ges of 15 and 20, and only 70 are reported as unable
to write, or 3.7 per cent.; we find this also the lowest ratio of any
state.

South Carolina's per cent. being 71.9; Alabama, 64.9; Georgia, 76.4;
Texas, 69.2; and North Carolina, 68.5.

Her density of population makes it exceedingly convenient for her 52,799
domestic servants to compose notes over neighborly fences. Her 281,188
dwelling houses house 379,710 families, placing 6.34 persons to the
credit of each dwelling, and 4.70 persons to each family. This density
gives her 221.78 persons to a square mile, a far greater ratio than any
state except Rhode Island. This neighborly proximity has its social
tendencies, which may account in part for the hospitable amenities which
are a rightful part of Massachusetts' well known loyalty to a higher
regard for the purest type of home, a comparative statement of the
density of population of a few states.

State. Square Miles. Persons to Square Miles.

Rhode Island, 1,085 254.87
Massachusetts, 8,040 221.78
Connecticut, 4,845 128.52
Georgia, 58,980 26.15
Illinois, 56,000 54.96
Iowa, 55,475 29.29
Maine, 29,895 21.71
Michigan, 57,430 28.50
New Hampshire, 9,005 38.53
New York, 47,620 106.74
Pennsylvania, 44,985 95.21
West Virginia, 24,645 25.09

As inseparable as night is from day, so also are the ills of life from
life itself. Massachusetts is no exception to the inexorable law which
defines the conditions of human society; but through her public and
private charities so wisely administered, she humanely softens the
asperities which shadow the life of her unfortunates. To her lot fall
1,733 idiotic persons, 978 deaf mutes, 5,127 insane, 1,500 of whom are
cared for at home, and 3,659 prisoners, 1,484 of whom are of foreign
birth. Human life teaches that the boundary lines of a smile and tear
are the same, for where happiness is, there sorrow dwells. In the
general estimate of 391,960 annual deaths in the United States, about
33,000 occur in Massachusetts.

One evidence of her unswerving faith in the national credit is