The Express.
London, England, 1868-04-17 00:00:00

THE AGED AND INFIRM POOR IN

}UR Y LEBONS

Amongst the few workhouses in London of which
a word of generous praise can be honestly said there
is none so worthy:of mention as that of St. Mary-
lebone. In the articles which this journal has from
time to time published, describing the condition
and treatment of the unfortunates who have been
forced from harsh necessity to seek parochial aid,
we have done full justioe to the liberal treatment
which the Marylebone guardians, under the able
administration of Mr. and Mn. Douglas, the
governor and matron, have laid down as the rule
upon which their relief should be dispensed. Last
year we had the pleasant duty of informing the
public of the humane manner in which the casual
wards were conducted, and now we have the
equally pleasurable task of drawing atten-
tion to provisions made for the aged and in-
firm, whose closing days are cast under the
protection of the institutions to which all rate-
payers contribute. In the Marylebone workhouse
about 1,800 inmates, old, middle-aged, and young, I
find a support which the world outside denies
them, and of this large number—equal to the con-
stituency of some boroughs-1,000 are over 60'
years of age. For these hapless inmates special
provisions are made, and the guardians, animated
by a spirit which does them infinite credit, have
expressed their wish that they should be made as
comfortable as the rules of a workhouse will per-
mit. The energetic governor, seconded in all his
humane endeavours by the matron, and backed by
the guardians, has interpreted this wish to the
letter, conducting the affairs of the workhouse on
the one hand so as not to offer a premium to vaga-
bondism and worthlessness, and on the other so as to
throw over the unhappy realm of pauperism a charity
which lightens its disgrace, and mercifully tempers
its inevitable hardships. We visited the workhouse
last evening, and took particular notice of
the aged and infirm. Amongst them there
is an old blind man who has gone be-
yond the Psalmist's limit of threescore years
and ten, and who, indeed, has lived 22 years
in the workhouse. He is probably nearing the pave
now, for he is more than 80 years old, and failing,
bet his countenance brightens when Mrs. Douglas
pays him her nightly visit to administer to him
comforts which his necessities require. And he is
only • type of his class. They have a special
dietary provided for them, the extremely helpless
are taken out into the parks in fine weather in Bath
chain, and all who have relatives or friends have
liberal permission to see them either in or out of the
house.

Recently Mr. H. Saxon Snell, the architect, has
built some wards ter the infirm women whose ages
are between 70 and 90 ; and as they are the first
erected under the new Poor-law Act of last year,
they deserve a few words of exclusive
mention. They form a new building at the
south-east angle of the workhouse ground,
and occupy • site once covered by the old
bakehouse and laundry. The quadrangle by
which it is entered was not long ago the able-
boned women's yard, but it will for the future be
devoted to the use of the aged inmates of the new
wards ; and the guardians, entering thoroughly into
the spirit of the Umes, are laying out the ground
with trees and flower-beds, amongst which the old
folks may wander at will and commune with such
of nature as time and place vouchsafe to them.
List evening, in the twilight, we saw the inmates
of the exercising yard clustering together,
although the night dews were falling fast, watching
with curious interest the formation of this grateful
lounge in the midst of the world's woes and
poverty. Within their sight was the open porch
of the building, with seats ranged around,
upon which, especially in the summer
time, octogenarians will be able to con-
gregite and recount their exrienoss, and
cheer each other by their hopes. There is no large
community, perhaps, in the world where Bowers
bloom so freely and so lovingly. as in this great
metropolis; and there is no provision in connection
with a workhouse that will appeal to so many of
the finer feelings as those parcels of land snatched
out of the limited space for the cultivation of the
fragrant floral treasures in the enjoyment of which
there is a free trade. Close by, at St. Marylebone,
there is a thickly-tenanted God's-acre, full of grey
tombstones ; and this flower garden, which is to
bloom for the aged and infirm, will stretch under
its low wall. At the back of the porch there is •
vestibule that leads at once to the staircase com-
municating with the apartments we have to de-
scribe, and the whole surroundings of the place
lespreas one with the perfect manner in which the
*ants of the aged have been considered.
wending the staircase it is difficult to

[ONE PENNY

realise that we are within the precinct, of a work-
house. Those accustomed to the grudged space,
the unmistakable atmosphere, and the old regula-
tion stamp of pauperism that somehow gets
marked into everything belonging to workhouses,
may be forgiven for stopping short and doubting
whether this is after all the great pariah retreat.
Here is a wide, clean; and even ornamental stair-
case in the centre of the building, lighted by •
large skylight in the roof. In our upward progress
we are shown rooms where the nurses reside within
easy all of toe nursed, bath-rooms such as hun-
dreds of houses of a 501 rental do not poses's, and
conveniences of every description. These are pro-
vided each in their proper place, and at con-
Mara* less than the expense often
laviaked upon some trumpery workhouse &mi-
sery that produces no benefit, and that
only marks the folly of those who vote
the outlay. Landed above stairs, we are introduced
to half-a-dozen wards, each 40 feet wide, 60 feet
long, 13 feet high, and giving 780 cubic feet of
air to each occupant. The beds are ranged down
either side, and a double row of beds occupies
the centre of the room, which, however, is
divided longitudinally by a partition nearly six
lest high. At the ends of the rooms there are large
spiels, terminated by spacious and handsome bay
windows, which will be used as day-rooms. The
,peer eld people who will be the fortunate occu-
pants of these admirable dormitories do not care
about descending, supposing they are able, to take
their seats in a sitting-room below stairs, and they
will therefore be able in the fewest steps, to
leave their sleeping-places and repair to the
look-out which the windows command. The
heating and ventilation of these excellent wards
are very novel and effective, and are performed
by perforated zinc fronts, hot water pipes, and
dampers in the walls, by which means the fresh
air will be warmed by passing over the heated
pipes, the foul air being driven out through wide
channels in the ceiling communicating with=
flues running up the side walls. These
are, as we have indicated, lofty, light, and,
although large, cosy to • degree, and they are
something more. Mr. Saxon Snell, knowing that
a plain tasteful colouring would cost no, more
than the ordinary doleful daubing' generally con-
sidered the proper thing for workhouse walls, has •
exerted himself to diversify the paint work, and
to make these wards warm looking and lively.
The walls, instead of being washed with the bare
scanty white fluid that has got to be ;
almost the primary badge of a workhouse '
ward, are comfortably plastered throughout ; '
the lower portion is finished with
Portland cement ; and the wards throughout are'
enlivened and relieved by a variety of decided
tints that will increase the pleasure of habitation.
It is only necessary to add that the bath-rooms ,
have a constant s.ipply of tires, and hot and cold
water, that there are washing accommodations of g
the best description, and that store rooms, heating
furnaces, and coal stores are close at hand, to show
that the aged and infirm at St. Marylebone Work-
house will have themselves much to blame if they
do not find in these liberal quarters a comfortable •
home. This addition to the workhouse will yield
accommodation to 240 inmates, and the cost will
average about 271. per bed. Considering that the •
guardians of an adjoining workhouse have accepted
a contract for the erection of a new workhouse at -
the rate of 621. per bed, the Marykbone guardians,
very pardonably, point to the way in which they
show how much may be done for the comfort of the
poor at a comparatively small outlay.
The casual wards at this workhouse have an-
swered admirably. They were the first formed
under the Poor-law Act of last year, and have been
copied far and wide throughout the country. After
visiting the new wards above described, we took •
turn last evening through them, saw the casuals
waiting for admission, and saw a few comfortably'
tucked up in their counterpanes. The casual wards
of Marylebone are not the casual wards depicted
elsewhere. Well-lighted, fitted up with beds ,
which none need despise, the ceilings covered with(
I singularly well-selected texts of Scripture, and.
watched by a vigilant officer, they looked what they,
aro—the abodes of cleanliness and comfort, but not.
of temptation • for the labour test of the morning'
is never omitted. The result is remarkable. While •
in the previous half-year the admissions wore
10,620, this half-year they have been 7,77 ii, or, a.
decrease of 3,408 as compared with the correspond-,
jog period of last year. Many said that to provide.
such comfortable wards was to ensure whole armies'
of applicant casuals, but the reverse has been the'
case. On two nights there was no female inmate,
thrice there wan one only, and in the moat Mole-,
meat season of the year, on eleven nights there
were only two occupants.

MARRIAGE IN Rion Live.—Yesterday at /10011
the marriage of Captain Hugh Seymour, of the Craned/ex
Guards (son of Major-General F. H. Seymoul), and the
Hon. Mary Hood, second daughter of Major-General Lord
and Lady Bridport, was solemnised in the Chapel Royal,
near Ceimberlaad•lodp, in Windsor Great-park. The Rev.
J. St. John Blunt (her Majesty's chaplain) officiated.
Previous to the ceremony the Queen and Prince,. Beelike
arse up to Cumberland-lodp to oesgratulate sad lake
leave of the bride. The bride wee elegantly attired is
white satin and Brussels lace, Braaeele Lee nil and
wreath of mange dowers. The bridesmaid, were the Rom
Adelaide Hood, the Hon. Rosa Hood, the Hon. Flan=
Seymour the Misses Georgina, Constance,
Mary Seymour, and were dressed in white tided&
trimmed with Metternich green and a& leaves,
The beet an wee Kr. Albert Seymour. On returning to
Cumberland-lodge after the ceremony, the invited, num-
upwards of two hundred, sat down to a suriptscas •
in the spacious rooms known a. Jorge late
state meats. Among the company mesa were their
Royal the Prince and Primes Christian, Prim.
I epees Loam (who were also present at the chapel), Lord
sad Lady Bridport, Major-General and Lady Emily Soy-
moer,Oolonel and the Hest. Mn. Ferguson of Paler, Mr.
sad Mrs. &skim of Cardrosi, Admiral fib Georg* Sep.
mour, Count and Comatose Chadian, Ladies Murray, Vie.
count and Visamatese Hood, the Ron. Mrs. Wellesley, file
Thomism sad Lady Biddalph, Lady Caroline Barrispen, fin
John mad Lady Cowell, View:sat Ylrhalae, the Hen. Lesko
Ruthven, CoL the Hen Dudley and Lady Elimbeth de
The previous evening Loa and Lady Bridport entertained
e large perty of the nobility and gentry in the neighbor*
hood to exhibit the many osetly presents rash et by the
bride and bridegroom-exceeding two hundred, includ-
ing ass frees her Majerty the Queen, a magnifies& Indian
shawl sad china breakfast service ,• from their Ea
=.9sthe Prince and Prisms of Wales, Prince
Christian, Princess Louise, Priam Arthur,
sad Lady Bridport Major-General and Lady hunk?
Seymour Marchioness of Downshifts, de. Shortly
after 3 o'clock the bride and bridegroom left Cumberlan4
ledge. &Met showers ef dippers, for the Isle of Wight.
pis bend et the let Life Guards, ender the direction of
Xr. Wawa, performed on the lawn in treat of the stale
=is daring the day. Her Majestys mind
el the Great Peak attended and strewed Hovel,
before the happy ample as they left the church.
Tess Cilmoolewr RAILWAY. —The case of "tilled
P6the Cashed& Railway Oesspany " haa entered a see
see. The sugeader has draws the Lord Ordinary's
atter ion to the fast that at the meeting of shereholara,
on Tuesday ' all the dividends, both on the prefe-
rential and ordia stook, which the direeeton mews
mended, were declared, Proceeding upon two Leis
of Sedernnt, the suspender's agent on Monday re-
minded the cenipsay% meats that the issue al
the ,sited,!,reedling the interim interdict Son
not eomyslst for the Next two days, and that the iater-
diet Heald be reaped& In the nieentime. The suspender
holds rd in declaring a dividend es the ordinary Meek of
the miehing on Turing the respondents sonuaitbsl a
direct Ives& of Lord Ileireepin interim bawdiest, which
wee end Oat Sir sourest is another reams
why the Isrel Ordiascy ,Maid prohibit the issue of the
es:tided, el rem& ef iallordied. A telegram from Edin-
burgh age thetae& thew, yesterday gave his daemon.
espeet lie pursuer to prohibit the hese
steeds losalling the interdict.
EMI of our gracious Queen, and $
d our nohtffiy. sew Ethibit their livid maid* I,ii•Ai-1716111 are Ur phis ed legend and ths
gas a 'NIL Every .tided aunt hurry am.iaL
je Maass Rowlands' Invelnalhantre• ir geen-
IRO ta-atik "Plawaisr," "Ralyster," MOEN' eases the foremost nendless he P.-
roollein.•-(Advehreme

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