by Mark Stevens
Other Daily Activities
Dinner is served at 12.30pm, when the workers rejoin their less active fellows. As at breakfast, the sexes progress from their separate lobbies into the dining hall, then sit at table waiting to be served.
The principal diet at the asylum is designed to provide foods of a starchy, fatty nature. This provides the bulk and substance required for physical work. Around two-thirds of your sustenance is based around bread or potatoes, with the other third provided by other foodstuffs. Many animals can survive happily on a diet of starch and fat alone, but we recognise that your morale may be raised and your digestion eased if supplied with a little variety. The high proportion of bland starch is also designed not to over-excite patients, as meat or other proteins may. Generally speaking, the lunatic patient suffers from excess energy, and therefore foods rich in nutrients are best given in gentle doses.
Dinner is the meal that provokes the greatest enthusiasm among patients, because meat is served. This may be boiled or roasted mutton, beef or pork: last year, we consumed over 5,000lbs of beef and over 3,000lbs of mutton from the farm, while an additional 500lbs of pork was purchased by the bailiff. We make efficient use of this weight and are keen to ensure that no part of an animal is left unused. Once a week, the leftovers are turned into stock to make a nourishing soup. This is supplemented with barley or another grain.
Each week, assorted meat pies are also baked in the ovens, with the pastry allowing for a slight reduction in the bread ration for the day; while on Friday, an Irish stew is prepared from other trays of unused cuts. Saturday’s midday meal supplies the sweetest treat of the week, when either a meat suet pudding or, in season, plum or another type of fruit pudding is cooked. There are also exceptional occasions when we purchase a catch of freshwater fish or are presented with a gift of birds or rabbits by one of the local landowners.
The dinner fare is served with boiled potatoes, cooked in their jackets, though a quantity will be peeled for patients who struggle to chew their food. Vegetables may also be provided, with cabbage by far the most common sight upon our tables, with seasonal root or sprouting vegetables furnished by our kitchen garden.
The farm and garden grant such luxuries to us throughout the year. Roughly every pound spent on procuring victuals is matched by one pound’s worth of goods produced here. On their most recent visit, for example, the Commissioners in Lunacy dined on our own bacon and cabbage in addition to our supplier’s cold beef. At harvest time the garden also yields various fruits, some of which are stored over winter or made into preserves. When the garden cannot provide, then currants and other dried fruits are purchased to allow some extra sweetness into the diet; while treacle, rice, eggs, butter and flour are mixed for puddings to be served on special occasions. Cheese, milk, salt, pepper and spices are all used to enhance the dishes. Whatever the daily menu, there is no want of flavour.
Each meal is prepared in the kitchen and then transferred to a wagon and taken to the benches by an attendant or helper. Portions generally come in a standard size; 8oz of bread or potatoes added to a similar quantity of the meat, soup or pudding is recommended by the regulations, unless a special diet is required. One of the attendants’ tasks is to observe their charges and report any problems that are had with eating or digesting food, or any tendency to eat unsuitable items such as stones or coal. For those unable to digest bread, an oatmeal porridge or similar recipe can be made up.
A cloth is placed upon each table, bibs are available for those who need them, and every patient’s meal is served onto a tin plate covered with enamel. Grace is said. Ale and beer are the principal drinks at dinner, though in dilute form. Beer is known to be a most wholesome and beneficial drink, and many among the labouring classes retain a very strong affection for it. There has been some debate amongst our committee about whether beer should be reserved solely for the workers, and these discussions continue. For those who do not like the taste of beer, the alternative accompaniment is cold milk. Water is not recommended, unless served as a hot drink with oatmeal added to it.
In addition to your plate and beaker, table knives and spoons are available to all, though forks are provided only to the convalescent patients. Human dignity must be balanced with security, as cutlery is a potential source of danger, and every piece must be accounted for. Please do not attempt to remove articles for your own use.
When dinner is complete, patients will return to their previous activities, meeting up once more between 5 and 6pm for the last meal of the day: tea - or supper, which consists of a further 8oz ration of bread and butter, together with a mug of tea. This is carried out so that every patient is sent to bed with a full stomach and having had a hot drink.
Unless there is an evening entertainment, the period after supper allows time for reflection on the achievements of the day and a chance to converse together or play quiet games before bed. At this time male workers are most likely to make use of their allowance of tobacco. Although some patients smoke a lit pipe – one left in a jacket pocket once nearly caused a fire in the clothes store – most chew a handful of the leaves before they spit the remnants into a bowl or bucket. The smell of tobacco across the wards is one of the features of the evenings here.
At 7.30pm, the attendants will signal the day’s end by closing the window shutters in the day-rooms. Conversations may be interrupted, games brought to a close and readers asked to close their volumes of improving text. The stoves are secured, the lights turned out and the patients are escorted from each room. The day-rooms are then locked and the keys returned to the charge attendant, while each group of patients files away towards their sleeping quarters.
This seems an appropriate point at which to consider the matter of bathing. While it is true that bathing may be undertaken at any time of the day as a patient’s needs require, during the evening time is deliberately set aside to enact each patient’s weekly bath. Every ward has a rota for bathing and, as it is necessary to bathe several patients in one session, there is no time to idle in the porcelain tub. Rather, there is a strict focus on your personal cleanliness, and the whole operation is directed by your charge attendant, who will engage junior attendants to assist with the process.
On your bath day, you will be expected to strip down to your undergarments and then await your turn. In the bathroom, the charge attendant will see that the bath is properly prepared. Cold water is first run in a moderate quantity, before that tap is stemmed and hot water added. It is vital that this procedure is followed: when a poor, idiot boy jumped unbidden into hot water he was scalded badly, and the attendant in charge was immediately given his notice. The increasing heat of the bath is tested continuously by the immersion of a thermometer until the temperature arrives at the range of ninety to ninety-six degrees Fahrenheit.
At this point, the junior attendant will fetch a patient, complete their undress and then supervise them as they bathe. Bathing is performed to an established routine: the patient will be immersed first in the water, before being requested to stand. Carbolic soap is then liberally applied – by the staff if the patient is unable, or unwilling to oblige – and then a coarse brush is agitated against the flesh to release the dirt and allow the soap to work into the skin. The hair is also thoroughly wetted. The patient is then dipped into the water once more to rinse the soap off. When the patient leaves the bath the water is run out, as it is not hygienic for multiple patients to bathe in the same water.
On leaving the bath, the attendant will first sponge off excess water from you, which then enables the person to be more effectively dried with a towel. A comb to seek out vermin will be brushed through the hair; if any are found, you will have your hair washed promptly with an insecticide. Finger and toe nails are clipped and male patients may be shaved under the direction of an attendant. Razors are available only to those shortly to depart on trial, and always under the strictest supervision.
For female patients, an additional weekday night is allowed for hair-washing,
a process which cannot be adequately concluded within the usual time allotted for bathing. Female patients may also have their wet hair cut by the attendants, while women who require sanitary materials will be pleased to note that clean rags are made available in the female stores.
With the exception of bathing, there is not the same frenzy of washing before bed as can be seen at first light. The portable wash basin in each ward can be brought out for those who wish to use it, while those patients who drool or are inclined to dirty their hands or faces will be sponged before they retire.
When all patients are in their nightdress you will notice that there are some additional staff. The day shift has ended, and it is now the turn of the night attendants to offer you their care. They will invite you to go to bed; the expectation is that all patients will be settled by 8pm. The shutters in the dormitories and single rooms are closed, the bedroom doors are shut then locked. Lights are extinguished once all the patients are safely under covers. Any heat gradually dissipates and leaves a circulation of cool air, while a little glow in the dormitories remains from the lamps in the corridor and the attendant’s room.
Some dormitories are watched continuously at night, especially those housing the epileptics or where any patients are known to soil their beds. Patients who are in danger of self-harm will also be under the watchful gaze of the attendant. All behaviour is monitored lest it should be offensive to others, and if necessary the perpetrators will be removed into a single room for the night, where they will be left unattended until the morning. The aim is to ensure untroubled repose, for peaceful sleep restores vitality and rationality.
Entertainments
The social side of life in the asylum is constantly promoted to the patients. Association is an important skill and easily tested in work and play, so we try and provide opportunities for large groups of patients to get together and enjoy activities across the wards. It is necessary to have a sufficient quantity of attendants on duty and so, much like the cricket games in summer, these events take place during the evenings and weekends.
Since the asylum’s opening we have operated a programme of fortnightly musical soirées, which take place after the usual time for lights out, evoking a feeling of illicit freedom among the gathered throng. In the winter, these evenings take place in the hall, but in fine summer weather they are moved to the formal gardens outside the main block. As well as the singing and musical accompaniment, tea is available to all. It has also been found agreeable for these events to bring together both sides of the asylum. To date, no ill effects have resulted from this novel arrangement. Indeed, the benefits of this rare mixing of the sexes are of great interest to the medical men who watch over you. The most truculent man may become a lamb when faced with the gentle charms of a woman; similarly, the female patient who cannot be tamed by her sisters may submit gracefully to the orders of a male.
The music for the evening begins once the superintendent has arrived, and thereafter voices with accompaniment are heard across the estate. The music is a clarion call to dance, and the staff enquire of each patient if they would care to join the round. Some encouragement is usually required to bring the two sexes together in the hall, for they sit as self-consciously apart as participants in any parish dance. Many patients are also content merely to listen to the music.
The band itself is made up of patients and staff, and includes brass, woodwind and timpani; a piano is also available for suitable pieces. Though the musicians are amateur, the standard of playing is enthusiastic, and their steady rhythms pulse within the floorboards while their notes ascend into the evening air. Recently we have been fortunate enough to acquire an officer who has a great interest in singing, with the result that a choral union has been established. For variation, a soloist may give a rendition of some light operatic song.
We are additionally very proud of the theatrical performances that we stage. For the patients these tend to be a passive experience, as although one or two actors are drawn from the patients’ ranks, for most there is rather the appreciation of being a spectator. These affairs are designed to enhance your spirits and to invite a response with their ready humour. Typically they are one-act farces with the opportunity for outlandish dress. The staff themselves can be relied upon to rehearse and perform these plays, and we offer one gala performance every two months. Where possible, these performances are also opened up to the local villagers, and a small amount of money is raised from entrance fees to go towards the purchase of dramatic, musical or sporting equipment.
The same is sometimes true of the performances by visiting artistes. The superintendent is always keen to acquire the services of at least one dramatic troupe each year, and we have occasional shows by orchestral groups, magicians and other variety acts, or lectures with the magic lantern. These artistes are amateurs for the most part or professionals who are content to waive their usual fees.
All these events are of such importance that every able patient is allowed to attend and only those too infirm to watch must sit out proceedings. They are a wonderful, shared experience: the community has a common interest in anticipating them, and then in critically dissecting the experience afterwards. There is no better sound than when the hall is awash with waves of applause or laughter.
The same privilege of mass attendance is afforded at our annual show. Each year we hold an athletics meeting one Saturday towards the end of summer. These are not the refined athletics of the university or public school; instead, it is an opportunity to enter into the spirit of taking part. Obstacle, sack and egg and spoon races are the order of the day, and the cricket pitch gives itself over to mirth and merriment in lieu of tribal competition. Involvement in the athletics is restricted to the male patients, while the women form an audience for the rustic sports that are transacted.
However, both male and female convalescents separately also make outside visits to the annual agricultural shows held locally. There the finest flowers, fruits and vegetables can be inspected, together with the most handsome beasts, while souvenirs can be purchased from the many craft stalls.
Sundays and Holy Days
In keeping with the commandment of the scriptures, every Sunday in the asylum is a special day when you may rest. You may choose to read, or write letters, play games or join with one of the walking parties.
Each Sunday we hold Divine Services within the chapel. These are much larger ceremonies than the daily prayers. A morning service commences at 11am, and an evening service begins at 6pm. The asylum chaplain is always pleased to receive anyone to the chapel, and no patient’s behaviour is restrained unless it presents a danger. The services are not quite like those you may remember from your local church: the congregation is often reluctant to kneel, and it is not uncommon for patients to call out, or extend their arms rhythmically in a display of excitement. Provided that there is no harm in such displays they will be embraced as part of the character of the gathering.
There are usually around 150 worshippers at the Sunday morning service, and up to 170 at the evening one. Services err on the side of brevity, so that the attention of those present is not allowed to wander too freely. Descriptions of terror and unpleasantness are omitted from the readings and the sermons. The chaplain is at all times requested to lift the gloom experienced by some patients, rather than to exacerbate it. Chapel is another of those rare times when male and female patients are permitted to share the same space. In some asylums there is a gallery, where the female patients sit behind and above the men, thus out of sight and of temptation. Here we have no such option, so the women merely use the rear chapel seating.
We have a small choir of patients to lead the singing at these services. Additionally, a harmonium in the chapel provides for a solid musical accompaniment to our song. Our last chaplain had complained bitterly about the ‘great want which we all experience of a small organ’, and it is a pleasure to have rectified the matter. Once a month, the chaplain also administers Holy Communion, though only aroun
d a dozen patients currently take part in this and specific permission has to be sought from the superintendent for a patient to take the sacrament.
There are similar, additional Divine Services on special days: at Christmas; each day throughout Holy Week; and on certain feast days, including Harvest, when a special supper is also provided. All are welcome to attend. Good Friday and Christmas day are also days when patient work is suspended. The festival of Yuletide is undoubtedly treasured by all our patients. A few days before Christmas itself, the dining and recreation halls are made up extensively with evergreen wreaths and fabric ribbons constructed by staff with the assistance of patients, while lanterns are hung from the ceilings. These bright and airy spaces are then the scene for the festivities which traditionally take place on a day between Christmas and Twelfth Night.
At these festivities every patient dines in the hall on a cooked meal of roast meats, followed by a plum or other fruit pudding; then afterwards, the merry gathering retires to the next door room for a ball based upon the programme of one of our regular musical evenings. Initially, airs are sung to a piano accompaniment, before the band is formed and the dance begins. Warm, spiced drinks and cakes are served until 10pm, when the national anthem is sung and the party disperses; but the celebrations of all are carried back into the wards.
Chapter 7