New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-17
Willard Parker Hospital
Discharges Children
All Under Four.
DOLLS WELCOME
TINY PARENTS"
Only One Baby Complete.
ly Cured-Many Wear
Splints or Casts.

Ten more tiny wayfarers came back
from the grim borders of plagueland
yesterday afternoon in the Willard
Parker Hospital, at the foot of East
Sixteenth Street, where one thousand
infantile paralysis patients are con-
fined.
Most Of them did not return from
the far country as they had gone into
it. Their twisted legs were in plaster
casts or on splnts, and their baby
faces sometimes distorted with pain,
when they were carried into the room
where their parents sat eagerly await
ing them. Some will not recover for
years, and some will never walk again.
Not one of them is four years old.
Tommy Is a Hero.
Tommy was hero of the day. He is
Thomas Keegan, three years old if you
please, and the mark on his card vas
80. X" He was the only one who came
out entirely cured. Parents crowded
about him enviously and handled his
sturdy limbs with jealous fingers.
Tommy didn't like attention and, being
Irish, struck out with furious fists.
The other fathers and mothers turned
to their own children with tears in
their eyes.
The information room from which
the patients were sent out was crowd
ed. Parents whose babies were to be
given 70 them, parents with babies i'll
or dying, were there. Outside was the
long, tragic row of mothers who come
four times a day to nurse their chill
dren. They peered fesrfully and visit
fully at the little ones who were car
ried out.
Parents Brought Dolls.
When a child is to be released from
hospital, which happens eight weeks
after he enters it, the parents are in
formed by telegraph. When they come
they bring the clothes that he is 10
wear away. All these little dresses
yesterday were new, and most of them
were gaily adorned with pink and blue
ribbons, probably prettier clothes than
the child had ever had. Most Of the
mothers brought along the youngsters
favorite doll TO welcome the patient
back.
The first child carried out was Rosie
Sebastian, who was cured except for
slight facial paralysis. Seeing how well
she looked, a cheer went up from the
line of parents. Rosie's mother took
her baby proudly, while Rosie's father
made a clumsy effort to tie on her
brand new bonnet, and Rosie's aunt
came forward with a doll.
Kisses Attendants.
Two-year-old Elizabeth Calls, who
came next, was able TO walk. Her case
had been considered hopeless. The
sacrament had been administered, and
her mother said that for a month she
had prayed nightly that the child
might die. Her little sister WAS a VIC
tim of the plague, and her nnrsemald
is still in hospital with il. Elizabeth
insisted upon kissing all the attendants
goodby.
Let me get out of this" said man
who had come TO have the death certif-
, cate of his baby made out.
The next child had both legs in
splints. Her mother did not notice un-
til an attendant called them TO her at
tention. Then she sat on bench,
buried her face in her arms and refused
to be comforted.
81 guess I'm lucky the other six
haven't got it, too" she said after
time.
Many Crippled.
Another child wore the braces that
it can never be without. baby thirteen
months old had its legs in splints,
and another was paralyzed in its facial
muscles and its left leg.
Many parents who did not speak Eng
lish could not understand why their
children were held.
Fathers and mothers were allowed TO
see their children once. One woman
told how she had hired out as scrub
maid in order to see her baby every
day.