REMARKS.Upon the treatment of my brothers and sisters during my imprisonment, and the steps taken with me by them.Secondly, remarks in general concerning the Hospital and the Officers of the Institution.Firstly.—If my brothers and sisters desired my good by placing me in the Insane Assylum, and the Doctors have taken the advantage of my weakness and my brother's ignorance of my true state at that time, and it has proved to be my everlasting ruin, by the Doctors giving me that medicine which racked and tortured me and destroyed my phisical health and ease of body and mental happiness. Their motive can be determined by their treatment and attention while there, and the manner of the treatment that I have received in hearing of my sufferings. For good motives always lead to good and kind actions. I have given in general a detail of the steps that were taken with me from the time of my leaving my labour on Saturday, before I was carried to the Hospital, on the Thursday following, and after I was there, their attention to me. I appeal to the public mind if this was good, kind and just treatment; if it was only my earthly happiness destroyed I should rejoice amidst it all. I was taken out by my brother William, from New York; but now I have no society, I cannot resort to God and to God's people for comfort, and take happiness in the service of God, for I have not happiness within myself, as it is the spirit of Christ that makes us happy, and enables us to look forward to never ending eternity of bliss. Now that spirit is taken from me by medicine, and it leaves my body in distress, from the crown of my head to the sole of my foot, without carnal love of this world, or the love of God. Of course without the spirit of Christ we cannot love God. I am thrown out upon the world without any thing to help myself with. My money that I labored hard for, late and early, confined to a factory life, is taken by my brothers. They are not willing to give me my own, or to help me. I am unable to work, my body is in such distress; and I have no spirit to support me under any thing, and am dependant upon the kindness of friends who have been deceived about me, by the false report that I was deranged, while all the time I was suffering the greatest cruelty that could be practised upon an immortal being. They feel distress for me, although it is a crime they never heard of before, and many of them wonder that I have a particle of reasonleft, and do not wonder at my altered looks and language, and feel that such a crime should be exposed to the world. It is not the popular clergy that will be seized upon and carried into that house and have this medicine forced down them, but the poor honest hearted christian that is despised and cast out, and trodden under foot like the despised Nazarine. This havoc among the saints of God, by infidels, has been going on for years, undoubtedly, and when they have told of it on getting out of their power, it has been looked upon as derangement, and their account being sealed with God, they have not undertaken to publish it; but I will, whether it is or not; and if my brothers wilfully hired those Doctors to give me that medicine, to take from me my eternal life, because I differed from them in my religion, may God bring it to light, and the guilty not go unpunished. Females are engaged in this horrid crime, and do know that it can be done. Relief Barber, Mary Brigham and Esther Benton, who are engaged in the service of that house, and my brother's wife, were knowing to it before I was carried there. Brothers Eben, Stephen, and James, are the ones that were concerned about my being carried there, and they are the ones that had ought to investigate my suffering. But, instead of that, they have not interested themselves in my sufferings or wants, and brother Stephen and his wife came to brother Eben's, where I was, and did not even send a request to my room to see me. I speak of this to show that my brothers do not feel for me as brothers should feel for a sister. So far as the natural heart is concerned, had my brothers regarded my character and my feelings, and the feelings of our aged parents, they would not have put me into an Insane Hospital without something being done for me first. I might mention about my clothes that I had sent me.—I was taken and shut up from them, and from the means to obtain things to make me comfortable, or hardly decent; but if my brothers and sisters thought my health was poor, and they desired my good, kind actions would have followed kind feelings. I have before remarked, would they not have sent me little nourishments, such as they do not have there, as friends generally do when they have a friend that is out of health. But I received nothing to remind me that I was not forgotten by them. Kind reader, have you a wife, sister, or an unprotected daughter in this wide world, (however you may be situated, the same laws govern nature thro'ought the world,) would you see her deceived into a hospital the third day of leaving her work, having nothing done for her first, and then not permit her to see one of her kind friends? Because God saw fit not to give me the abundance of this world was I any the less incapable of happiness here and hereafter? Because I was a poor factory girl must I be treated in this brutal manner, in this boasted land of liberty? I always had done for myself, and was happy. I envied not the Queen upon her throne. I soughtenjoyment in expanding my immortal mind in knowledge, looking through nature up to nature's God, and cultivating the love of God richly in my heart. I was kept in the Assylum sixteen long and weary months. My brothers say they come to the house; but they might as well have stayed away as to come, for all the good it did me, for I never saw them. They say Dr. Bell would not let them see me. What right had they to put me in such a place? The very face of it shows that there was some cruelty being practised upon me, that Dr. Bell did not want any one to know out of that house. It may be said that I had no home, and the woman that I boarded with would not have me in her house. Could it be that Eliza Lufkin would turn me out of her house on the third day of my illness? Had it been done openly, I should have had friends that would have done for me, for I feel that I could say with the Apostle Paul, that I had friends that would have plucked out their eyes to do for me. But not only was I taken in such an unlawful manner and imprisoned, but away from all my things, and no care taken of them; some entirely ruined for want of care, and some ruined by being worn almost out. Who has worn them I cannot say; but my trunks were at my brother Stephen's. If my brothers desired my good they would investigate my sufferings. I have proposed to them to have the Doctors taken before a justice of the peace, produce the kind of medicine they gave me, and apply a chemical test and see what effect it would have upon the human system. If my brothers are innocent about my being ruined, I think they would do it, although it would not bring back to me my happy state; but it would expose the wickedness of the Doctors in the Charlestown Hospital, and save others from suffering the same. I was far from being deranged; but I grant that I was in a weak state. But because I was weak, from over exertion, was that any reason why I should be imprisoned, and medicine given me to harden my brain, to rack and torture me? To give a person an idea of the distress of my body every moment, would be impossible; but well I might quote the language of Chillian:My limbs are bowed, though not with toil,But rusted with a vile repose,For they have been a dungeon's spoil.Remarks upon the Institution.—There is no dispute but what there should be such an institution as an Insane Assylum, but let it come under the jurisdiction of the Legislature, and not have all the power consigned into the hands of a few individuals, over a distressed class of beings, a money-making system, at the expense of happiness, in a great measure. If it was thought best to have all power put into the hands of one individual, then we should have a King in this country, but it is not thought best. As that houseis now, if any family difficulty breaks out between the members, the stronger can take the weaker, raise a cry that they are insane, deceive them in there, or take them by force, and deprive them of their liberty; and the poor individual is disarmed of the protection of the strong arm of our country's laws. It gives power to children over their parents, parents over children, brothers and sisters over each other, and neighbour over neighbour. A case of children rising against a parent took place while I was there. A poor widow woman having a family difficulty about property, her sons rose against her, got an officer and brought her to the Assylum, and she worked for them all the time she was there. In my own case, I had property and ought to have a guardian appointed if I was incapable of taking care of myself. Would it not be well to have it a law that no person should be carried into an Insane Hospital without the advice of a council of physicians, and not have it left to the judgment of one person, for it is not an uncommon thing for persons to be put in there who are not insane, and they cannot help themselves. The public is completely deceived about the situation of their friends after they are there. On visiting the building every thing presents a fair appearance; but in order to know the evil of any place you must first be in it. In the first place, I shall speak of what the poor patients have to suffer on account of the neatness of the interior of the building, as that is so often spoke of by visitors. A great deal of pains is taken in every thing of an outward appearance, while things that are not seen by visiters, are not regarded. The floors are, as it were, the God that they worship; they must be washed every day, and the poor patients suffer in being neglected during the time, which is very frequently the case, and if a poor patient steps upon the floor for sometime after, they have to take a severe reprimand, and are locked up in their room all day as a punishment, because the attendant is afraid the floor will have a mark upon it. It is all well enough to keep clean; but the happiness of the poor patient is not regarded. It is very tiresome to be confined to one room and not be permitted to walk in it. Secondly, in cold weather the uncomfortableness of the gallery is very trying. Some days not any fire, and deprived of every privilege but that of breathing, and if in violent pain and suffering the patients weep and make any complaint, they must be shut up in their room, or stripped of all their clothes and showered with cold water, and then carried to a stone dungeon. People are very much deceived when they call to see their friends; and the poor distressed patients are weeping their hours away to see them, and are shut out from all religious influence.
Upon the treatment of my brothers and sisters during my imprisonment, and the steps taken with me by them.
Secondly, remarks in general concerning the Hospital and the Officers of the Institution.
Firstly.—If my brothers and sisters desired my good by placing me in the Insane Assylum, and the Doctors have taken the advantage of my weakness and my brother's ignorance of my true state at that time, and it has proved to be my everlasting ruin, by the Doctors giving me that medicine which racked and tortured me and destroyed my phisical health and ease of body and mental happiness. Their motive can be determined by their treatment and attention while there, and the manner of the treatment that I have received in hearing of my sufferings. For good motives always lead to good and kind actions. I have given in general a detail of the steps that were taken with me from the time of my leaving my labour on Saturday, before I was carried to the Hospital, on the Thursday following, and after I was there, their attention to me. I appeal to the public mind if this was good, kind and just treatment; if it was only my earthly happiness destroyed I should rejoice amidst it all. I was taken out by my brother William, from New York; but now I have no society, I cannot resort to God and to God's people for comfort, and take happiness in the service of God, for I have not happiness within myself, as it is the spirit of Christ that makes us happy, and enables us to look forward to never ending eternity of bliss. Now that spirit is taken from me by medicine, and it leaves my body in distress, from the crown of my head to the sole of my foot, without carnal love of this world, or the love of God. Of course without the spirit of Christ we cannot love God. I am thrown out upon the world without any thing to help myself with. My money that I labored hard for, late and early, confined to a factory life, is taken by my brothers. They are not willing to give me my own, or to help me. I am unable to work, my body is in such distress; and I have no spirit to support me under any thing, and am dependant upon the kindness of friends who have been deceived about me, by the false report that I was deranged, while all the time I was suffering the greatest cruelty that could be practised upon an immortal being. They feel distress for me, although it is a crime they never heard of before, and many of them wonder that I have a particle of reasonleft, and do not wonder at my altered looks and language, and feel that such a crime should be exposed to the world. It is not the popular clergy that will be seized upon and carried into that house and have this medicine forced down them, but the poor honest hearted christian that is despised and cast out, and trodden under foot like the despised Nazarine. This havoc among the saints of God, by infidels, has been going on for years, undoubtedly, and when they have told of it on getting out of their power, it has been looked upon as derangement, and their account being sealed with God, they have not undertaken to publish it; but I will, whether it is or not; and if my brothers wilfully hired those Doctors to give me that medicine, to take from me my eternal life, because I differed from them in my religion, may God bring it to light, and the guilty not go unpunished. Females are engaged in this horrid crime, and do know that it can be done. Relief Barber, Mary Brigham and Esther Benton, who are engaged in the service of that house, and my brother's wife, were knowing to it before I was carried there. Brothers Eben, Stephen, and James, are the ones that were concerned about my being carried there, and they are the ones that had ought to investigate my suffering. But, instead of that, they have not interested themselves in my sufferings or wants, and brother Stephen and his wife came to brother Eben's, where I was, and did not even send a request to my room to see me. I speak of this to show that my brothers do not feel for me as brothers should feel for a sister. So far as the natural heart is concerned, had my brothers regarded my character and my feelings, and the feelings of our aged parents, they would not have put me into an Insane Hospital without something being done for me first. I might mention about my clothes that I had sent me.—I was taken and shut up from them, and from the means to obtain things to make me comfortable, or hardly decent; but if my brothers and sisters thought my health was poor, and they desired my good, kind actions would have followed kind feelings. I have before remarked, would they not have sent me little nourishments, such as they do not have there, as friends generally do when they have a friend that is out of health. But I received nothing to remind me that I was not forgotten by them. Kind reader, have you a wife, sister, or an unprotected daughter in this wide world, (however you may be situated, the same laws govern nature thro'ought the world,) would you see her deceived into a hospital the third day of leaving her work, having nothing done for her first, and then not permit her to see one of her kind friends? Because God saw fit not to give me the abundance of this world was I any the less incapable of happiness here and hereafter? Because I was a poor factory girl must I be treated in this brutal manner, in this boasted land of liberty? I always had done for myself, and was happy. I envied not the Queen upon her throne. I soughtenjoyment in expanding my immortal mind in knowledge, looking through nature up to nature's God, and cultivating the love of God richly in my heart. I was kept in the Assylum sixteen long and weary months. My brothers say they come to the house; but they might as well have stayed away as to come, for all the good it did me, for I never saw them. They say Dr. Bell would not let them see me. What right had they to put me in such a place? The very face of it shows that there was some cruelty being practised upon me, that Dr. Bell did not want any one to know out of that house. It may be said that I had no home, and the woman that I boarded with would not have me in her house. Could it be that Eliza Lufkin would turn me out of her house on the third day of my illness? Had it been done openly, I should have had friends that would have done for me, for I feel that I could say with the Apostle Paul, that I had friends that would have plucked out their eyes to do for me. But not only was I taken in such an unlawful manner and imprisoned, but away from all my things, and no care taken of them; some entirely ruined for want of care, and some ruined by being worn almost out. Who has worn them I cannot say; but my trunks were at my brother Stephen's. If my brothers desired my good they would investigate my sufferings. I have proposed to them to have the Doctors taken before a justice of the peace, produce the kind of medicine they gave me, and apply a chemical test and see what effect it would have upon the human system. If my brothers are innocent about my being ruined, I think they would do it, although it would not bring back to me my happy state; but it would expose the wickedness of the Doctors in the Charlestown Hospital, and save others from suffering the same. I was far from being deranged; but I grant that I was in a weak state. But because I was weak, from over exertion, was that any reason why I should be imprisoned, and medicine given me to harden my brain, to rack and torture me? To give a person an idea of the distress of my body every moment, would be impossible; but well I might quote the language of Chillian:
My limbs are bowed, though not with toil,But rusted with a vile repose,For they have been a dungeon's spoil.
My limbs are bowed, though not with toil,But rusted with a vile repose,For they have been a dungeon's spoil.
My limbs are bowed, though not with toil,
But rusted with a vile repose,
For they have been a dungeon's spoil.
Remarks upon the Institution.—There is no dispute but what there should be such an institution as an Insane Assylum, but let it come under the jurisdiction of the Legislature, and not have all the power consigned into the hands of a few individuals, over a distressed class of beings, a money-making system, at the expense of happiness, in a great measure. If it was thought best to have all power put into the hands of one individual, then we should have a King in this country, but it is not thought best. As that houseis now, if any family difficulty breaks out between the members, the stronger can take the weaker, raise a cry that they are insane, deceive them in there, or take them by force, and deprive them of their liberty; and the poor individual is disarmed of the protection of the strong arm of our country's laws. It gives power to children over their parents, parents over children, brothers and sisters over each other, and neighbour over neighbour. A case of children rising against a parent took place while I was there. A poor widow woman having a family difficulty about property, her sons rose against her, got an officer and brought her to the Assylum, and she worked for them all the time she was there. In my own case, I had property and ought to have a guardian appointed if I was incapable of taking care of myself. Would it not be well to have it a law that no person should be carried into an Insane Hospital without the advice of a council of physicians, and not have it left to the judgment of one person, for it is not an uncommon thing for persons to be put in there who are not insane, and they cannot help themselves. The public is completely deceived about the situation of their friends after they are there. On visiting the building every thing presents a fair appearance; but in order to know the evil of any place you must first be in it. In the first place, I shall speak of what the poor patients have to suffer on account of the neatness of the interior of the building, as that is so often spoke of by visitors. A great deal of pains is taken in every thing of an outward appearance, while things that are not seen by visiters, are not regarded. The floors are, as it were, the God that they worship; they must be washed every day, and the poor patients suffer in being neglected during the time, which is very frequently the case, and if a poor patient steps upon the floor for sometime after, they have to take a severe reprimand, and are locked up in their room all day as a punishment, because the attendant is afraid the floor will have a mark upon it. It is all well enough to keep clean; but the happiness of the poor patient is not regarded. It is very tiresome to be confined to one room and not be permitted to walk in it. Secondly, in cold weather the uncomfortableness of the gallery is very trying. Some days not any fire, and deprived of every privilege but that of breathing, and if in violent pain and suffering the patients weep and make any complaint, they must be shut up in their room, or stripped of all their clothes and showered with cold water, and then carried to a stone dungeon. People are very much deceived when they call to see their friends; and the poor distressed patients are weeping their hours away to see them, and are shut out from all religious influence.