Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-18
CHAPTER XII.

"I am going to the hospital before break
fast tomorrow; it lies some 40 miles out in
the mountains; we go by electric glass train;
glass and electricity, Il contradiction you
will say, but GOMEZ no noise, no motion, will
you go?"
GLADLY"
But" and here she was sad and thought
full, 'this is sad case am going out to look
after The woman is. or was, bosom friend
OF mine, princess by birth, and when in the
world, the struggling world. as you know it,
she was always very ambitious of distinction.
Thinking herself cured OF that, or rather
hoping to become quite cured of it here. she
came TO me only year ago. But alas! In
less than year after arriving here she grew
again ambitious, aud desiring my place as
director or governor of the community, she
even grew so desperate as to tell a falsehood
to some others, who. like herself, had newly
come and had not yet grown strong"
And she was detected? The plot discov-
cred, fortunately, before she had grown for
midable?''
''Oh, no! Not detected. Not nearly so
bad as that, She came and told me the next
day. And she then went and told all to
whom she had talked, and then when the
court sat in judgment she stood up and
made public confession. Then she con-
demned herself to the hospital for half a
year. begged the judge that she should
not be permitted to sentence herself SO Sc
verely; but the judge thought the punish
ment none too hard, and so let her 60 10 the
hospital the full time for which she had
sentenced herself"
For which she had sentenced herself?'
''Yes, you see our hospital here for mental
maiadies and physical ailments is the same.
We try TO be even more gentle with those
who have maladIes of the mind than those
who have ailments of the body; Tor a man
may lose limb, and vet If his mind is clear
he does not suffer nearly as much as one
with an afflicted mind. For the mind must
include all the body; but the body does not
necessarily include the mind entirely. Be.
sides, mental ailmept, rare with us
fortunately, is much more subtle and hard
to master than physical one. Take this
case for example. For generations back hel
family, a most noble Polish one, has been
bitterly impoverished. And you can easily
see how with their pride and poverty to-
gether they transmitted their misery to thi.
poor friend of mine who is now serving out
her time in the hospital"
/ may mention here, however, that ]
found the hospital sort of summer
watering place; not a Saratoga or a New
pOrI, however IL was a CUrlStlaQ place
not noisy in the least or devoted to auv sorI
of flash or tinhorn folly to attract attention
All the lnvalids, mental or physical, from
down in the valley were here. The new
mothers were in a similar retreat little
further on. l found many people com.
ing and going. These fragrant pint
groves being cooler and the air more salubri
Gus aud invigorating than In the grea
valley below. All the mental sick, "con.
victs" we call them in our cities in Chris
tian lands, kept themselves at some sort o.
work in attending on the physical sick
And vet the numerous visitors kept heapine
attentions on the ''convicts;" more atten
tions indeed did they receive than those who
only had bodily ailments. And this wa.
told is always the case here. For example
on the day of my visit my friend, the bare
footed priest, brought a big watermelon
under his arm all the way from the city lol
a doctor, an old-fashioned practitioner, who
had made the almost fatal mistake of pre
scribing physic instead of fruit, and had fol
this condemned himself TO 60 davs in the
Hospital"
1 was so enchanted with the humanity
the heart, the real christianity in ali 1 saw
here that my whole soul was filled with
exultation at the possibilities of the future
"You will have city mere, such city in
magnitude and glory as the world has never
seen," said as We walked the hospital
grounds together.
Psusing for a moment, she raised hei
head and answered: at is possible. But ]
abhor cities. Cities as a rule should moi
be- Then she said after q moments silence
True, we must have centers Each division
ot the earth, natural or artificial, great oi
small, must have a common center, heart
the hands, the feet, all have their functions