The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING., OCTOBER 26, 1861.

i and if we add to them paralysis, acute rheumatism,
and some fearful cutaneous disorders, we shall have
a multitude of sufferers, out of whom, at the lowest
calculation, some 40,000 are of a class poor enough
to be inevitably thrown on public support under
such a visitation. We deny these miserable beings
the permission to die in our hospitals that we may
make room for more hopeful cases. Surely it is
a horrible injustice to exclude them from the volun-
tary charity of the hospitals, and then to forbid
voluntary charity to follow them to the
workhouse !" The plan proposed to meet
the difficulties of the case is extremely
simple and inoffensive, neither making extra de-
mands on the ratepayers, nor encouraging vicious
idleness. Out of the rates, it is said, let the necs-
earies of the sick pauper be provided; let volun-
tary charity supply his comforts. A system of
organised visiting by a few ladies of the parish to
the sick wards is the means of conveying the com-
forts provided, and at the same time inquiring into
the wants of the sufferers. With the rest of the work-
house they have nothing to do, nor do they inter-
fere with its management. Their object is simply
to bring kindness and sympathy to the hopeless
beds of the dreary sick ward. It would seem that
such a plan meets the case admirably, and wherever
it has been tried has proved most satisfactory. The
various objections brought against it are happily
answered by Miss COBBE in the paper before us.
In reply to the charge of encouraging improvidence
she justly observes, that the same might be said of
our hospitals, but has never proved to be the
case. She admits that vice and intemperance
are frequent causes of disease, but asserts
that insufficient food and excessive labour are no
less so. The number of men, she says, who have
persisted in working at unhealthy trades for their
families till they break down with painter's
disease, rheumatism, and paralysis, are past count-
ing. Among women, over-work and poor food
sometimes brings on the latter terrible affliction
even in youth, as in the case mentioned of the
poor maid-of-all-work who was hopelessly para-
lysed at the age of eighteen. In answer to those
who console themselves with the reflection that the
poor do not feel things like those above them, the

writer says ;
It seems to me that there is a fallacy in the notion that
the wants of the rich and poor differ very essentially in
disease, however much they unquestionably do so in health.
I believe that the great leveller, Death, approaches all
pretty much alike. In the twilight which precedes that
solemn night, all the varied lines of this life fade away one
by one. Intellect, artistic taste, worldly ambitions, all are
obliterated, and at the same time the sole great realities of
existence, the relation of man to God, and his hopes of a
life beyond the grave, come out clear and strong alike in
rich and poor, wise and ignorant. Human nature in
disease and decay has nearly the same wants and craves the
same alleviations. The ploughman in a fever thirsts for
cooling drinks no less than the gentleman. The poor
needlewomanwrithing in cancer needs a soft bed as grievously
as any lady in the land. The belief in any essential dif•
ference would vanish from the mind of any one who tried
the experiment of giving a few luxuries to workhouse
patients. I once saw a pauper eating some fine hot-house
grapes which a lady had given her. It will be a long time
before I forget the expression of that pale, worn face, with
its shaven head and hollow cheeks, the sense it revealed of
inexpressible relief and wondering pleasure at the all un-
known flavour of the rich fruit. When she had finished
her bunch of grapes she sank back in bed, looking after the
lady as she lett the ward. She could not raise her voice to
speak a word of thanks, but assuredly none was needed
beyond that look.
We may add another passage from the paper
before us succinctly stating the objects of the
Institution :
We hope to obtain, at last, for all the 40,000 incurables
of England by this unpretending plan, an amount of ease
which £1,200,300 per annum would only suffice to procure
by the erection of adequate special hospitals for their use.
We hope to bring them good beds, and easy chairs, and
soft cushions, and prints and flowers to lighten their dreary
homes, and books to beguiletheir weary hours, and cooling
drink: and fruits to quench their ceaseless thirst. We hope
to bring them kindly listeners to their stories and gentle
counsellors to help them to faith and patience. And then
we hope to touch even the monster evil of the rude, un-
trained pauper nurses, and provide our incurables with
women, paid by our funds, and duly instructed and trained.
We hope all this, and to place the whole condition of the
six in workhouse wards,—furniture, food, nurses, doctors
and all, on a new and better footing; but who will help us
in such an undertaking P
Surely many will be found to aid in such a good
work—to pity such urgent need.* If unmerited
destitution has claims upon us, if we commiserate
those who have tried to work for themselves but
not succeeded, and if we regard with reverential
pity the victim to lingering and painful disease,
though surrounded with all the warmth of affec-
tion and the appliances of art —surely, when both
needs are combined, we shold hasten to their suc-
cour, and lighten, as far as may be, their inevitable
load.