Rybczynski 24: In the Middle Ages, the poor "were extremely badly housed. They were without water or sanitation, with almost no furniture and few possessions, a situation which, in Europe at least, continued until the beginning of the twentieth century. In the towns, their houses were so small that family life was compromised; these tiny one-room hovels were little more than shelters for sleeping. There was room only for the infants--the older children were separated from their parents and sent to work as apprentices or servants. The result of these deprivations, according to some historians, was that concepts such as 'home' and 'family' did not exist for these miserable souls."