Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-03-22

The Asylum in Operation.

member of THE HERALD's special corps,
who bad, however, rather vague ideas
as TO the liabilities of the inmates of the
institution, gathered unto himself a
friend, in whose muscle and GOODNESS be
could confide, and started for the County
Asylum, which had then been in oper-
alton about week.
A dainty forty-mile- March
zephyr howled down the backs and up
the coat sleeves of the pilgrims as they
drew up alongside of the building and
securely fastened Rosante to a
convenient fence. where he could con-
tent himself with a square meal during
their absence.
Under the lee of the building were
two masons, apparently amusing them
selves with tossing sand upon seive
and seeing it run back again. Inquiry
developed the fact that they were pre-
pairing to brick up two cisterns, of one
hundred and fifty barrels each. the
excavations for which had been made,
as soon as the March weather would
permit. After glance down the hole.
to see that it was there, the pilgrims
turned their steps and attention toward
the interior of the building. Sever nj
doors were tried, but they failed to re-
spond to the persuasive touch of the in
quisitor. Finally flank movement in
force on the main entrance produced
reached. just as the reportorial
knuckles were about to be applied to
one door, the pleasant features of Mr..
r. V. Showalter projected themselves
from another. Feeling that under the
wing of Showalter's protecting arm they
had nothing to fear, the trembling pill
grims cast further misgivings to the
winds and thereafter failed to be on the
alert to dodge imaginary attacks from
/ ferocious lunatics.
The ward into which the party were ush-
cred was the female ward, of which Mrs
Snowalter personally took supervision,
assisted by Mrs. Craig. The beneficial
influences of her mild yet firm sway was
at once recognized in the quiet which
reigned throughout the ward. The
northeast room is at present used as a
sitting-room, and in this, basking in the
warm sunshine that streamed in through
the eastern windows, and pacing the
broad corridor, were some fifteen female
patients. As the settees and some of
the other furniture ordered by the county
had not yet yet arrived The rooms looked
rather bare, but the general cleanliness
which prevailed everywhere made the
place look cherry and homelike, in spite
of the baroness. The inmates all APP
peared contented and comfortable. al
though one poor creature, carefully
strapped down to a chair, bore evil
dence of the hard necessities which oc-
casion forces upon the attendants.
II amt going to stay here, they told
me | shouldn't stay only two days. |
want to go now"
The words came from q heavy fea-
tured woman on the other side of the
room, who turned a savage look upon
the party, as they stood surveying the
scene. Some soothing reply was made
and then leading the way Superinten
dent Showalter said, THAT is q case the
sheriff brought down from Boscobel
Saturday night. Come in here | want
to show you what the attendants found
on her when they bathed her and put
on clean clothing" This is what one
lot inventoried; three or four old tattered
dresses two-thirds rags. About quart
of pebbles such as are picked up along
the railroad track, two horse shoes,
three or four railroad time cards, more
rocks, and budget of miscellaneous
trash which, spread out, cover a good
area of floor.
Having completed their survey the
party progressed towards the second
story in which are located the dormi-
tories. There everything showed the
signs of the same cleanliness which OBJ
tanned below. In one room ten of the
patients were Accommodated and in
another, across the broad hall, was
found the cribs which already had found
regular occupants. The lack of bathing
facilities was marked and commented
upon and the reporter was informed
that all the water used had to be brought
from the poor house. This inconven-
fence, however, was to be remedied just
as soon as cisterns could be finished and
the pumping apparatus put in. In this
same connection mention was made of
tanks in the garnet which could be filed
by windmill outside and then the
water could be carried down through
pipes to every part of the house. In
such case, by the addition of hose. q
good protection would be afforded
against any incipient blaze which might
get started in any of the rooms. 1t is
quite probable that the committee hav-
ing these matters in charge will find
that this plan will have TO be adopted in
time, in order to supply anything like
such adequate quantity of water as is
needed in an institution of this kind,
where patients have occasionally to be
bathed number of times every day.
While up stairs the reporter came
across a gang of carpenters, who were
changing the doors SO they would swing
out into the hall and remodeling them
so they could only be locked from the
outside.
The necessity for this change had
been made glaringly apparent, as some
of the patients had locked the doors al
most as soon as they were put in, and
forced those in charge to climb over the
! transom and take the lock off before
the door could be opened.
Once more the party made n change
of base, this time down to the bowels of
the establishment, in the basement In
the dining-rooms the tables looked neat
| and clean nc they were eat rpady fo,