Show OLDAGE HOMES IN AUSTRIA Such of the old people as have clothes of their own or have frien swilling s-willing to provide them with clothes wear them while the less fortunate are supplied by the poor law department depart-ment with wihat they require In the latter case the dress though as plain as possible is warm and comfqrtable and of the kind worn by the artisan classof gray or brown homespun or darkcolored serge It is not uniform indeed as it is made in the building it is exceedingly probable that they who wear itat least if they be women wo-men have aVoice in deciding its fa con With the exception of the invalids in-valids all are required to keep their clothes in good repair and to pay a certain amount of attention to their own personal appearance These are points which especially in Vienna are strongly insisted upon for the city does not choose to have its old pensioners pen-sioners going about dirty or in rags The hall porter has strict orders to allow no one to go out until he has tidied up and this regulation is warmly approved of by a majority of the inmates themselves To an outsider out-sider it certainly seems superfluous for most of the old people are the very picture of neatness They all I appear to have a good supply of clothes One of the inmates of the Prague home insisted on showing me his wardrobe ward-robe In addition to the rough gray suit he was wearing he had a pair of dark trousers and waistcoat a black coat and a long blue overcoat all in thoroughly good condition He had too under his care a silk gown which he displayed with infinite pride It was his wifes wedding dress he told me His wife who lives in another wing of the building had it seems handed it over to him for greater safety She always wears it though when we pay visits he remarked incidentally in-cidentally One of the laundry conditions condi-tions of the homes sounds in English ears as a sorry jest yet perhaps after all it has its raison detre The inmates in-mates are warned that it is only heir bed linen and clothes that are washed free of charge not their Putzwasche i e lace frills and furbelowsThe Nineteenth Century |