ten years. She considered her
perfectly sane, "but And here spake the
whole English race" she never said any
thing to any one, because she had enough to
do to mind her own business, and thought
other people ought to mind theirs" Had it
not been that as death drew near the cour-
age Of the doctor-hating brothers gave way,
Sarah Hope might have been buried in the
floor, and no one been the wiser until Ga
brilrs trump, or another Firth explosion had
blown down the "closed house," We have
had two other cases of death from starvation
this week. In both eases the people lived in
rooms adjoining Others, who could have
helped them and would have done so, but
tie poor creatures were too proud to beg, or,
perhaps, feared the workhouse (the pauper's
purgatory), and this being nation of Mrs.
Hayeys, their neighbors "had enough to
do dc.