952 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



ni^n occupation for the men, about four acres for 

 each inhabitant. The fact is recognized, that idle- 

 ness is no better for an insane than for a sane per- 

 son. All the outdoor work is done by the men, the 

 housework by the women. 



Experience shows that three-fourths of the chron- 

 ic cases can be furnished occupation of some sort, 

 greatly to their physical and moral good. They are 

 less nervous, and need less'restraint when occupied 

 with work, and sometimes a perfect cure is effected. 

 One attendant to every twenty insane persons is 

 sufficient. These asylums are as open as a school; 

 no doors are locked, no bars to the windows, but 

 the glass frames are of iron, painted white; no pens 

 made of boards. The inmates are free to go and 

 come at their work, with no other restraint than the 

 care of the attendant. These asylums are homes, 

 not prisons. The great thing is to provide occupa- 

 tion. In the county asylums of Wisconsin, about 

 one person in a thousand is in restraint or seclu- 

 sion each day. The idea is, that the insane are dis- 

 eased, and that they need occupation, amusement, 

 and kindness. The practice of this idea has been 

 so successful that it must affect the treatment of 

 the insane all over the country. The secret of pro- 

 viding work is to buy as little material, and hire as 

 little labor, as maybe; let the women make the 

 clothes, and the men do the outdoor work without 

 the aid of machinery. Some of these county 

 asylums are almost self-supporting, and all of them 

 save money to the counties, compared with the old 

 method. The State has not lost, and the counties 

 have gained; and the insane in these county 

 aeyluras have been as well clothed, lodged, and fed, 

 as in the State institutions, and have more freedom 

 and personal comfort, and a better chance for im- 

 provement. The new system considers the educa- 

 tion of the chronic insane as an important part of 

 the treatment— education of the mental, moral, and 

 physical faculties in habits of order, propriety, and 

 labor. Bv their means wonders have been worked 

 for the insane. 



Now, perhaps you will ask why I write this for 

 Gleanings. Because Gleanings is a humanity 

 paper, and this is humanity. Everybody is inter- 

 ested in the treatment of the insane; and then, see! 

 they have a difficulty to find suitable employment 

 for the men in winter time. Then I thought of bee- 

 keeping. Seems to me there could be no more ap- 

 propriate work than the keeping of bees and rais- 

 ing of honey. How good and how handy the honey 

 would be for the asylum tables! and the men could 

 make the hives, the foundation, the crates, and 

 sections, in winter time. I do not know whether 

 Wisconsin is much of a honey State or not. There 

 are plenty of readers of Gleanings who do know. 

 I have sent for the names and postoffices of these 

 sixteen county asylums; and whenever you feel 

 like sending out sample copies, you will please 

 remember those poor unfortunates in the Wiscon- 

 sin county asylums. 

 Vermont, 111. Mahala B. Chaddock. 



Although Gleanings has had many kind 

 words and many compliments, I do not 

 know that it ever received any thing in 

 that line that is really a higher compliment 

 than the expression in the concluding para- 

 graph above : " Gleanings is a humanity 

 paper ;" and I think the readers of Glean- 

 ings will agree with me in deciding that 

 our departed friend was a humanity writer. 



Like the rest of us she had her peculiarities 

 and perhaps some eccentricities; but through 

 all her writings there shone out clearly and 

 unmistakably a love for her fellows. There 

 was nothing narrow and contracted in her 

 ideas and teachings. Her sympathies were 

 as broad as the universe ; and in the above 

 article her sympathy for this special class of 

 poor afflicted humanity shines forth almost 

 Christ-like. May God be praised, that Wis- 

 consin has set an example before her sister 

 States. The above was written before my 

 visit to Wisconsin, therefore our poor friend 

 did not at the time of writing know what a 

 grand State for bee-keepers Wisconsin is. 

 The idea of interesting the insane in bees is 

 grand. I have for years been well aware 

 that I can, by taking time, interest and en- 

 list the sympathies of almost any individual 

 in the habits of bees. A child, even one of 

 tender years, soon becomes enthusiastic, 

 and so will elderly people. I do not know 

 that I have ever tried the effect on one 

 whose mind was diseased ; but I feel quite 

 certain that bees and outside air will ac- 

 complish good results if any thing can. 

 Here are a few words from our good friend 

 Mrs. Harrison, who, perhaps, knew Mrs. 

 Chaddock better than almost any one else 

 who reads Gleanings. 



Dear Mr. Root: 



To-day, in sorrow and saduess. I stood beside the 

 finely molded clay, which for nearly forty-six years 

 had been the home of the immortal spirit of Mahala 

 B. Chaddock. Her freed spirit, borne on wings of 

 infinite love, has sought another clime. She, " be- 

 ing dead, yet speaketh." "Be ye therefore ready 

 also; for the Son of man cometh at an hour when 

 ye think not." Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Peoria, 111., Nov. 14, 1889. 



" Being dead, yet speaketh." That is ex- 

 actly it, dear Mrs. Harrison. Our departed 

 friend's words are yet in print, and before 

 the multitudes, and good is going to come 

 from them. Now, let us as readers of 

 G leanings see what each and every one of 

 us can do to further the grand thought in 

 regard to more intelligent care for the in- 

 sane. As I read the article my mind moved 

 vividly from one to another in our county 

 infirmary. I thought of their farm, the 

 crops they have raised, their pretty vegeta- 

 ble garden, and the earnestness with which 

 the inmates have delighted to show me their 

 work, and the success of their plans. I am 

 very glad to say that our county infirmary is 

 located on one of the finest farms in the vi- 

 cinity. It is thoroughly underdrained, and 

 producing good crops. Who knows how 

 soon we may need the kind offices of some 



good Samaritan in just the very line of Mrs. 

 haddock's last words to us? We close 

 with a brief letter from her lonely companion. 



Mr. Root:— I have sad news for you. My wife, 

 Mrs. M. B. Chaddock, is dead. After a lingering ill- 

 ness of five weeks she departed this life at 8 o'clock 

 p. m., the 12th instant. About the 1st of October 

 she took a severe cold, followed by a remittent 

 form of fever, complicated with other troubles of 

 the body, of long standing. About ten days before 

 her death she had a severe attack of the pleurisy, 

 then a sudden change to pnuemonia of the worst 

 type. She suffered much pain and distress of body, 



