One of my favourite writers of the nineteenth century was George William MacArthur Reynolds. Although we know him primarily as a journalist and novelist today, he composed original poetry in practically all of his novels.
“…the most selfish hearts should be humanized, and a feeling of love kept alive, reciprocating and reciprocated, between the rich and the poor, the politically great and the socially defenceless, for ever.”
“I only strive to arouse the grovelling spirit of the industrious millions to a sense of the wrongs under which they labour.”
Stephen Basdeo takes a look at the life of one of New York’s pioneering social reformers, Jacob A. Riis.