Now, Josiah was an exceptionally weak-minded man.

It had also to be borne in mind that he had a shrewish wife, and that her whole family had come to live with him.

Clearly, to place Josiah in a position of easy access to unlimited liquor would be madness.
"About a laundry, on the other hand, there was something soothing.

The working of a laundry needed many hands.

Hannah's relatives might be used up in a laundry, and made to earn their own living.