REMARKS.
I wore the accursed harness but twice in the asylum, and that too against my will, not as a duty. But now in 1874 I am exhibiting a similar one that I bought of a Mr. Hogan, as a duty, to let the people know how patients are treated in lunatic asylums. Although I have received maltreatment in asylums in New York and Vermont States, I am not altogether opposed to these institutions, for there are insane persons who have no homes, yet I protest against maltreatment. We are received as insane, unfortunate beings, use us kind, and the good Lord will reward you. Will lecture upon this subject, and exhibit the asylum harness, when arrangements are made in proper places. Address M. Swan, Hoosick Falls, Rensselaer county, N. Y.
A charge to keep, I have,
A God to glorify,
A never dying soul to save,
And fit it for the skies.
To serve the present age,
My calling to fulfill,
Oh, may it all my power engage
To do my master's will.
Although I may not have the gift of a poet, and may not have the gift of prophecy, neither be as good as John the Baptist, yet I can truly say, like Paul, I have been beaten for Christ's sake, when bound in the Ida Hill Lunatic Asylum.
It is not a pleasant task for me to reveal the faults of others, more particularly those of the dead, yet when I realize how many are robbed of their liberty and lives, my soul is stirred within me, in behalf of poor sufferers in these institutions.
If these great sins are the sins of ignorance or neglect on the part of any one of the governors or inspectors, or government, it is not to be winked at.