The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-07-30
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ABSOLUTELY PURE
ABSOLUTELY PURE

has passed. when even the medical staff
scarcely dared hope for her recovery.
THE CoNsUMPTIvEs' WARD.
On every floor are three bathrooms
ana q Rltchen. with a steam-stove where
The food, brought up on dumb walters
from the main Kitchen, is kept warm.
Inc pantrles where china and glass are
Kept have the same immaculate order
tb9t prevails upstairs in the closet where
carbolized gauze aud such like indicated
dressings are put away. The con-
sumptive wards are the most pitifuI parts
of the hospital. Figure to yourself
twenty men, spectres of men, with gaunt
forms ana hollow eyes, crawling from
chair to piazza. from piuzza to bed. Not
one but is sure The will soon be WE'LL -
not one but is coughing mis- life away
day by day. night by night. The women
DO not come to this ward SO soon. When
there are children at home, mother will
die In harness sooner thar leave them.
mere are twenty-seven Sisters In
charge. each with some special work in
hand. They are dove-like women, these
gentle Sisters, with their soft voices and
winning little ways. 1t is a fact, thai af-
ter three hours in conversation with Sis
ter Petrie, who showed ME the workings
of the hospital, l could not raise my voice
to concert pitch for the rest OF the day,
and conversed with my friends in a sub
dued murmur. On the lower floor you
will see a Sister putting up prescriptions
In the pharmacy, another troJting round
with bundles of linen for the linen room.
and another welding an iron In the
SIT I'm laundry. You can get a good idea
OF the magnitude of the work by looking
at the bread room, where an apartment as
large rs an ordinary drawing room is given
over to bread. which is Gus by a machine
and Suffered by the cart load, almost.
But the kitchen tells its own story-an
immense hall. lined with FURNISHED cop
pers, for beef tea, soup, potatoes, meats
and vegetables. three great machines for
tea, coffee and boiling water. a range az
large as a hall bedroom, aud rows on
rows of steam stoves. 1t was my good
fortune to be admitted just as prepara-
lions were under way for a meal, aud the
same order and dainty precision reigned
here as in the wards. Over in the sew
ing room you will see several little girls.
darning stockings. perhaps, or learning
to sew. Sister explains their presence.
Poor little ones, their parents dieu here,
and where were they to go?" In the main
building You will see a small room which
gives still another side of the work. 'lt
is the poor room," said the Sister, and eX-
planned that the table would be flied at
meal times with homeless men, to whom
food was served.
A ~CREEDLESs CHARITY.
The work of St. Francis Hospital ex-
tends to every part of the city and even
beyond its limits. It benefits are ex-
tended to all, irrespective Of religious
creed. social condition, color or national
ity. 1t is enough that the patient is sick
and suffering-the broader Christianity
forgets the limits Of creed, and piuds up
his wounds, a-kin2 nothing In return. It
is difficult to see where the hundreds OF
accident cases that come in during a
single month would 20 Ii the hosDitat
were not in existence. The City Hospital
could not possibly accommodate s many,
ever with the aid of Christ Hospital. and
many Of the patients ale without home or
friends or the money that brings paid at
tendance within their reach. 1t is this
class which St. Francis aim to reach and
with which its wards are full.
The medical staff is as unsectaria2 a;
all the rest. 1t is composed of Jersey
City physicians. with one exception, with
DIR. j. ID. McGlll as medical dir, ctor, and
Drs. Watson, Varick, Lamp5on. Nc
Laughlin, Craig, Vreelund. Nevlu,
Parker. Bozeman, Corning, Bnll, Broa-
erick, Craven, NJ. j. Smith aud Faison on
the staff.
After all this inspection, the question
will certainly rise in your mind, as it did
in mine, "Wnere does the money come
from?" When you see barrels of bread,
hugh watts of soup. eggs by the hundred,
mountains of linen. avenues of white
cots. you begin to realize that it takes IL
corresponding sum of money to keep
everything going. The funds como just
as the patients do-from Catholic and
Protestant alike, from poor and rich,
principally Door, from grateful ones who
have been healed within its walls, from
thankful ones who appreciate the bless
ing of health. Sister Perrie told me that
it was almos impossible to give off hand
a summarized statement OF finances. The
money comes in In small quantities, as
collected from door to door by the
Sisters outside, and is used immedi-
t,od, delicacies-for nothing m amiss.
The hospital is absolutely dependent on
voluntary contributions. it has no aid
from state or city, receives no regular
stated sum for support. and struggles
blessed work. The railroad men KIN ow it
well, and every month, when the pay-car
comes around, the sister receives II little
contribution, from a penny TO twenty
five cents. perhaps, but something at
least from every man, Catholic or Pro-
sense of premiership, and to remove the
depressing sense of partnership that right
ly or otherwise, Expresses the patient in
the City Hospital. House servants set
aside a small sum every month, to give
1.-The good. Sister," From hundreds Of
sources, in tiny or large supplies, the
comes in. but it is not easy TO
make it go around, and one can under
stand the patient sigh with which Sister
says, "Oh it is hard work to keep the
hospital going.
AS you issue from the broad hall and
stand in shady Hamilton Park, boxing
up at the great building where tragedy is
an everyday matter, and the struggle
against death and disease is always
waging in those quiet wards, you will
think quite differently of this great,
broad. warm-hearted charity, and what
was before only a name will become a
sweet and sustaining memory.