removed from this atmosphere of vice. Last spring I was much attracted by a little girl in the poorhouse, three years old, whose parents were respectable people. The father had been drowned, the mother had an arm so wasted by rheumatism that she was unable to support herself and child. Notwithstanding the painful surroundings, she being one of three respectable women in a room otherwise filled with women of bad character, the love of the mother and child, the one so tender and patient, the other so clinging and affectionate, brought a redeeming flood of light into the darkened room. Shortly after, the mother died. Last antumn I saw the little girl. In the interval she had changed to stone. Not a smile nor a word could be drawn from her. The bright look had faded utterly. She was now under the care of the old pauper-woman. I had known this old woman for more than a year, and ought not therefore to have been surprised at the change in little Mary, and yet I did not recognize the child at first. I could not believe such a change possible. Since then, through the efforts of one of our Visitors, the child has been adopted into a respectable farmer's family in Dutchess County, and is now well and happy.

A member of our Committee on Children, Mr. Charles L. Brace, when informed of the condition of these children, offered, as Secretary of the Children's Aid Society, to take all these children, including the little babies, free of charge, and provide them with homes in the West. But the Superintendents declined this offer. They wished the children to remain in the county, where, as they said, they could see them themselves, look after them, know what became of them. Alas! we know only too well what becomes of children who live and grow up in the poor

house.

It is no exaggeration to say that in most of our County Poorhouses no nursing of the sick is ever attempted. The keeper's wife, generally fully occupied with her other

duties, gives what spare time she can to it. But usually the very ill patients are taken care of by those in the same room who are less ill. Occasionally an able-bodied pauper is put in charge, or called in upon an emergency. The nurse in the woman's hospital of the Westchester County Poorhouse is a very respectable old woman, who, when I last saw her, was herself such a sufferer from asthma and rheumatism as scarcely to be able to rise from her chair. Occasionally a black girl, strong, but a woman of bad character, was brought in to help. Many patients I remember in the last stages of consumption; several cases of paralysis, epilepsy, one gunshot wound, accident cases, amputations, etc. The ladies were much interested in an old man dying of paralysis, formerly a physician. They did what they could to make the remainder of his days more comfortable, and at his death raised the necessary sum to give him a Christian burial in the Tarrytown cemetery.

They found also a terrible case of suffering from cancer in the face, and one poor man crushed by a steam-shovel and in great agony. The ladies asked the Superintendents to employ some one to nurse these sufferers. This was refused, on the ground that no appropriation was provided for the purpose. They then begged to be themselves allowed to pay the wages of a competent nurse, to be selected and controlled by the Superintendents. This was also refused. They could not refuse the kindness which death at last brought the sufferers.

At first when suggestions for reform were made to the Superintendents, they were received with civility, but no action was taken upon them. Then the ladies were asked to confine their visits to one day in the week, which request they complied with: Finally, when the Visitors repeated their request for better care for the children, and for a nurse for the sick, offering to pay the wages of the latter until the Board of Supervisors met, the Superintendents informed the Visitors that they, the ladies, had no authority

to interfere in these matters; that they wished them to visit the institution no longer as members of an Association, although they would be received as ordinary visitors; that they personally desired no further intercouse with them. From the asperity with which this correspondence was conducted on the part of the Superintendents, it was impossible for the ladies to maintain any harmonious relations with those officials, and although they continued to visit regularly as heretofore it was because they were still able to do something toward alleviating suffering, not because they felt they were making any progress toward radical reform.

All intercourse having been thus broken off by the Superintendents, a petition was prepared, signed by the Visitors, and presented in November to the Board of Supervisors of the county. A copy of this petition is appended (D). It asked that an additional sum of $5,000 be placed to the credit of the Superintendents of the Poor, to be expended by them as follows: To secure the services of a resident physician, who shall be a graduate of a medical college; to provide one paid man-nurse and one paid woman-nurse for the sick; one paid man and one paid woman to be in charge of the insane; a paid respectable woman to have the care of the children; better food and clothing for the children; an additional compensation to the chaplain for the purpose of securing burial services over the dead; alteration of the cells for the insane; a separate room for confinements; and such alterations of the buildings as might be necessary to secure a complete separation of the sexes.

The Supervisors gave the petitioners a most respectful hearing, and, we have every reason to think that, had they the legal power, they would have granted the petition. But in their reply they state that they have not this legal power; that the Superintendents are a body corporate, elected by the people, and are not under the control of the Board of Supervisors, but have full powers, in connection with the county judge, for making all rules and regulations for

the government of the poorhouse. The Supervisors recommend the Superintendents to visit the institutions of charities in New York City and elsewhere, in order to prepare themselves intelligently for making proper rules and regulations for the government and good order of the County Poorhouse. They also state that they have "already placed to the credit of the Superintendents of the Poor $2,000 more than the appropriation asked for by them, and that if any other or further sum be necessary for other medical service, proper nursing of the sick and infirm, or for any other purpose which will promote the welfare of the inmates. of the County Poorhouse, it certainly should not be withheld." This reply was made in January. Since then our Visitors have been refused admittance to the house by order of the Superintendents. The reason given is "because they belong to an Association "; not because they have broken any of the rules of the establishment.*

The energy and determined courage of this earnest little band of workers, in the face of so many discouragements, cannot be too highly appreciated. Every difficulty only seems to nerve them to greater exertions; and notwithstanding apparent failure, they remain undaunted, knowing that the right must triumph in the end. They mean to leave no stone unturned until the necessary reforms in the management of their poorhouse are secured.

And here the question arises as to what the legal rights of citizens and tax-payers are in reference to our public institutions. These institutions are built and entirely supported by taxation; they are managed by officers elected by the people. If citizens have not this right already, should they not have it, of being allowed, under certain necessary restrictions, to see for themselves how their trust is administered? This is but one view of the subject-the rights of

*As this Report goes to press (March 10), I understand that the Superintendents of the Poor of Westchester County have rescinded their order, and are admitting the lady Visitors.

citizens. The other is, Does not humanity demand it? Think of several hundred human beings, young, and old, and sick, left to the mercies of a brutal keeper, with no check from the lookers-on; for those lookers-on, victims themselves, are afraid to speak. Our Visitors ask for no powers except the right of free access to our public institutions; they bind themselves to observe all rules and regulations of the establishments they visit, but they do not bind themselves to silence. Yes, close the doors; let the old walls behind them remain in shadow another century; the open light of truth will only reveal the stains and the cracks and the dust! Who cares for the cry that is not heard? Who cares for the human hopes and hearts that lie buried in that dust; for the cruelty and crime and suffering which those old walls cover? Who sees the children cowering in that deep, black shadow? What if Christ did say, "I was sick and in prison and ye came unto me"! Close the doors of hospital and prison! Keep out the intruders!

Again, another question: Has not the time come for the officers in charge of our County Charities to be appointed and not elected? How can a man with no especial fitness for the position be expected, during his short term of office, to understand the best way of treating several hundred human beings suddenly placed under his care? He is at once obliged to grapple with this great question of pauperism, not as a theory, but practically-a subject to which, in its separate branches, philanthropists have given lives of study and of work. But he is called upon to deal, not merely with single branches, but with the whole question— with the best method of caring for pauper-children, how to keep them from following in the footsteps of their intemperate parents; with the most enlightened treatment of insanity; with the vexed questions of diet-lists for sick and well, of ventilation, and sanitary science, and hospital management; with occupation for the blind, and instruction for the idiot; with the labor question as affected by work