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Idiot Asylums
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56 | Indeed the sight of a large company of well-trained idiots at table is most remarkable, and none are allowed to dine in the principal dining-hall till they have achieved all the acts of feeding and sitting at their meals with due decorum. When they first come into the establishment, unless they belong to the class who mope and are sluggish, they are as greedy and ravenous as wild beasts, seizing and bolting every thing brought near them in the way of food, with a tendency, if not checked, to gorge themselves to excess. In time, however, they are brought to enter the apartment in regular order, the females arranging themselves on one side, and the males on the other. By means of apparatus for the purpose, the room being close to and upon the level with the kitchen, the dinner with the portion of each on a separate plate is served in a very short time No one begins till all are served, when they sing, under the leadership of their master, a short grace, and then commence. There is no apparent greediness, no unseemly feeding, but they form a cheerful and well-conducted company, much gratified by the notice of visitors. The dinner concludes, as it began, with another grace, and the room is quitted in a quiet and orderly manner. Some of the pay cases at Earlswood have a dining-room apart, where the meal is served as nearly as possible in the way they would have it at home, and thus when restored to their friends they are not excluded from the family dinner because of any improprieties. The preparation for dinner in the kitchen is a lively scene at Earlswood, for there are about a dozen of the pupils engaged as cooks in a subordinate capacity, and they are dressed in white with the usual caps, looking the perfection of cleanliness and neatness. They work with the greatest delight in this employment, and are very fond of it. This occupation does not interfere with the work at any trade, and it is one of those beneficial changes in the daily routine which are found so desirable. One boy has extreme pleasure in washing the plates and dishes, doing it well. So absorbed is he in this undertaking, that it is his principal thought; and when asked which he liked best, his present or former residence, he replied "Oh, this, because there is a better sink here." Amongst the cooks there is one noticed by Mr. Sidney as the strangest specimen of unequal powers that could be found. A real simpleton, utterly without judgment, he has a memory that is prodigious, and a singular tendency to make puns. When spoken to about his kitchen duties, he said," Though I am a cook, I hope I shall never be a sauce-box." Being wonderfully versed in history, he was requested to describe the Rye-House Plot, when busy helping to make a pudding, but he excused himself by remarking drolly, "I am so busy with the meal-tub plot, just now, that I have no time to tell you about the Rye-House Plot." If desired to give an account of almost any prominent event in ancient or modern history, he will repeat whole pages of what he has read, and there is no stopping him. When giving the history of Talleyrand in no complimentary terms, he was interrupted by a high dignitary of the Church, so he skid sharply, "he was one of the clergy, any how," and went off to his cookery quite affronted. Besides his work in the kitchen, he is a good shoe-maker, but in all other things a palpable imbecile. How impossible is it, in the present state of our knowledge, to account for such a human being, with a memory of incredible power, with a capability of exercising a certain handicraft, and yet with-out any faculty that could guide him in the commonest paths of daily life! It may seem trifling to enter into the particulars adduced in the few last pages, but on reflection it must be seen we could not otherwise properly describe the characters of those to whom the benefits have accrued from the endeavours made to rescue them from the slough of their condition. The last-mentioned pupil was called by Mr. Sidney "the historical cook," and he in also alluded to by Mr. Brady, who says of him, "He can repeat whole pages of history. We asked him several questions, nearly all of which he answered with marvellous accuracy. Amongst his replies, he gave us an account of the Peloponnesian War, showing that he was intimately acquainted with its details. He mentioned its duration, date, and cause; the resources of the combatants; the gains and losses on either side; the temporary peace; the renewal of the war after the Spartan success; and the final defeat of the Athenians by Lysander." Another of these cooks delights in mincing the food for those who cannot masticate, and at present do not dine at the principal table. He works with an ingenious apparatus which reduces the food to the condition of potted meat. Not one of these youths when they came to the institution could have been trusted near a fire, -- a fact which strongly attests the judgment and skill by which they have been made so docile and useful. |