Casual ward

“ He was born in a casual
ward, his father died in a casual ward, and his mother nightly haunts
the streets of London in pursuance of an elaborately devised plan, by
which she is able so to time her visits to the various casual wards as
never to be turned away from any on the ground that she had slept there
too recently.
The foreground of the Ragged Church was bright enough, for whilst there
is youth there is hope, and in the present case there is also the
knowledge that these children are under guardianship at once kind and
wise. ”

“ With this book, the man would go to the casual ward, and be entitled to a night's lodging, supper, and breakfast, and, after performing two hours' work to help to pay for his food and lodging, he should be free to leave the ward whenever he likes. ”

“ So far as non-criminal vagrancy is concerned, active steps have lately been taken by the Local Government Board with a view of introducing greater uniformity in the administration of the Casual Wards, at least so far as the Metropolis is concerned. An order was issued in November 1911 vesting the control and management of the Casual Wards in the Metropolitan Asylums Board. ”

“ The female insane ward was a rather large room, and was situated over the Board-room. As we always had the place full the space was desirable or necessary. It was immediately beneath the lying-in ward. When we had a troublesome or noisy lunatic in the ward, it must have been anything but a comfort to the lying-in women above, but then neither their interests, nor the feelings of any of the other inmates, were at that time officially considered by the Guardians, by the Poor Law Inspectors, nor by any one else. ”

“ No doubt it was expected that every time you were sent on an errand outside the ward you would solemnly take off your ward-shoes and put on your marching-boots—then, on the return, take off your marching-boots and put on your ward-shoes—but life as a nursing orderly is too short for such elaborations of etiquette. It was nothing unusual, when one was working in a ward which lay at a distance of quarter of a mile from the hospital's main building, to be sent to the said main building a dozen times in a single morning. ”

“ Work in the wards has its compensations: here there is the human element. But only a portion of a unit such as ours can be detailed for ward work: the rest are either hewers of wood and drawers of water or else have their noses to a grindstone of clerical monotonousness beside which the ledger-keeping of a bank employee is a heaven of blissful excitements. You will find few hospital orderlies who are not "fed up"; you will find none who do not long for the war's end. And I fancy you will find very, very few who would not go on active service if they could. ”

“ Each ward runs the depth of the building, viz., eighteen feet, and in consequence is simply a funnel for hot or cold air to blow through. When the ward is filled, the men's heads lie under the windows. The largest ward contains a hundred men, the smallest fifteen. They sleep in hammocks, slung close to each other as on board ship, in two lines, with a passage down the centre. There is a wardsman to each ward. He is selected by the prisoners, and is generally a man of the worst character. ”

“ Yet those in the violent ward (and it is they who most need the exercise) usually got out of doors only when the attendants saw fit to take them. For weeks a ward-mate—a man sane enough to enjoy freedom, had he had a home to go to—kept a record of the number of our walks. It showed that we averaged not more than one or two a week for a period of two months. This, too, in the face of many pleasant days, which made the close confinement doubly irksome. The lazy fellows on whose leisure we waited preferred to remain in the ward, playing cards, smoking, and telling their kind of stories. ”

“ I know every trick of the inner and outer doors leading to the corridor, and the long grey lane of the corridor, and the room that I must go through to find ice, and the face of the little ward-maid who sleeps there, who wants to get up and break the ice for me every time. I have known the little ward-maid all my life; I have known the night nurse all my life, with her white face and sharp black eyes, and all my life I have not cared for her. All my life I have known and cared only for the wounded man on the bed. ”

“ Who came out from the Council House crying aloud, and told the men at work among the ruins.”
And then another thing was shouted, something that turned an aimless tumult into determinate movements, it came like a wind along the street. “To your wards, to your wards. Every man get arms. Every man to his ward!” ”

“ But just now they are shut off in a room at the end of the ward, having an exercise-ground of their own; there is apt to be too much noise if the prisoners are all together.
Presently a warder appears, not only with your writing materials, but also with your bag, its contents left untouched, with all your property, indeed, except your watch, your tobacco, and your money. ”

“ The principal buildings in this ward, are the churches of St. Dunstan’s and Alhallows Barking, the Custom house, Navy office, Trinity house and Corn Exchange in Mark lane, which see under their several articles. This ward is governed by an Alderman, twelve common council men, one of whom is the Alderman’s deputy, thirteen wardmotemen, twelve scavengers, thirteen constables, and a beadle. The jurymen returned by the wardmote inquest, serve in the several courts at Guildhall in the month of May. ”

“ Is the duty of the nation greater than the duty of the home? Is the nation greater than the individual? Is the whole greater than the sum of its parts?
Ward after ward. Rows of quiet men. The occasional thump of a convalescent's crutch. The swish of a nurse's starched dress. The strangled grunt of a man as the dressing is removed from his wound. The hiss of coal in the fireplace at the end of the ward. Perhaps a priest beside a bed, or a nun. Over all, the heavy odour of drugs and disinfectants. Brisk nurses go about, cheery surgeons, but there is no real cheer. ”

“ Not a word was uttered during the time of our remaining, unless, indeed, by the wardswoman in reply to some question which we put to the turnkey who accompanied us. In every ward on the female side, a wardswoman is appointed to preserve order, and a similar regulation is adopted among the males. The wardsmen and wardswomen are all prisoners, selected for good conduct. They alone are allowed the privilege of sleeping on bedsteads; a small stump bedstead being placed in every ward for that purpose. ”

“ When I assert—as I do unhesitatingly assert—that no one could work in a war-hospital ward for any length of time without an ever-deepening respect and fondness for Tommy Atkins, it is the same thing as asserting that the respect and fondness are evoked by close contact with one's countrymen: nothing more nor less. A hospital ward is a haphazard selection of one's fellow-Britons: the most wildly haphazard it is possible to conceive. ”

“ One of the lively episodes of hospital life, is the frequent marching away of such as are well enough to rejoin their regiments, or betake themselves to some convalescent camp. The ward master comes to the door of each room that is to be thinned, reads off a list of names, bids their owners look sharp and be ready when called for; and, as he vanishes, the rooms fall into an indescribable state of topsy-turvyness, as the boys begin to black their boots, brighten spurs, if they have them, overhaul knapsacks, make presents ”

“ The wards are filled with a strange group of beings. The very scum, not of the poor, but the vicious, are to be found in these wards. The man who attends these dens does his duty in the midst of revilings and cursings, and at the risk of his life. ”

“ Patients should be encouraged to do something for themselves, the women to make and mend their own clothes, to keep their rooms in good order, and assist about the ward. They should be made to feel that they can add to their own comfortable surroundings by their own efforts.
For the men, ward work is not so natural or tasteful, but they will do with interest much of this kind of work; to this may be added employment in decorating their own rooms or the ward, and in caring for plants and flowers. ”

“ I have known men to go unbathed for many months, simply because they did not wish to bathe, and it saved the warder trouble—nearly all others in the ward only bathed about once a month, and yet at the stated times the officer filled up and signed the form, certifying to the superior authorities that those in his ward had been bathed at the regulation times. ”

“ These trifles reveal at a glance the professional touch in a ward, and are, I understand, not by any means the insignia of a military as distinct from a civilian hospital. They may or may not contribute to the comfort of the patient, but they betoken the captaincy of one whose methodicalness will in other and less visible respects most emphatically benefit him.
Our hut life was something more than a mere folding-up of bedding on bedsteads and great-coats on shelves. ”

“ This outwork is so dangerously near to the inner ward, and at so high a level, that it must have been occupied, probably by a stockade or timber structure. It is a very curious work.
The outer ward, at the north end or root of the ridge, is 60 feet or 70 feet lower, and much broader than the inner ward. Its defence on the south is the cross ditch, over which passes the causeway to the inner ward; on the west is the river-cliff, 80 feet to 90 feet high; and on the east and north a steep scarp, partly of red rock, partly rivetted in masonry, and from 10 feet to 20 feet deep. ”

“ By reason of this difference, the lower part of this ward wall is a revetment, retaining the ground along the west and north, and part of the south and east fronts. The inequality is seen at the gatehouse, the passage through which rises one foot in ten to the middle of the ward ”

“ Frequently there are tents, more comfortable here than one might think, whatever they may be down in the army.
Each ward has a ward-master, and generally a nurse for every ten or twelve men. A ward surgeon has, generally, two wards—although this varies. Some of the wards have a woman nurse; the Armory-square wards have some very good ones. The one in Ward E is one of the best.
A few weeks ago the vast area of the second story of that noblest of Washington buildings, the Patent office, was crowded close with rows of sick, badly wounded, and dying soldiers. ”

“ It is folly, perversity, frenzy! But, thanks to the wisdom of legislators, the law very properly invests the guardian with great latitude of discretionary power of the person and property of his ward—to be used, of course, for that ward's best interest. And thus, my dear Clara, it is my duty, while holding this power over you, to exercise it for preventing the possibility of your ever—either now or at any future time, throwing yourself away upon a mere adventurer. To do this, I must provide you with a suitable husband. My son, Mr. Craven Le Noir, has long loved and wooed her. ”

“ At last, after the doctor’s evening visit, the sergeant of the guard came in, counted over the patients and the ward was locked. A tub was first brought in, and I learnt with surprise that it was kept in the ward all night, for though there was accommodation only two steps away in the corridor, it was against the rules for the convicts to leave the ward on any pretext at night, and even during the day they were only allowed to be absent for a moment. The convict wards were not like the ordinary ones, and the convict had to bear his punishment even in illness. ”

“ Of these there are in the several wards, 26 Aldermen, 236 common councilmen, 241 constables, 423 inquestmen, 218 scavengers, who employ rakers to clean the streets, at the expence of 3466l. 19s. per annum; 32 beadles, 672 watch-men, to prevent robberies by night, and 4800 lamps, to illuminate the streets, all maintained at the expence of the wards in which they are placed. In short each ward manages the affairs belonging to it, without the assistance of the rest, and each has a court for the management of its affairs, called a court of wardmote. ”

“ Branches are also sometimes organized in outlying districts of large wards where there are not enough people to justify a complete ward organization, and yet the district is too far removed from the ward to permit the members living there to enjoy the advantages of the adjacent ward organization. ”

“ Each ward sent its champion to the contest, and as these fought in pairs, loud was the shouting which rose from their comrades at each blow given or warded, and even the older citizens joined sometimes in the shouting and took a warm interest in the champions of their respective wards. ”

“ Ah! I know too well their errand before they speak. Persons have been coming all the week for the same purpose.
“Can we see the rebel? Please to show us the ward where the rebel is confined?”
“I am sorry, ladies, but it is quite impossible——”
“Eight punches for our ward, Miss ——, are they ready?”
“Yes, Williams, standing on the shelf there; take them on that waiter.”
“The surgeon in charge has given strict orders that no visitors are to be admitted to that ward, [34] as there are some men dangerously ill there, and he wishes it kept perfectly quiet.” ”

“ Soon after my transfer to this ward I was permitted to go out of doors and walk to the business section of the city, two miles distant. But on these walks I was always accompanied. To one who has never surrendered any part of his liberty such surveillance would no doubt seem irksome; yet, to me, after being so closely confined, the ever-present attendant seemed a companion rather than a guard. These excursions into the sane and free world were not only a great pleasure, they were almost a tonic. To rub elbows with normal people tended to restore my mental poise. ”