The San Francisco call., 1906-08-19

But, doctor, il will kill me to have
the tent open all night, with the prob
ability of snow before morning" COM
planned a fragile patient, woman. one
bitterly cold day last January. The
thermometer registered zero. and the
landscape radiating from the camp for
miles was feather with snow. She had
just arrived during the afternoon, hav-
ing been given up by several leading
Philadelphia practitioners.
Kill you, madam? There is no such
word as kill here. Nature, given a
free hand, seldom or never kills. 1t is
we who kill ourselves. If it SHOWS be-
one side of your snug, airy quarters,
but meanwhile II had better remain
open"
And open 1t remained that night,
just as it has remained open ever since.
The patient? She was received as an
jncurable at the camp. Five months
later she had graduated, so TO say, 10
the class OF arrested cases, and she is
now near the beekoning goal Of recoy-
cry.
Camp Piney Woods is divided. as In
dicated, into three regiments-cures,
arrested cases and incurables. No one
save General NeaIy and his staff is
made aware OF the distinction with
respect to the several score patients in
camp.
Now and then a consumptive, know
ing this TO be an asylum of foriorn
hope. will prove downright rebellious.
Kindly arguments are brought to bear
on her or him in such instances, for
while military discipline is maintained,
no one is absolutely compelled to sub
nit. There is always the alternative Of
quitting the camp.
Only month ago a bad case was
received young woman of wealth
who never in her life had slept with
windows opened when the temperature
out of doors was under seventy.
She, like the case already cited,
strongly objected to sleeping in the
open and declared her doctor at home
had always warned her against catch
ing cold.
Miss So and So" replied the suln-
van County physician, I'VE have one
set of rules here, and they are designed
for every one. Several hundred, even
thousand, persons have obeyed them
without suffering serious conse-
quences. II you insist upon special
rules you may be accommodated at
home or elsewhere, but not heren
Miss So and SO decided TO return
home the next morning. and she sue
cumbed fortnight after reaching
New York.
Had she remained in Sullivan Coun
ty she would not have found II so
deadly dull and rigorous as she imag-
ined. For even the prospect Of death
and the knowledge that his or her
case is registered as incurable do not
damp the sunny normal spirits of the
camp.
Once or twice a week are given open
air concerts, the musicians being i'm
ported from Liberty or some adjacent
city or community. AS negro melodies
~Tx
ed folk, a quartet Of dusky maidens
and singers has for two seasons been
d fixture of the camp.
Asked II his patients were inclined
to favor somber music, General Nealy
said:
''One might think some of them.
whose chances OF surviving are one In
a hundred. might show their depres-
sion in their choice of airs, but no So
In fact, none of my people (the pa
tients are referred to by the command
ant as his people or friends) take
themselves or their condition over
seriously. They prefer popular airs
almost as a unit, and display a uni
form optimism and philosophy which
are marvellous under the circum-
stances. Many of them are musicians
themselves and in the absence OF the
paid musicians are quite able and will
ing TO use their talents for the general
entertainment.
''One night last winter, as an in
stance, quite blizzard broke over the
camp, and the roads were almost i'm
Rassable. The professional entertain
ers failed to put in an appearances, and
their places wer successfully taken by
four of our friends"
Only a small percentage of consump-
tyes at Camp Piney Woods are bed
ridden, aud most OF them would never
be catelogued as invalids IL seen by a
casual wayfarer. In fact. on informa-
ton OF those in charge, these victims
OF the greatest scourge of civilization,
which numbers $4,000 victims in the
metropolis and upward of 100000 in
the United States, tithe of our Amer
lean population dying annually of con-
sumption, behave habitually as though
nothing were the matter with them.