Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1915-08-18
SOME INDUSTRIES
At STATE HOSPITAL
Brownsville Institution for COlored
Insane Doing Good Work.
SPIRIT OF ADMINISTRATION.
Various Types Of Industry---An Ideal
Community Of Social Workers.

Six years ago. a small way-station.
an old-fashioned store and postoffice.
"dsestrick' school.a quaint little Epis-
copal chapel. with a thinly scattered
group of conservative homes. constitu-
ted the village of Brownsville. on the
w. u. a. Atwenty-two miles from Bal
timore. and six miles from Annapolis
Then it was said of drowsy, privin-
cial Brownsville that the village would
never awaken until Gabriel had sound
ed a last lusty horn. But miracle of
changel Brownsville has awakened
from the old existing order of things.
not to the trump of Gabried. eitherb but
to the horn of progress sounded by a
man Of practical ideals and demon
! strable theories.
Covering a hillside where six years
ago Crownsvillians were wont To hunt
the rabbit and quail. is an institution
for the colored insane of Maryland.
teeming with industry and progress
and back of the institution. the impell-
| ing force OF it's success. is the exec
utive ability and humanitarianism of
the Superintendent, Robert P Winter
DDS of occupation amusement and re-
education in the care and cure of
darkened minds. the institution, as a
whole. is an eloquent witness.
A visit to the Brownsville State Hos
pital is as interesting as "a stroll
| through a museum. There are no es-
Decial visiting days. one may drop i'm
any day, at any hour. The official
sff vsy cutru, eosatr eoiaoet
staff is very courteous and the thous-
andth visitor is conducted through
with as much obliging cheerfulness as
the first. And. wherever one goes, the
| mind registers agreeable impressions,
| cheerfulness. order, industry and shin
| ing, sweet-smelling cleanliness, re-
markable in an institution where some
| 335 negroes are quartered Greeting
the eye with pleasing effect are pretty,
| bright rugs schattered here and there
over smooth. shining floors; vases of
wild flowers in season standing in the
| center of long. white procelain-topped
dining tables, in the corners of long
corridors odd rustic tables, bearing
prettily tinted willow baskets, filled
with flowers thoughtful home-like
touches in every possible place tomit--
igate hospital severity.
In the dormitory for women and the
industrial shop for men. one sees at
active work the fundamental princi-
pie of psychological therapeutics as di-
| rected by the Superintendent and dem
onstrated in various stages of develop
ment throughout the entire institu-
ton. Patients are brought here whose
mentality is so lowered they have to
be treated like infants. AS soon as
the sleeping intelligence stirs. the pa
tient is given a lesson and a task to
| develop the strength of the cropping
mind. The Superintendent aims not
| only to cure the diseased mind, but to
send the discharged patient back his
home healthier and more useful cit
| izen. He handles with a skillfully ap-
praising mind the potential anomalies
of his household. They live i'm mem
tally elevating environment and the
possibilities for development of each
| case is studied with individual inter
| est. and wherever a talent or marked
ability is detected il is given help and
| encouragement.
A remarkable piece of work from an
artistic point of view is a large paint
ing of an ocean liner, executed by
patient who had followed the water a
| greater part of his life. while the
drawings, the carpentry. the basketry
of King Philip" religious paranoid,
are of especial interest He is an ex-
traordinary man, singularly versatile.
When asked where he was taught. he
will say God gave him the power
whom God chooses to dignity, needs
no teacher among men"
The Industrial Shop is bright and
airy. filled with the pungent smell of
freshly gathered broom corn, cat-tails.
hickory strips and willow strips still
fragrant with the sun and dew. Pleas
ant order prevails aplong the workers.
who display remarkable interest and
enthusiasm, and take pride i'm showing
their work to visitors. The patients
here are all the pupils of machinist,
who has been with the institution from
the beginning. This man was at first
pupil of the Superintendent, who
planned the Industrial Shop and nurs-
ed it in its infancy.
Since then so many industries have
been added that it is now possible to
divert all types from the highest to
the lowest. Every kind of willow ware
IS turned out here. especially baskets
and hampers to delight housewife, so
substantial and ornamental are they.
Some excellent modelling is done also.
iardiniers smoking sets and quaint
candlesticks. AS carpenters, the pa
tients can make anything, from stools
to lathe wheel, including toys of all /
kinds, among them well-made boats
and gaily1colored birds that wriggle
their tails and dip their bills.
These things are sold at reasonable i
prices and one may buy brooms and
straw mats and rugs, and every kind
of porch and bungalow furnishing here
also household linen. pantry supplies
and everyday clothes Housewives i'm
the country need not go to the city to
have their rag balls converted into car
pets. There are Ions for that purpose
az the Crownsyille State Hospital. The
work of the patients is for sale. be-
cause with a large force of men and