The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-24
portation to the state Hospital at
Tewksbury.
HOME FARM DEPARTMENT


Tewksbury.
HOME FARM DEPARTMENT
The need of new steam heating
plant at the Home Farm is imperative
The present outfit of boilers is old and
a series of additions, the growth of 80
years. Constant repairs and eternal
vigilance are necessary to work the
boilers, while the consumption of fuel
is much larger than would be neces-
sary in a new plant. Application will in
due season be made to the City Coun-
Gil for a special appropriation to pro-
vide the expense of erecting new
plant, the building to include a black
smith and carpenter shop.
What to do with and how to treat
the FOUNDERS who make the Home
Farm their headquarters in the winter
of each year is a problem that greatly
tests the patience and good nature of
the overseers. The FOUNDERS are able
bodied men who support themselves
from May until the cool nights in the
fall of the year force them to seek
shelter in a public institution. Some
of them are employed in the city de-
partments where they receive rs per
day for eight hours time. Others work
on farms in adjoining towns, receiving
their board and 500 per month wages.
They spend their earnings for liquor,
and when their services are no longer
in demand, they indulge in a protract-
ed spree and wind it up by applying
to be sent to the poor house" Their
relatives will not shelter them, and
they have their choice of either the
Home Farm or jail. OF course, they
prefer the almshouse. Their services
on the farm are of some value in the
summer season, but in cold weather
they scarcely earn their salt Besides,
as a rule, the FOUNDERS are a disturb
ing element in the institution. They
live on the principle of rule or ruin;
they defy all disciple; the old and
feeble inmate who happens to possess
few pennies given by some friend, or
who has a small piece of tobacco or
pocket knife, is at the mercy of these
sharks, who watch the opportunity to
appropriate to themselves the pocket
property of their neighbors. With the
return of the warm weather, the
rounder proclaims his contempt for the
poor house" and for the overseers of
the poor, advises everybody on the
premises to follow him. and then, with
out notifying the superintendent or
matron of his intention, sneaks off to
the city and in a few hours his name
is on the payroll of a city department.
Civil service is no barrier to him. He
always has two reputable citizens who
are willing to swear they know him
to be all right; that he resides at a
stated number on a stated street and
he passes on and is at once placed on
the eligible list. In Boston the round
er has been in evidence many years
and his presence and prominence at
the Long Island almshouse became so
pronounced that it was a question who
ran the institution.
The overseers of the poor grappled
with the problem and had the rounder
arrested for vagrancy and sent to the
State Farm, Bridgewater. What shall
Worcester do with the FOUNDERS?
During the year the grounds around
the almshouse have been newly laid
out, grass plots provided, trees and
shrubs planted. The drive from Lin
coin Street to the front entrance of
the administration building has been
changed so as to give better grade
and less abrupt turn from the street.
A drive from Boylston Street direct to
the barns has been made, thus OBJ
waiting the necessity of the scavenger
and farm teams passing through the
east drive from Lincoln Street. The
work has been done from a fully-de-
veloped plan prepared by James
Draper, and much of the labor was
performed by inmates of the institu-
ton