OCR Text |
Show WOMAN'S 167 EXPONENT. i friimde, but "ft Three months replied the girl, as if it was only ance, being an in valid- perhaps a one: which character a commonplace affair, and not worth talking' about. must recog-ni- e she is evidently as a type among women. She is very small, On inquiry afterwards concerning the matte rj we were told she had "been drunk and got into a row her hair is short,and almost as white as the driven and been arrested and sent up, as tTiey'call it. She snow; but when she talked of her childhood and was rather a good looking girl, perhaps twenty or the people who figured .conspicuously in the in Church Kirtland, her .delicate face was all a little more. Even this was quite a shock, but her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. and when you see them in hundreds it is simply dreadaglow, -- There were fifty-fowas voice her and ful So striking mannerr and men prisoners on the the picture she formed in my mind, with other side of "the boat. the aged father and, his sublime faith and confi- On arriving, at the Island, the first place i n our dence, both of them' seeming, as it were, so near way, after landing, 'was Charity: Hospital, and we "'the gates ajar," that it was "as though we had went through that entire building, noting . c ur 1 ' every-thingcareful- - seen a vision?' ; , destination Our after leaving the Bonds was the farm and residence of the Reverend Samuel F. Whitney, the. brother of N. k. Whitney, who has resided in Kirtland between fifty-an- d sixty This ends it but must years. hastily, perhaps', suffice for the present, as the subject is much too elaborate for one article. ly. and some walking up and clown, but they were not "were pretty n'early all smoking. The one item of tobacco must be a consideration, for some of the rwbmen smoked, were not quite so many men in the Alms House as there were - : .. women, we were told. .. From there, we went to the Hospital of Incurables, and" clear through, all of which we will leave untold, for tongue or pen can never tell the agony and suffering, the woe and" horrors of the place, though everything is done in the nicest manner possible, and the greatest care taken of the poor afflicted creatures, The Convalescent Hospital is not so3istressing, and one feels a little more cheerful. The Workhouse we visited last, and there were between eleven and twelve hundred in it. One of the superintendents showed us through, and took special pain's to give us cor rect iniormation concerning me:management. he seemed to take special pride, in the kitchen and cooking part of the establishment, and told us they had a head cook who was hired and paid; and forty assistants, who were inmates of the house. too-Ther- e The men and women, had separate departments for each class of cases, from thirty to forty and fifty in a ward, and everything seemed arranged with the utmost care and conVe talked a little with the nurses, sideration. and afterwards with the superintendent. ".Even in this one place, we saw suffering enough to make one heartsick. Next we went to the Penitentiary, and, as it was then the dinner hour, we "had a good opportunity of seeing all the inmates, VISIT TO BLACKWELL'S ISLAND. except those in the cells. Six, hundred men were eating in one room As perhaps manyxf-ou- r readefsmaY1hot Icow" and with bread, and he seemed quite proud of the fact nearly as many women in their part of the much about this island, it may be stated that it is think of We it! asked what that building; only proninety barrels of flour every day. in the East Rirer, and is a long, rather narrow A TTlirA r tv AIM f tka An n r rl were as the number to be seemed women, portion strip of land, belonging to the City of New York. quite large in looking at them, and the warden partments, as is the custom everywhere, andafter It is one of a irroup of islands that are all used showed us the daily' record kept for reference, the superintendent had shown us the men's side for public purposes,but of these,Blackweirs Island which showed 1,763 inmates, and of this number of the house, he called the matron, who took us seems to be the principal one and most conspicuthere were 995 men, 767 women, and one child through the women's side. ous. It is nuit Ui anncaranr. ?mnn;jnoMn .. . -, nwinor n i i a born in the place. The average number, we were rt ; to the style of its architecture and. the sea walls By this time we were too much exhausted, body it had been but is t, 2oo, increasing. The and spirit, to go to see anything so pitiful as the around the shores, which are stoutly built of dark told, warden seemed to our take meaning wrong, and Blind Asylum, but ventured to look in at the In- grey granite. Most of the buildings on the Island "You he the are few think women said, compared SAUC AiiUlll 1U1 UU1UCU. are of the same material, and have a rude utiiy 1111UK. UI U, men?" to on the We we replied contrary over 1,700 women are gathered on that Island, all thought mented sort of appearance, and remind us of it a large proportion. He said, "Now let me tell more or less insane. It is too dreadful to contemyou something else in connection with this matplated but when brdusht face to face with the fact. the olden times. The stone is quarried on the A V of these women ter. I are in one cannot ignore the reality, however repugnant J large proportion tne iaDor has ani Deen done Dy"' conisianajana ' for the terms We men." than ' longer inquired it may be to dwell upon. These terrible condi-- . victs. why, and he replied that they were there for tions of human life are greatly to be deplored, and The. principal buildings oh this Island are the infanticides and the murder of children, abortions, where is the remedyr - tiow can the causes be Penitentiary, the Lunatic Asylum for women, the and we thought, where are the men inwardly hindered? The crowding together of such great Alms House for men, and the Alms House for who have brought these poor outcast women to numbers in large cities is one direct cause it would women, the Work House, Blind Asylum, Charity such a desperate strait. It is certainly a matter seem, and it really is an almost herculean labor Hospital, Hospital for Incurables and Convalesfor serious thought; indeed, one may well exclaim to look after affairs upon such a tremendous scale. cent Hospital. The buildings are all ingood condiwith the poet, As we neared the shore to take the steamer for tion, and erear oains is taken to have the most New York, the men were bringing more patients" "My soul is sick with wrong and outrage perfect order and cleanliness observed. Neverthewhich the With is for the Hospitals, and they called out for three world filled." less it is very distressiug to a sensitive person to stretchers. On these those unable to be carried Later jn' the- - afternoon we saw dozens of .these aj iuuv.il imaci dlllCICU lUjCUlCI III UUC JJJitC. in any other way were placed and carried to the Never can we forget the sights of that day, going male convicts fastened to the great heavy carts Charity Hpspitaf. Weary and sick at heart with alone, without a friend to wlrtm we could give. hauling rock and dirt, etc., and long lines of .them, the distressing sights we had seen, and the six abreast, going from the wharf towards the expression to thoughts and feelings that will alterrible things we had heard, we were glad to go"' most force themselves into words when one looks house. They have shops for all sorts of labor, and men over them. The warden explained that on board the steamer and turn our gaze from that upon so much human suffering and degradation. On the boat .whirfi conveyed-th- e lslagd ot horrors. the prison was conducted on the silent principle, people, there were quite a number of. passengers, but and that no communication b.etween the prisoners few a with were they, only exceptions, persons was allowed, except in teaching and instructing THE LADIES' MASS MEETING. --relative in some friend see or to them about. their employment... Time will not going particular s one or the other of these institutions. permit to tell all, or half, even, in that one The first thing that drew special attention was place. MORMON WOMEN MEET, SPEAK AND RE- an old man who had twin babies in his arms, careSOLVE. Leaving the Penitentiary, the next place we in old an to them over shawl, taking fully wrapped went through, was the Alms House for women. Blackwell's Island to the Infants' Hospital, as his There were between seven and eight hundred in( Concluded.') ticket stated. He was German, and could notc mates, so the matron said, and it really seemed as' speak English enough to tell whose children they if there was no end to them. The way they Following 13 the ad dres3 delivered by were, but he seemed very tender of them and gathered around and chattered was unlike and .s MRS. HANNAH T. KING. poud to show therrt two fine boys, and the ticket more grotesque than anything we had ever seen, said five days old; also giving the name of each. or ever expectitolsee again. They all talked at. We have met to express our most indignant to tne Doat, An ola Irish woman who Deiongea once; some were Irish, some French, some Ger- - feelings at the uncourteous, indelicate, not to when she saw the ladies so interested in the babies man,some Danes or Swedes, and some Americans, say insulting, treatment our sisters have exasked if we would like to see the women prisoners, I but the larger number, by far, were Irish. They perienced oMate in the courts ofour Territory who were down stairs locked up. and when the were nearly all old, but a few were young, and we before the judges, sitting in the chair of jusladies said "yes," she took us down and let us learned in talking to them that they were disabled tice! Questions have been boldly asked of look in through a little vyindow; there were fourin various ways from doing hard work, and had them that even their closest friends would not teen of them goings to the workhouse assort 0 been in the Hospital, because they have presumed to ask them, and feelings of the house of correction; she spied one that she knew were not sick enough to be there, so sent to the tenderest nature have been ruthlessly tramJ and called out to her, "Martha, are you back Alms House, as they had no homes to go to. pled upon! And when some have determined not to answer such questions they have been again," and the girl replied, "Yes," in a tone of What an immense amount of means must be experfect "What made you dojt," pended upon this one island every year. We sent to prison for "contempt of court!" Most said the woman. "0 I couldn't help it," was the went through a part of the Alms House for males, apt is that word, no other could so properly answer. "How much have you got this time V and saw groups of them sitting in the sunshine, express the feelings such conduct most engen- - , . : - they-bake- d V w- T T - 1 " - t ; - . . : but-discharg- self-possessio- n. r X f |