Page:Workhouses and women's work.djvu/48

 The consequence of such treatment is, of course, that the poor naturally avoid the union infirmary, if possible, and prefer the hospitals, which are intended for curable cases, not for those that are hopeless, either from the nature of the illness, or old age. Persons often come for admission to the hospital who are quite suitable for the union, but some say they would rather die than go there. We may be quite sure that persons will never sham illness to be taken into the union infirmary, therefore there, at least, there can be no fear of making things "too comfortable;" as it is, there is no lack of inmates; let there, at least, in all cases, be one responsible and paid nurse placed over them. The case of the children whose deaths were occasioned by the nurses' stealing the nourishing food intended for them, has probably l)een read by many in the papers. The following evidence as to the interior of a workhouse was given by a young inmate of a superior class, whose word can be thoroughly trusted. At one time she was in the sick ward for a month, and during that time saw the matron once; lately she has been in the "insane ward" for a fortnight, because she had fits, such patients being always placed there; while there a fortnight she saw the matron twice. She described the behaviour of the master and matron as coarse and tyrannical. She was able to occupy herself at intervals, and a kind lady who visited her took some needlework to amuse her weary hours; it was taken from her by the matron, and she •was not allowed to do anything, nor to receive books from her friend. She heard and saw a good deal of the treatment of the inmates; an old woman of eighty was abused by the master in the coarsest terms, and dragged across the yard, because she answered him; he ended by sending her off to prison for a fortnight. The searching of the inmates is carried on in the most offensive manner, frequently (of the women) in the presence of the master. They are allowed to possess nothing; the nurses are paid sixpence a week, and when they go out with any savings in their pockets it is taken from them. The master gives his own version of everything to the guardians, who will not listen to the poor themselves. It was a frequent remark that things were much better in prisons; cocoa was allowed in them, here hot or cold water for all under sixty; the, bread was bad, and lumps of alum frequently found in it. Frequently no sitting room is provided for the women after working hours; so after tea, at five, if they do not choose to go to bed, they must sit in the yard, or on the stairs, as I have often seen them do. Not even a cup or saucepan was allowed; so, though she had tea given her,, she could not use it. And there were no boxes; so books and tracts lent to the inmates are kept under the mattress—a most unpleasant practice. In one workhouse the warm garments of the inmates are taken away, without others being supplied; an old man of