MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



58a 



it, and cleaniiiiess was especially enjoined. — 

 The habits of the very poor, and their few con- 

 veniences, made the \vashing and drying of 

 clothing and bedding very difficult Catherine's 

 house at this lime consisted of a small kitchen, 

 a little parlor, two or three chambers, and a 

 small yard at the back of the house. In the 

 kitchen she had a copper. She fastened ropes 

 across the yard, and offered her poor neighbors 

 the free use of them and her kitchen for wash- 

 ing and drying their clothes. She also took 

 charge of clothes and bedding which were lent 

 for the use of the poor. So apparent was the 

 benefit derived by the families who availed 

 themselves of Catherine's kindne.=s, that a be- 

 nevolent society was led to provide a common 

 cellar where families might wash every week. 



The establishment thus begun has been found 

 so useful that it is still maintained. In ca.ses of 

 cholera fever, medical men are accustomed to 

 send a note with the clothes used by a patient, 

 or when a change of linen is required ; hired 

 washers being employed for the service of the 

 sick. This plan made neighbors willing to lend 

 clothes and bedding, since no risk of contagion 

 was incurred. During the second year of the 

 cholera, one hundred and forty dozen clothes 

 for men and women, one hundred and fifty -eight 

 sheets, thirty-four beds, sixty quilts, and one 

 hundred blankets,were washed in this establish- 

 ment in one week. 



The cholera principally attacked the heads 

 of families, especially those who were in a state 

 of exhaustion from fatigue or want of food. It 

 frequently happened that the sufferers had nei- 

 ther food nor fuel, while the rigorous quarantine 

 led to a dearth of employment. Catherine divi- 

 ded her own stores as far as she could with the 

 sufferers around her. A supply of oatmeal was 

 given her, and with this she made porridge eve- 

 ry morning for a number who would otherwise 

 probably have had no breaktast ; and atone time 

 she thus supplied sixty with daily food. A neigh- 

 bor every evening went three miles into the 

 country for the milk for this porridge. 



Wherever the di.sease appeared among those 

 who knew Catherine, her presence and aid 

 •were felt to be of high importance. The physi- 

 cians were quite unable to meet the calls that 

 were made upon them. She therefore went to 

 them for advice, administered the remedies 

 which were pre.scribed, and carried back her 

 accounts of her patients. It seemed impossible 

 that she should obtain i-est either night or day. 

 She found a vacant room, on the floor o; which 

 she could spread some bedding, and there she 

 provided a lodging for families in which death 

 had occurred, and who.se rooms, it was thought, 

 should be vacated for a time, that they might 

 be purified. One of the first cases of cholera 

 occurred in the street where Catherine lived. — 

 A widower, ^vith two young childi'eu, boarding 

 with a poor woman, was taken suddenly ill, 

 and died. To prevent unnecessary exposure to 

 the disease, the attending physician directed 

 that the body should be buried unwashed. A 

 report of this got abroad, and a crowd assem- 

 bled about the house, threatening violence if 

 the body were not washed before it was buried. 

 Catherine undertook to addre.ss the assemblage 

 • — " We should be very sorry to do anything 

 wrong," she said to them, '■ but the physician 

 has forbidden that the body should be washed, 

 on account of the danger of infection. Now, 

 this man who has died is no more to us than he 



is to any of you. Mrs. R and I have 



done our part by laying out the body ; and if 

 (1063) 



any one of you will come in and wash it, we 

 will provide everything that is necessary for 

 you." The crowd dispersed quietly and quick- 

 ly, and the body was buried unwashed. 



The deaths and sickness of .so many parents 

 by cholera left a large number of destitute chil- 

 dren, too young to go to school, and who were 

 therefore running about the streets. Catherine 

 could not overlook these children. She collect- 

 ed about twenty of them into her hou.se, and a 

 neighbor, who lived on the opposite side of the 

 street, offered to assist her in the care of them. 

 This neighbor amused the children by singing 

 to them, by telling them stories, and by teach- 

 ing them to repeat hymns. The number of the 

 children .soon became too large to be comforta- 

 bly accommodated iu Catherine's little dwell- 

 ing. It was resolved, therefore, to form them 

 into a .-scoool. The infant school thus begun was 

 adopted by the managers of one for older chil- 

 dren in the same street ; the neighbor who aid- 

 ed Catherine became the mistress, and obtained 

 a comfortable maintenance from the employ- 

 ment she had begun in benevolence. 



A being with such a universal spirit of charity 

 and love, and with such self imposed claims and 

 duties, required to eke out her means by every 

 plan which seemed available. To make the 

 most of her hou.se, small as it was, she received 

 lodgers, and to make their evenings pass agree- 

 ably, she borrowed books and newspapers, and 

 proposed that one should read aloud for the gen- 

 eral entertainment. She provided a good fire 

 in the winter, well knowing this comfort often 

 tempts even a sober man to an alehouse. She 

 permitted her lodgers to invite their acquaint- 

 ance ; and during the winter of 1835, as many 

 as ten met and subscribed for three different 

 cheap periodicals, and to the Mechanics' Libra- 

 ry. As some of the party were carpenters' ap- 

 prentices, an older workman gave them in- 

 struction in their business before their reading 

 began. One of the.se young men begged Cathe- 

 rine to speak to four of their fellow-workmen, 

 who spent the money at alehouses which they 

 earned by working over-hours. She did so, 

 telling them if they would come every night to 

 her house, they should have the use of a good 

 fire and a newspaper, and for sixpence a week 

 she would provide a supper. 



This poor woman .seems to have had an eye 

 to everything. One day, in passing a shop, she 

 saw a great boxfuU of wa.ste paper, including 

 many damaged and used Bibles. The.se she 

 was allowed to pick out and buy for a mere trifle. 

 W^hen .she brought her parcel of Bibles home, 

 she fastened the leaves, patched up the covers, 

 and then lent them to sailors who were going to 

 sea. It was afterward ascertained that by this 

 act the characters of several were improved. It 

 may be matter for surprise how Catherine earn- 

 ed enough to accomplish so many good deeds. 

 But cheerful and persevering labor, %vith rigor- 

 ous economy, will do wonders. She still lives, 

 and is a credit to her station, showing, in all her 

 undertakings, a remarkable power of making 

 much of slender means. Her economy with re- 

 gard to both food and clothing is admirable. — 

 Nothing is wasted. She has been known to 

 stew fishbones into broth for the sick poor, and 

 from the refuse of fruit to make a pleasant drink 

 for fever patients. Time is also, in her estima- 

 tion, a thing not to be thrown away, and there- 

 fore every moment of her waking existence is 

 devoted to the execution of some useful object. 



The owner of the house in which Catherine 

 lives is a single lady, and a cripple, with a very 



