widely extended over every form of sorrow and sickness that can befall human nature, has not till late years thought of the incurably sick. It was probably supposed that our workhouses took this class of persons under their care, for it was known that they were not maintained in hospitals. Yet it is pitiable to think of the large number of hopelessly sick and bedridden who are shut up in our workhouses as they are at present constituted. The strict rules enforced in many of them as to receiving the visits of friends is one of the reasons which causes them to be deemed little better than prisons. It has been repeatedly alleged, that if it were otherwise persons would be attracted to them, tempted to give up their homes, and thus impose upon the public charity. But at the best, and with all the improvements that can be made, there must always be a certain degree of restraint imposed upon the inmates by the rules necessary for every large establishment, which would prove a check upon any temptation to desert their homes. And it is said that in France, the institutions which maintain many hundreds of the aged and infirm in greater comfort than is enjoyed in our workhouses, do not attract persons from their homes. In England, therefore, where the love of home is pre-eminently strong, we need hardly fear that it would be the case. The regularity of hours will always be distasteful to those who have enjoyed independence all their lives; and even were the food made more palatable than it is at present, it would not be preferred to the self-chosen fare, for the sameness, unavoidable in such places, will always be disliked. So great is the love of liberty and choice in these matters, that working women have been known to prefer bringing their own scanty meals to their workrooms, to sharing in one general fare, though of a superior quality. In former days some provision was made for the more decent poor by the founding of almshouses, which was what may be called a "fashionable" mode of charity with our ancestors. The remarks on this subject by the late Bishop Armstrong are full of interest as bearing upon this point,* and give a very true and touching picture of what the piety of our ancestors accomplished, and what we, their descendants, are neglecting. But, like other regrets for the past, it is useless and utterly vain as regards a remedy for present evils, and in as far as it proposes to bring back a former state of things. We cannot revive the habits of bygone ages if we would, and we may, therefore, believe it to be undesirable, in the order of God's providence, to do so. Another condition of affairs is come into existence, and our present work is to see that we make the best of it, checking as far as possible the evil, and encouraging and calling out the good in it. A system incapable of such a process as this ought not to belong to a Christian society. Such a custom is more common in these days amongst societies than individuals. Members belonging to various trades thus combine to provide for the poorer members of their craft. This, however, can but afford partial relief, and the only remedy for the state of things which Bishop Armstrong laments, is either to give the deserving poor a more comfortable shelter in our workhouses, or to supply the aged with sufficient outdoor relief to enable their relations or friends to maintain them at home. This plan is much more practicable in the country than in *"Life of Bishop Armstrong," p. 191. London, and we do not see why there it should not be universally adopted. It is there chiefly that the attachment to home makes it desirable to do so. The fireside corner of the old cottage, inhabited for the greater part of a life, the village church in which worship has been offered, and in the churchyard of which rest the relations of the aged persons,-all these things have no parallel in our crowded cities, where homes are contained in one dreary room of a narrow street or court, and where the graves of a family are probably scattered in distant cemeteries. In the midst of such families, too, it is often impossible that the sick and aged can be maintained, where father, mother, and numerous children all share the same room for sleeping and living in. For these, therefore, a more comfortable asylum should be provided. The authoress of "Sunshine in the Workhouse " gives instances in which she has successfully arranged, by the aid of private assistance, to keep aged persons from the workhouse, and this seems to be a very legitimate *Extract from Mr. J. B. Browne's Report of Pauper Schools for 1855" There are many workhouses in which classification is impossible, which are, therefore, necessarily, schools of vice, and which, as I conceive, the legislature would not suffer to continue open year after year if all that occurs in them were publicly known. H-Workhouse in Lancashire may not be the worst in my district, because there are many so very bad that it is hard to say which is entitled to that pre-eminence.” The inspection does not, therefore, seem to be a sufficient remedy for such cases as these. In some instances it takes place at intervals of one or two years. Even gross outward and material defects could hardly be discovered by such a process, and the moral state of things could not possibly be known. mode of applying charity, and a likely means of encouraging persons to exert themselves in maintaining, at least partly, their aged relations. One shilling a week, added to the two shillings and sixpence allowed by the parish, is found to be sufficient to keep them at home. Those who have not visited workhouses cannot believe how many there are in them who have absolutely no friends or relations. It is sad to see such on the "visiting days," and to hear them lament their loneliness. Are there none, therefore, to care for such as these, none to cheer the lonely heart and forlorn spirit, and be a friend to the friendless? The general impression that exists as * The following description is from the graphic pen of Sir F. B. Head, and though the scene was one belonging to the state of things prior to the new Poor Law, yet the picture is equally true at the present time, and must be familiar to every one who has visited workhouses. In one room he finds a group of "worn-out men, with nothing to do, with nothing to cheer them, with nothing in this world to hope for, with nothing to fear; gnarled into all sorts of attitudes, they look more like pieces of ship timber than men. In another room are seen huddled together in similar attitudes a number of old, exhausted women, clean, tidy, but speechless and deserted. In large, airy bedrooms, we find men and women all bedridden. As we passed between two ranges of tressels almost touching each other, nothing was to be seen but a set of wrinkled faces, which seemed more dead than alive. Many had been lying there for years, many had been inmates of the poorhouse for fourteen, fifteen, and eighteen years; few seemed to have any disorder. They were wanting nothing, asking for nothing, waiting for nothing, but their death." Elsewhere he gives the following suggestions for the treatment of such persons :— to the class of persons who claim parochial relief is no doubt the real cause of whatever harshness may exist in "As to the provision for the aged, the commissioner submitted to the opinion of the meetings that, instead of being thrown amongst children and young men and women, their comforts would be materially increased by their being kept together. He asked whether quietness was not one of the kindest charities which could be bestowed on age? whether a diet as well as a home might not be provided for them, properly suited to their infirmities? and last, though not least (if there was no one to deprive them of this benefit), whether many additional comforts and indulgences might not be granted to old people, beyond what could or should be afforded for every description of applicants?" In the last sentence lies one of the chief suggestions which we are now urging upon the attention of our readers. It was thought that the new system would cease to attract the aged poor to the workhouse, as well as the able-bodied. It has not been found, however, that they can be excluded, and notwithstanding the system of repulsion rather than of attraction which has been adopted, some urgent necessity seems still to compel a large number of aged poor to seek the shelter of the union. It will be greatly for the interest of those who enter from absolute need, that persons not in such circumstances should be discouraged or excluded, for then we should lose the suspicion that all are the undeserving, or, at least, such as might otherwise be provided for. In some instances we have seen very praiseworthy and humane arrangements made by Boards of Guardians for the aged poor; one ward being set apart for the occupation of the more deserving married couples, or those who have been ratepayers in the parish; separate compartments are provided for them, and thus those who have spent their lives together are not divided at the close, but are able to nurse and tend each other to the last. It is a miserable |
