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A HOUSE OF MERCY. 23
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
. At A Few This High Days Institution Ga...
infirmary was an object of especial care to the Sisterhood . Several of the penitents appeared serious invalids . Two or three were
supposed to be in consumptions . These poor girls excited the deepest sympathy . They were carried in the arms of their
companions up and down stairs ; sate or reclined wrapped up in shawls in the infirmary , or were propped with pillows upon the seats in
the garden when taken out for fresh air . There reclining in the sunshinethe other girls crowded round them with tender
soli-, citude , presenting them with little _bouqiiets of flowers , or casting compassionate looks upon them . They were also frequently prayed
for in the chapel . The Warden said , " Perhaps I might be inclined to accuse him
of hardness , and want of common sympathy , but in very truth he must confess that this state of things soon disgusted him ; that
he , after close observation , soon made up his mind that the infirmary was a mistake . " When his plans were matured , he
announced the astounding intelligence that the surgery and the infirmary would be done away with . The invalids would be sent
to a hospital . This establishment was a penitentiary , not a hospital ; it must be used for its legitimate _piirpose . He and the
Sisters had to cure diseased minds , not diseased bodies . This announcement at first was hardly credited , it appeared so cruel ,
so monstrous in its want of sympathy . The tender hearts of the Sisters were greatly distressed ; but , as the authority of the Warden
is supreme , his will was forthwith carried out . Of the invalids three were carefully removed to a hospital where all was
comfortably prepared for them , and the infirmary was turned into a class-room .
As the sagacious mind of the " unsympathetic " Warden had foreseenthe sick girlsno longer the supreme objects of interest and
solicitude , in their little , world , began to recover with astonishing rapidity . For two out of the three cases , I believe , a fortnight at
the hospital sufficed . The other , a more obstinate case , but in no degree seriousrequired a somewhat longer sojourn in the hospital
ward ; but she , also , in due course , returned in health to the Penitentiary . Two out of these three girls , supposed to be at death ' s door
less than two years ago , have now in good health recommenced their life in the outer -world . One is gone to an excellent situation in the
having north of there Eng comfortabl land , the e other prospects is now opening on her for voyage her . to America ,
I was anxious to learn what appeared to be the result of the system of training and discipline pursued in this Penitentiary . The
Warden reminded me that , as girls were received into this institution nominally for two years , and as he himself had not yet been fully
that term at the head of the establishment , he could scarcely speak of the effects which would flow from the present _sj'stem of
management . He could , however , show me some letters from girls who
A House Of Mercy. 23
A HOUSE OF MERCY . 23
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 1, 1858, page 23, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01031858/page/23/
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