It might be supposed that humane treatment of those most unfortunate beings who have been deprived of their reason would be found even in the least civilized period of the world’s history, but alas! the opposite has been true. Until within a comparatively recent date it was customary to confine these poor creatures in jail, along with the vilest criminals, a custom still prevailing in some places. “In 1826, a young clergyman, rendered insane by overwork, was found in the Bridewell Prison of New York, herded with ruffians and murderers. At that time there was in the prisons of Massachusetts thirty lunatics. One had been in his cell nine years, had a wreath of rags around his body, and another around his neck. This was all his clothing. He had no bed, chair, or bench; a heap of filthy straw like the nest of a swine was in the corner. He had built a bird’s-nest of mud in the iron grate of his den.” Many were chained, kept in cages, “whipped, scourged, ironed, shut in close cells, and left for years in filth, naked, hungry, exposed to bitter cold, frozen,” had lost toes or feet, and suffered torture until death ended their misery. All this is happily changed, and medical skill and intelligent, humane care, have taken its place, with some exceptions perhaps. Sailors were once the legitimate prey of the worst class of men and women the world ever produced, when they landed in large cities, often after most tempestuous voyages, and dangers most terrible to contemplate. In so-called sailor’s boarding houses they were drugged, robbed, stripped naked, and thrown out on the street at midnight to groan and suffer and die.
Seamen’s Friends Societies and Sailors’ Homes, with hospitals, libraries, Christian ministry of godly men, and kindly care for the sick, disabled, or aged sailor until he enters the haven of eternal rest, is now in all Christian countries the provision made for this brave man to whom the world owes so much. Similar provision is made for the old or disabled soldier who has fought his country’s battles. The “Soldier’s Home” is one of the institutions for which America has reason to be proud.
The World’s Fairs, first organized by Prince Albert in London in the year 1851 and continued in different countries until the present time, the last and greatest of them all held at Chicago in the United States in 1893, have done much to stimulate progress in every department of life, and to strengthen the spirit of friendly reciprocity that should bind the human family closer together in mutual helpfulness and good-will. The international congress of all religions held at the Chicago Fair, the first and only congress of the kind ever held, was in the line of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man.
The bitterness of the sectarian spirit among all Christian denominations is happily passing away, and a desire for closer relations, even for a union of all peoples of the Christian faiths, is fast taking its place. The Roman Catholic Church through its head, Leo XIII., and the Episcopal Church through its Bishops have both expressed their desire for the union of all Christian peoples. Arbitration for the settlement of disputes between labor and capital, and even between nations, is advancing towards a blessed consummation, and the day cannot be far distant when peace and good-will among men shall become universal, and Jesus of Nazareth shall reign, Prince of Peace and King of Nations through the whole world. Who knows but that the six hundred and one thousand miles of telegraph in the United States and the one hundred and sixty thousand miles of submarine telegraph in the world, shall soon flash the news round the globe, “The Lord is come.”
The following item taken by permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons from The Last Quarter of the Century, by Andrews, is significant in this connection:
“During the great Electrical Exposition in New York City, May, 1896, a message was transmitted round the world and back in fifty-five minutes. It was dictated by Hon. Chauncey Depew, and read—‘God creates, Nature treasures, Science utilizes electrical power for the grandeur of nations and the peace of the world.’ Starting at eight thirty-five these words sped over the land lines to San Francisco, thence back to Canso, Nova Scotia, where they plunged under the sea to London. A click of the key four minutes later announced the completion of this part of the journey.
“Cannon were fired in honor of the achievement, while the throng on the floor of the Exhibition Building cheered.
“Meantime, the general manager of the Western Union Company had despatched the same message over his lines to Los Angeles, Galveston, City of Mexico, Valparaiso, Buenos Ayres, Pernambuco, across the Atlantic to Lisbon, and back to New York by way of London, a journey of ten thousand miles, in eleven and one half minutes.
“At nine twenty-five, just fifty minutes from the start, the receiving instrument clicked and Mr. Edison, for the nonce again a simple telegraph operator as of yore, copied from it the Depew message.
“It had travelled from London to Lisbon, thence to Suez, Aden, Bombay, Madras, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Nagasaki, and Tokio, returning by the same route to New York, having traversed a distance of 27,500 miles.”