THE NEW HOSPITAL AT GREENWICH 



199 



tinctly a Calvanistic and Puritanic set- 

 tlement. It was not long after the 

 Blue Laws of Connecticut were in ex- 

 istence (a copy of which is in my lib- 

 rary), and Colonel Tom Mead's father 

 was empowered to arrest anybody 

 traveling - on the Lord's day, who could 

 not prove that he was on an errand of 

 necessity or mercy. Similar bigotry 

 manifested itself until recent years in 

 legislation prohibiting the New Haven 

 road from running trains on Sunday. 

 Late one evening T sat out in front of my 

 brother's place when a couple of very 

 dear old ladies stopped and their scut- 

 tle-bonnets made a parenthesis in their 

 conversation. Mv brother was build- 

 ing a little billiard room adjoining our 

 house. One dear old ladv askeH the 

 other: "What is Mr. Benedict building 

 here?" The other answered: "T reallv 

 don't know but I hear'd tell it was a 

 billiard room, or some other kind of a 

 gambling house." Tf that was a gamb- 

 ling house. T wonder wha+ ^ose 

 dear old souls would think of Mrs. 

 Wetherell's princelv gambling house 

 which she has built for the young 

 Christians of this town. 



At this time some new forms of 

 treating diseases were making their ap- 

 pearance but the old school nhvsicians 

 said of them as did lob (T^th chapter. 

 4th verse:) "Ye are all phvsinans of 

 no value." I think we arp better off 

 here todav in that respect than he was. 

 Some are like Luke — the good phvsi- 

 cian. In my rather extensive wander- 

 ings in different parts of the world, I 

 have been very much impressed with 

 the fact that to the Catholic Church 

 Christianity owes the erection of that 

 symbol of relisrion — the cros^ — in re- 

 mote places not visited by any other 

 sects. While Protestants are apt to 

 charge bigotry to the Catholics. 1 re- 

 member one incident in mv travels 

 showing that as earlv as i&Si they 

 were not bigoted on the subject of med- 

 icine. Over one thousand miles up the 

 Amazon we found a trading post where 

 a Catholic priest, besides ministering 

 to the spiritual wants of the tribes, 

 practised homeopathv. which the na- 

 tives were slow to believe in. There is 

 much less biVotrv among the cb'ental 

 today than old school doctors like to 

 see and I trust hereafter they may heed 

 Paul's injunction (1st Thessalonians, 



5th Chapter, 21st verse:) "Prove all 

 things, hold fast that which is good." 

 How can wisdom better be attained 

 than by consultation among the best 

 practioners of all schools and compar- 

 ing results? We have also some politi- 

 cal "heelers" in town who must not be 

 permitted on the staff. 



When I promised to contribute to- 

 wards the erection of this building, 

 there w r ere many friends who desired 

 to have it called the Benedict Hospital. 

 T protested at once, and still do so. This 

 is not my hospital nor any other per- 

 son's hospital It is everybody's hospi- 

 tal, particularly the poor, who must not 

 h^m'tate at any future time to claim its 

 services. 



This month is full of anniversaries in 

 my life. My sign will have been up in 

 Wall Street sixty years on the 26th of 

 this month. Mv former neighbor, R. 

 M. Bruce, was mv first customer and 

 remained one until he died. The 6th 

 instant was the 58th anniversary of my 

 marriage. The 9th instant was the 45th 

 anniversary of my partnership with 

 Po c well P. Flower, who afterwards be- 

 come governor of the state of New 

 York and founder of the Flower Hos- 

 pital 42 years ago. I am the only sur- 

 vivor of the original board of twenty 

 trustees. It is 4s vears since I a c sisted 

 in raising funds for the New York Op- 

 thalmic Hospital, when I was made a 

 trustee and treasurer and am the only 

 survivor of the original board of seven- 

 teen. Realizing that charity should be- 

 gin at home, vet not end there, I turn- 

 ed mv attention to what is before you. 

 All phvsicians will agree that the sick 

 and the injured should be protected 

 from shock, as far as possible. There 

 is a natural recoil from being taken to 

 a hospital, so, on their wav here I 

 wanted them to have their first glance 

 at this hospital a pleasing one in its 

 o"*-w?rd appearance, in which T am told 

 T have succeeded, thanks to Mr. Hast- 

 ings: and no matter what preference 

 the suffering one mav have as to treat- 

 ment, he should find here a phvsician 

 fitted to his preference. And today is 

 another eventful and joyous October 

 dav to me. 



I now take opportunity, in conclu- 

 sion, to ask those present who will be 

 rhnrp-pd with the administration of this 

 hospital whether they are fully in ac- 



