On this page
-
Text (1)
-
A LUNATIC VILLAGE. 33
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Nected Happy Or Not With As Is We The A ...
cloth , and waited on by the farmer and his "wife , who ate at a separate board . Dr . Parigot one day taking- notice of this arrangement
, the man replied , " What "would you have us do ?—? iotre petite dame must be of good family , and we think a great deal of her . "
" Nevertheless , " said Dr . _Parig'ot , " you only get the pauper allowance for her . " " Quite enoughMonsieur le Docteur ; we are
fond of her ; nothing would pay us for , our trouble , but we have no children , and she is company for us . "
Here again is a second instance—a father , in dying * , had recommended to his daughter ' s care a poor crazy fellow whom he had
known from birth , and with- whom he had played , in their mutual childhood . When this young woman married , she took care to
have the fool put down with the rest of her dowry ! Providence watched over the _strang-e investment , and the fool lived to be near
a hundred years old . In his latter days the husband and wife rebuilt their' house ; " but they left the little room in which the fool
, slept untouched , without any * regard to the convenience and the symmetry of their new buildingbecause it was endeared to the old
soul who had lived in it so long , -. Sometimes the relatives of the patients come in for a share of he good offices , and when they are too
poor to give presents they often receive them . One day Dr . Parigot visited an _ejDileptie youth . As he was always well looked afterand
, as the Doctor knew that his relations came to see him every year , he asked the mistress of the house if they made her presents extra to the
regular allowance . She smiled , and answered , " Joseph ' s parents are as poor as I am myself ; they travel on foot , and I keep them
for a week , and when they go away again I give them bread and lard to eat on the journey ; those are our presents ! "
To conclude our remarks on the sane population of Gheel , it will be easilunderstood that a strong sentiment of pride in their
mission operates y in each family , and in the town and districts . A general surveillance is exercised by each and allwhich would
, bring instant shame on the cruel or neglectful nourricier . Such abuses as were the mere effect of custom or of ignorance have been
removed by constant and intelligent medical supervision , and no asylum artificially conducted can compare with the healthy freedom
of Gheel . The most suspicious madman forgets his suspicions in the family circle . Instead of keepers , he only sees farmers and
peasants intent on their own business , and anxious for his help in cultivating their land or in plying their trades . Neither is it
possible unjustly to retain a profitable patient , since the very work whichmakes him profitable promotes his mental equilibrium , and
, there is nothing to hinder his application to the medical authorities for dismissal . To stand well with the administration and the
doctors , and to obtain a succession of _g-ood patients , such , on the economical side ( but that is far from being his only thought , ) is
, the ambition of the nourricier pf Gheel . B . R . P . ( To he continued , )'
vol .. vir . X >
A Lunatic Village. 33
A LUNATIC _VILLAGE . 33
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 1, 1861, page 33, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01031861/page/33/
-