Of the first class we may mention: “The Western Temporary Home,” which is a shelter for those too weak to go to work, “The Boarding Home for Young Women,” and a “Home for the Homeless;” and of the second, “The Howard Institution,” under the care of an association of women Friends, for furnishing shelter, food and clothing to poor outcast women, and “The Midnight Mission,” which has for its object the rescue and salvation of fallen women. Here might be included the Inebriate Asylums, such as “The Franklin Reformatory,” whose object is the recovery of drunkards to decent society. A peculiar charity of this kind is a “Temporary Home for Children,” which is designed to lighten the burden of parents whose circumstances are such as to prevent the proper care of their offspring. The number of children in this home is at present sixty-one; and the institution seems to be accomplishing a good work.
Allegheny City has a “Home for the Friendless,” somewhat similar to the one just described. In this home one hundred and twenty-five children are receiving care and support at the present time. It is impossible to do justice to the charities of Pennsylvania, in an article of limited extent; many of them can not be enumerated at all; some of them can only be mentioned; and hence I shall make no attempt to estimate either the cost of these charities or the value of their results. And much, in any event, would of necessity remain untold. No record is possible—at least, no earthly record—of the prayers, the anxieties, the thoughtfulness, the patient persistence of the men, and especially of the women, who sustain these charities with their energies and their love. Whilst others are helplessly bemoaning the evils of large cities, these faithful servants of him who went about doing good are quietly, but efficiently, working to rescue and save a soul from darkness, and a body from pollution. Every large city has its devouring eddies into which drift hundreds of thoughtless and ignorant creatures every year. Every large city in this state, let us thank God, has also its brave and earnest Christian souls who are ready to run no small risks, and to make no small sacrifices, if, peradventure, they may save a soul.
PROVISIONS FOR THE INSANE.
There are five Insane Hospitals in the State of Pennsylvania, under the control of the state, located respectively at Harrisburg, Danville, Dixmont, Norristown and Warren. The total expenditures of these five hospitals for 1883 amounted to $711,666. In addition to these there are “The Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane,” “Philadelphia Hospital for the Insane,” “The Friends’ Asylum for the Insane,” located at Frankford, near Philadelphia, and the “Training School for Feeble Minded Children;” the four latter involving an annual expenditure of nearly $400,000. The total number of insane confined in these institutions is 5,338, of whom 4,361 are indigent patients supported at the expense of the state. When the act of the legislature, already alluded to, shall have taken full effect, the total number of insane patients in these hospitals will reach at least 7,000. “The Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital” at Harrisburg was founded in the year 1848, and since that time the total amount appropriated by the state is $1,110,929. The district entitled to the benefit of this hospital is composed of sixteen counties, with a population of nearly one million; and the capacity of the hospital is only sufficient for twenty-seven per cent. of the insane persons resident in the district. “The Western Pennsylvania Hospital,” at Dixmont, was founded in 1855. The total amount appropriated by the state since that time is $1,022,128. In addition to what it has received from the state, this hospital owns 373 acres of land, which were paid for entirely by private contributions. The district in which this hospital is located is composed of thirteen counties, with a population of 900,000; and the hospital has accommodations for only twenty-two per cent. of the insane residents within the district. “The State Hospital for the Insane” at Danville was founded in 1868, and has received in appropriations from the state, $1,408,900. The district in which it is located is composed of twenty-one counties, with a population of 800,000; and the present capacity of the hospital for seven hundred patients, is sufficient for fifty-four per cent. of the insane residents within the district. “The State Hospital for the Insane” at Warren was founded in 1873. The total amount appropriated by the state since that time is $1,125,000. The district in which it is located is composed of ten counties, with a population of about 400,000 inhabitants. Its present capacity is six hundred, which is eighty-seven per cent. of the insane residents of the district. “The State Hospital for the Insane” at Norristown was founded in 1876. The amount appropriated by the state since that time is $9,616,846. The district within which it is located is composed of seven counties, with a population of 1,300,000. Its present capacity is eight hundred and four; that is for only thirty four per cent. of the insane residents of the district. “The Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane” is located in West Philadelphia, the hospital grounds covering 113 acres, upon which are erected two buildings, one the department for males, and the other the department for females. This is the institution which has become known throughout the country by the name of its long-time chief physician and superintendent—Dr. Thomas S. Kirkbride. Although it has frequently received aid from the state, it is not a state institution. From the opening of this hospital up to 1882, the number of patients admitted was 8,673. Of these, 7,052 were residents of Pennsylvania, the remainder coming from all parts of the United States, Central and South America, and some few from Europe. The total annual expenditures for both departments during 1882 was $182,000. “The Friends’ Asylum,” at Frankford, has long been known in the eastern part of the state as a well conducted and generously managed institution.
It has at present about one hundred patients, all of whom are supported by their friends. “The Philadelphia Hospital” contains 617 patients, of whom 332 are female. Under what is known as “The Hoyt Lunacy Act” of 1883, the supervision of hospitals for the insane, both public and private, will be much stricter than it has ever been heretofore. That act was intended to remedy many of the evils which are constantly occurring in the treatment of these sorely afflicted people. A special committee of the Board of Public Charities is charged with its execution, which committee is composed at present of Philip C. Garrett, Henry M. Hoyt, Thomas G. Morton, E. Coppee Mitchell and W. W. H. Davis, whose names are a guarantee that the insane of Pennsylvania will be treated with scrupulous care, and that no sane man or woman need any longer dread that one form of incarceration which is worse to the healthy minded than either the prison or the grave—incarceration among maniacs. Akin to these institutions for the insane is the Training School for Feeble Minded Children, located at Media. This institution was founded in 1853, and has received from the state since that time the sum of $723,498. It also receives contributions from neighboring states, in return for which the children of contributing states are admitted to its benefits. The number of pupils now in the school is 428, of which about 200 are from the State of Pennsylvania. The total annual expenditure of this school amounts to $109,829.
HOSPITALS FOR THE BLIND AND THE DEAF AND DUMB.
The most noted of these is “The Institution for the Instruction of the Blind,” located in Philadelphia. The buildings of this institution are valued at $183,000; its funds and investments at $266,773. The average number of pupils in the institution for 1883 was 178; and the average number of state beneficiaries 145, for which the state granted the sum of $43,500.
There are also located in Philadelphia two working homes for the blind—one for men and one for women—into which are received many of the graduates of the Institution for the Instruction of the Blind. In the home for men there are eighty-five beneficiaries; in the home for women there are forty. The purpose of these institutions is, as far as possible, to offer employment and not alms; to make its inmates independent, so far as their disability shall permit. There is an Institute for the Deaf and Dumb located in Philadelphia, and a Western Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, located about twelve miles east of Pittsburgh. In the former of these institutions there are about 300 pupils; in the latter about 102. To the former the state appropriates $78,000 annually. For some reason, unknown to me, the appropriation of $40,000 asked from the legislature by the latter last session was not granted.
HOSPITALS FOR THE SICK AND THE INJURED.
The one purely state hospital in Pennsylvania is “The Anthracite Hospital,” located at Ashland. This is intended for the coal and mining regions, in which injuries are of such frequent occurrence. Unfortunately, this was not opened for the reception of patients until November, 1883; but already upward of forty-one patients have been admitted, and are receiving the benefit of medical care and treatment. Of institutions not under the control of the state, the most famous is probably “The Pennsylvania Hospital,” located in Philadelphia. Round this have grown up a number almost as famous—the splendid “University Hospital” in West Philadelphia, “The Orthopedic Hospital” for the treatment of nervous diseases, the Presbyterian and Episcopalian Hospitals, the Jewish Hospital, the new Stewart Hospital, founded by a distinguished Methodist physician of Philadelphia, the Wills Hospital for diseases of the eye, the Howard Hospital for Incurables, and the Children’s Hospital for the relief of sick and suffering children.