94
Toys, &c.
Lesser Items.— Cheap Toys have been given to gladden the hearts of poor con-
valescent children. Cheap palm-leaf fans and squares of coarse muslin have also
been given to the poor to keep the flies off the faces of their sick friends and
relatives.
I have thus generally acted as the friend of plague patients in these hospitals,
seeing and, if possible, talking to each person or his or her friends. Where
no friends or relatives visited the sick, if any were in Bombay they were fetched,
if up-country they were informed by letter of their friend or relative's sickness.
Thus a man, called Govind Chagnanath, was taken to the Modikhana Hospital
with plague. There he bemoaned the possible fate of his two little children,
aged 6 and 4, who had been left without protectors as his wife was dead. A mater-
nal uncle lived near, but whether he had taken the children or not was uncertain.
The address given in Colaba was hunted up and I interviewed the uncle and learnt
that the children had been taken to a friend's house in Kamatipura. They were
followed up there, taken down to see their father who was overjoyed at the sight
of them : they were than taken by the friends, at the expense of the Fund, to their
father's village in Ratnagiri where he will, I hope, soon follow them, as he is now
convalescent.
A patient has usually some friend who can be found in Bombay. The Hindus
are wonderful in their devotion to the sick. Often have I seen merely a fellow-
villager giving up his work and earnings to attend on a sick man, or it may be
only a fellow-mill-hand from the same mill. The claims of a plague-stricken friend
are sacred, no matter what it may cost, nor how great a personal risk is run.
A good example was that of Rama Babaji, who walked into the Arthur Road Hospital
alone on 17th January 1899, suffering from plague. He was delirious for a very
long time, called for his brother and others and declared that as he had come in
himself, he ought to be treated kindly. Learning from him that he had lodged
in Kathayadadur, Durgadevi, Kamatipura, a visit there showed that he had come
from Karad in Satara 15 days before being taken ill. His brother was not known,
but several fellow-villagers living in the house came to see him and to cheer him up.
He was discharged cured on 5th March 1899, and given Rs. 5 from the Fund
to support him till he should be able to find work.
Number of
patients, January
1st to March 31st.
From January 1st to March 31st I have thus visited in—
(1) \^J
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
JMaratha Hospital ...
Arthur Road...
Julai ...
Mahomedan General...
Modikhana ...
...2 584
... 1,316
306
... 209
... 1,168
Total 5,583 patients.
Daily number of
patients 800.
lins does not incluae friends and attendants and other contacts.
The daily average during end of February and beginning of March has often
been in—
Maratha Hospital about
Arthur Road
,,
Julai
„
Mahomedan General „
Modikhana
„
Total about
... 300
... 200
... loo
... 60
...
140
... 800
Patients of all sorts.
patients of all sorts.
Pecuniary aid.
Funerals.
Funerals.—In deserving cases aid has been given in the shape of money to
very poor people to dispose of their dead. The Muhomedans have a caste organiza-
tion that buries all their poor. The poor Christians are buried by the Munici-
pality—through the Vicar-General, if Roman Catholics. Poor Hindus alono have
no organization to help them. The private hospitals have their special caste
arrangements.