DEATH IN A WORKHOUSE.

Inangahua Times, Volume 95, Issue 95, 20 September 1878, Page 2

DEATH IN A WORKHOUSE.

Somo interesting slrotchos of tho iihudy sido of London IKo nro appearing iv tho Pull Mall BudfeoN • Tho writer, who calls himself One of tho London Lnzzjrom writes :— When any ono of us falls sick ho goos to a workhouso infirmary, as nono ot your rospcctablo hospitals will havo anything to do with him, uiilosi ho happens to moot with an accident or is afflicted with a raro disoase. In tho former onso they must admit him. Thou it may perhaps bo nil tho bottar for scionco, but it 18 all tho worse for Iho suhjoot. Whon any of my acquaintance go to tho workhouso infirmary I never fail to visit them. It dons Iho poor follows good nnd it serves myself too. Thov seldom go to such a plnoo nnlosß they aro very low indeed, and then they do not get woll again. I know ono placo whoro tho consumptiyo patients nro nil plncod in tho snmo ward. Tho beds aro staokod as close as they enn lie. Whcna man's last hour draws near everybody in tho room is apprised of it. A tall screen is drawn round his bodi whioh is a pretty plnin intimation to tho rest of tho pntionts ns well as to tho party himself, of what is about to happen , and must bo horribly trying to tho footings of tho weaker. As to tho dying man himself, I shivor to think of what ho feels. It must bo somothing like tho condomnod coll in gaol— l mean tho nnrrow placo onclosod by that screen. At night the nearest gaslight is left in full blnzo, whilo all the rest are turnod down, thus concentrating gonaral nttention ou tho fatal spot, And when death takes place, all tho preparations for burial— tho washing, shrouding, and putting in tho coffin— are made upon the bod whero tho potion^ breathed his lost. In tho samo ward, if a putient shows signs of recovery, ho is hurried out of bod ns soon as he can moyo. And hero comes the most astonishing port of tho business. All tho stronger patients, concerning whoso recovery thoro oan be no doubt, aro sont off to other wards, whoro they havo nothing to do but got woll at their lortsuro. Meanwhile tho three or four wonkly ones,— who aro kept bohind puroly on account of thoir weakness, nro compollod to mako nil tho beds and do oil tho drudgory of tho ward, 1 always visit such ot my friends as take rcfugo in tho workhouso infirmary for nnothor renson. Hero I learn a good many secrets worth monoy. Jt is astonishing what revelations nro made somotimes by a dying vagabond. Tho most sbirtlesa and unlucky mouchcr of his timo will turn out to bo a man. of birth and oduoation. And such stories as '.hey have to toll 1 Thoy mako ono opon ono's mouth as well as one's eyes. Then nro produced papors and tokens carefully preserved, for a moment liko this. Then too, messages arc communicated— words of farewell, nnd often words of reproach to bo told to tho ears for which they woro into idod only whon tho lips from whenco they issued aro for over silont. I don't enro so much for tho stories ; but tokens nnd papers establishing tho identity of tho individual uro alwnys valuable It pays to pass ouo's self off ns a man who is in tho grave, when ho has high plaeod rolativos. I don't moon that it would do to go about oponly in his natno ; what I raoun is this— to uso tho knowlcdgo you havo obtaiuod of and tho proofs ho has plaoed in your hands in writing in his name to his relatives for monoy, whilo you keep out of tho way. _»_________-»