The Helena independent., 1893-08-20
HER LIFE WORK HEROIC.
Dorothea 1 Dix, Lately Deceased,
Accomplished Many Reforms
That Were Needed.
She Began Work With the Insane
Poor OF Her Native
State.
Her Influence Extended to All Parts OF
the World--she Aidcd seamcn
Also.

Dorothea i. Dix died July II, 1887, age
u Her life was one of toll, privation AM
self sacrifice. But few women or men hav
ever accomplished so much for their fcl
lows. She was born in 1902, and her earl
life was bleak, humiliating and painful
Her father not being able to take care o
her, she soon left his roof and found al
abiding place, but scarcely a home, will
her grandmother in Boston. Possessed O
exceptional energy and ambition, she earl,
determined to fit herself for a teacher
While one side of her character seemed tha
pf an earnest, unenth,lsiastic worker, th,
other was exceptionally sensitive and full
of beautiful ideals She reveled in poetr,
and worshipcd intellectual greatness, bu
poverty and ignorance appealed to he
strongly, and she early began to work fo
poor and neglected children. For these sh,
opened school In the barn of her grand
mothers house, which was the beginning
OF the beneficsnt work afterward carried
on ut Warren Street chapel-now the Bar
! nard Memorial on Warrenton street.
Miss Dix also had small day school
which afterward developed into a larg
combined boarding and day school. Whil
she had charge of this school. which re
quired the most assiduous labor and ex
ecutive ability. she wrote book that be
came familiar friend to many families {
generation age. 1t was called the ''Sci
ence Of Common Things" and in com
prehensivc, easy manner gave valuable in
formation about the ordinary things used
in the household. 1t had place in almost
every home and was standard reference.
One could find in it information about ev-
erything from a needle to a nutmeg, and in
ifr
consulted as an oracle This little book
passed through co editions. Other later
books were Garland of Flora" Private
Hours" "Alice and Ruth, "Prisons and
Prison DISCIPLINE"
At last, on account of poor health, the
school was relinquished, and she became
goyerness in the family of Dr. w. e. Chan
ming While a member of his family she
went to the island of St. Croix and OBJ
tanned her first glimpse of the evils of
slavery.
After her return to Boston, being in bet
ter health, she again took up school work
until 1886, when she broke down, and &C
companied by friends went abroad for rest
and change. She had saved enough money
to afford her q modest income.
1t was not until 1871 that Miss Dix was
brought face to face with the horrible con-
dition that existed in the prisons and aims
houses OF Massachusetts. She visited the
Jail at East Cambridge and found a ter
rible overcrowding Of Innocent, guilty and
insane prisoners. She then visited all the
other prisons of the state, finding such a
horrible condition of affairs that she adj
dressed memorial to the legislature on
the subject, giving a graphic description OF
the abuses suffered by the insane Door Her
enthusiasm enlisted the attention of DR.. S.
G. Howe, Charles Sumner and others.
Public opinion was aroused by the horrors
unveiled, politicians were overwhelmed, a
bill for relief carried and an order passed
to provide state accommodations for 300 in
sane people.
Then the conviction came to her that all
over the United States the same appaIAin..
story was true of the wretched fate of thr
pauper insane. She felt that she must visit
state after state, collect facts, besiege legis-
latures and arouse public opinion. 1t was
q stupendous work, but this frail woman
with grasp Of intellect worthy states
man, accomplished it. Massachusetts
Rhode Island and New Jersey all show her
work today. Pennsylvania followed. She
made long journeys, north and south. east
and west, always carrying hope for the un-
fortunate. In nine years she had carried for
reforms the legislatures of Indiana, Illinois, |
Tennessee, Missouri, MississipDi
Louisiana, Alabama, South and North |
Carolina and Maryland, besides establish
ing an asylum at Halifax and St. John. |
N. B.
Miss Dix, on her return, became inter-
ested in the work of saving shipwrecllcd
on Sable island, which had long
been called 1.-The graveyard of seamcn.n
While visiting the place a wreck occurred, |
and she saw how inadequate to save life |
were the means at hand. Through the CO.
operation of several citizens of Boston.
Miss Dix sent hfeboats aud other life sav,
ing paraphernalia. The day after these
arrived large ship was wrecked on the
island, and by means of this apparatus $50
souls were saved.
In 1s54-5 she investigated. not without
the condition OF insane hospitals
in Scotland and found in them & repetition
of what she had seen here. She at once
began moving the great and cumbrous en-
gne OF English law to reform these abuses,
but 1t was not until 1857, after years Of labor
and opposition, that the object was accom-
plished. Her attention was then called to
similar abuses in the Channel islands. Aft
lum for the humane and scientific treatment
OF the demented was built She also in
spected the asylums in Rome, finding so
much to condemn that she obtained an
audience with Pope Plus TX. She was re-
ceiyed with tho greatest kindness. and her
revelations intently listened to. Later the
pope visited the asylum and found so many |
things that at q second audience |
he thanked Miss Dix that she, "a woman
End Protestant, had crossed the seas to
call his attention to these crueIly treated
members of his flock"
On her return TO America, until the
out Of the civil war in 1861. Miss
Dix devoted herself to hospital work, aid.
ing new institutions and directing older
ones. In all she founded 80 hospitals, be
sides two in Japan that owe their inception |
to her influence.
During the war she devoted herself to
hospital work She WAS superintendent OF |
nurses, having the entire control Of their
and assignment to duty. At
the close of the war she was instrumental
In raising funds for the great national mon |
ument for dead soldiers at Fort Monroe |
Boston Herald.
Hucklsn's AInfGA saivs
TITO Bent Salye In the world for Cuta