Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1869-11-27


q al voluntarily make her way To the ASYLUM.
In this way she i at the Government ASYLUM,
apd stay there cheerfIily AMI cententedly IS
the best place Of the kind she has been i'm.
Wanted 70 90 Home Fer Thanks
giving.
\ In the parlor some on the patients were sewing
or netting and nearly all were in conversation
| in lively chatty way. So far as appearances
went il might have been little tea-party of
4 sane ladies. A youngish lady Of rather pleasing
| appearance was ut the piano. She rose on our
l entrance and addressed DIR. Nichols with con-
i siderable earnestness.
'.Oh, Doctor; am glad to see you! I want to
/ GO home for Thanksgiving IA pause TO sec how
I the Doctor took it-''Is think I'll 90 home
Thanksgiving Day"-another pause, then more
rapidly-"Doctor, every wife and mother ought
l to be at home Thanksgiving Day; don't YOU
l think 40? Now, Doctor want you to write for
them to come and take me home Thanksgiving
| Day. 1909
| Dr. Nichols, who seems to avoid telling the
| patients a positive untruth whereby their con-
1 hdence in him may be lessened, said kindly
l "well, no: don't think that would be the best
| plan. But suppose you write your friends a let
| ter telling them what you would like and asking
their opinion about it, But she WAS full Of the
| idea of going home for the holiday and turning
| to us-ssT appeal tn YOU, sir. Ought not every
Wife and mother to be at her own table on
Thanksgiving Day."
that was undoubtedly true and we hoped it
could be managed in her case. She retreated to
her piano stool with a tremulotis little laugh,
and before we left the ward was UP again To re-
mind the Doctor that she was to so home
| on Thanksgiving Day. ...-. ...
Waiting for Her Dead Husband.
| A pleasant looking old lady sat near the door,
| wearing a hood bonnet, cloak, and furs. She
dresses in this way every day, and takes the same
| position, waiting for her husband to come and
take her home. Poor old soul, her husband has
been in his grave twenty years; but She sits there
in patient expectation, watching the door for his
approach! Among the eccentric characters was
| "A lady who smiled in the most engaging
| manner, but her smile Il dcusion and a
snare, for when We smiled back sympathetically
4 She bridled mp and frowned Indignantly, which
| was disconcerting. There was another la'ly-a
new patient-whO sat bold erect with arms folded
4 under a shawl drawn down with pTim eAact ness.
When spoken to she shifted. signify her iisap-
| prova OF everything and everybody about her
| She might have sat for the model OF MIR. F.'s
| aunt, /" in "IIttle DOrrit.'
/ Locust Ward.
| The next ward visited was also occupied by fe-
! males including some .'excitablc patients One
young girl appeared 10 be lingering an imaginary
guitar. Another girl passed up and down
the hall dragging her hand along the wall. a
| woman, wild of eye, and who showed more marks
! of insanity than any we had seen, wore can't
sole, the only form of straight jacket restraint
used here. 1t consists OF "A jacket with long
| sleeves tied behind the body. This humane re-
straint, while perfectly effective, saves the poor
creatures from the pain inflicted by being hand
cuffed tied at the wrists. Everything like
| solitary confinement Is avoided much as pos
1 sible Social intercourse is found TO have Won
derfully soothing and beneficial effect upon the
worst cases. The idea of confinement or re-
| straint is avoided carefully. There no
"cells," and the rooms answering to that name
| are termed .'strOng rooms" The windows have
| no prisOn-like bars, and to all appearances are
| like ordinary windows, but the sash j. Of iron.
and occasionally ornamental gothic guards of
| Iron are used outside, such as are used at the
| windows of private houses.
The paneling of the doors Of the strong room
| is made heavy, but the fact does not meet the
! eye, and the ransoms over the doors are ar
i ranged to open from the outside, ~ that when
frantic patient undertakes to barricade his door.
\ as sometimes happens, an entrance can be effect
| ed through the transOm. In a thousand ways
thoughtful care is shown To save the sensblities
\ of the patients.
The Treasury Girl.
Walking up and down the hall WAS a
shOwy-loOking girl Of fine development. the pic
| tIire of blooming health, who had bestowed,
evidently. a good deal OF care upon her dress
and personal appearance. She Is from the
West, has been Treasury girl, and was crazed
| by the desertiOn of some scamp In whom she
| had trusted, and who proved to be married
man.
| The Chapel.
We next visited the chapel. handsome, spa
cious room, provided with an excellent organ,
| piano, and with apparatus for the illustration
OF scientific and popular lectures. A German
organist, once a patient iii the hospital now
cured and employed here, performed for
some sacred and secular music in good style.
The religious services here are not conducted
10y single chaplain. but six city clergymen of
the different leading denominations ohiciate by
turns of two months. This arrangement has had
an excellent effect in inducing the general at
tendance of patients. On week day nights there
are concerts, readings, illustrated lectures, &c.
DISTINGUISHED PersOnages.
Passing next into one Of the male wards We
| found ourselves amongst set OF quite dis
| tinguisIed persOnages, major generals and
millionaires for the most part military look
ing individual, OF rather imperative MANNERS
claimed our attention, and not getting it tor the
instant, he repeated his call with some asperity
The doctor stopped and politely presented US
TO Major General Buckler, COmmanler-in-
Chief of the Army and Navy of the United
| States. The General proceeded to tell us his
history at considerable length, To the effect that
he was in the volunteer service In the west, and
rose to his present distinguished rank, and that
l ON his offering the government the sum OF
500 Ne OoO, as patriotic offering to carry Oh the
war, he was sent with squad OF soldiers to
| Washington to turn over the money, but that
by some mistake, be was directed to the hospital,
instead Of the Treasury Department, and Inc had
| never succeeded in getting the mistake rectiied
| He was now practising medicine with great
success upon the inmates Of the hOspital-sOme
OF whom he remarked to us confidentially, were
not quite right about the head. He had also
invented system OF Ocular Surgery by which
| the rays of the eyes were successfully used In
place OF the painful operation by the knife. He
expected to be able to cure all the people of
Washington by dispensing these rays from the
l hospital windows. But the people OF the United
States would not probably consent to have their
Commander-in- Chief attending U surgery prac-
tice. and therefore he wanted us to see Admiral
| FaTragut and General Grant about II.
While the General was telling his Sf.. ,,o
I iSfpgent looking man, with t.ruly Web.terisn,
3soni, ,,lIn signalling to us by nod
| and smile that the man was cracked, but that it
| was best to humOr the poor fellow. This man
stepped forward and made perfectly coherent
l anu really eloquent speech upon the cruelty Ut
| hearcerauhg perfectly sane people in mad
nous-c, to suit the mercenAry purposes of rela-
lives. He told with great earnestness plausible
l story OF having been kidnapped and pat in there
for his money, but rather damaged it, cre,iibilitv
by adding that his personal property was five
l millions of dollars, AMI that he wss ex-tiov-
\ ernor of the State OF Maine.
Kind Act Of General Sherman.
A bright looking Young fellow who had served
i'm the Army, also declaimed against the wrong
dome to Union soldiers by imprisOning them in
| an insane asylum. He handed us paper, which,
| he said, was an order by General Sherm an for
his discharge, but On examination We found it
to be a letter which General Sherman had
I written To him In answer to his application for
| release. 1t show. the Kindness of heart of Gen.
Sherman that, with an his pressing duties, he
had taken pains to write an answer OF three let