IKit
10 Cbe Conservative.
tninly curable , the possibly curable , and
the incurable. For the incurables
death , usually near at hand , is the only
relief. AU that can be done for them is
to make them as comfortable as possible
in places where they will not infect the
well or to heavily handicap them in the
struggle of life. For the possibly
curable , the possibility depending largely
upon constitution , habits and tempera *
incut , separation from the uninfected is
as necessary as in the case of the in
curable , and for the same reasons. In
the cases of those who can be cured ,
every consideration of humanity and of
public interest demands that they shall
have the benefit of a chance of useful
life. This can be secured only under
a change of climate , aud the substitu
tion of pure air for the vitiated atmos
phere of the workshop and the tene
ment , nutritious and tissue-building
food , rest from exhausting and monotonous
onous daily toil , and education by pre
cept and example in whatever the lay
man needs to know of personal and
domestic hygiene , especially in the mat
ter of safeguards against spreading in
fection.
The State Hospital.
The state hospital which is to bo built
in the Adirondacks for incipient cases of
pulmonary tuberculosis , is a wise and
beneficent enterprise , from which re
sults of great economic value to the
state may be expected. To meet the
requirements of the case , it must be
largely expanded from such small be
ginnings as the appropriation of $50-
000 will pay for. It must also be , and
we doubt not it will be , protected by its
management from becoming an asylum
for incurables , whom local health boards
are anxious to dispose of in time to have
them die elsewhere. The rules of the
institution are framed to prevent this
abuse of its limited facilities , and Wu
have no doubt they will be impartially
and intelligently enforced by the gentle
men selected by Governor Roosevelt as
its trustees. It needs to be fostered and
encouraged by the societies which have
been largely instrumental in insuring
its creation , among which may be in
cluded the State Charities Aid Associa
tion , the Society for Improving the Con
dition of the Poor , the Charity Organi
zation Seciety , the United Hebrew
Charities , and other organizations whose
work gives them a clear understanding
and a keen realization of the need of the
state's aid in the effort to restrict tuber
culosis. It must also bo supplemented
by the creation of consumption hospit
als under municipal control for cases
which cannot be left in their homes
without the danger to the public health
which results from planting centres of
infection where they will do most harm.
It must be further assisted by energetic ,
well-directed and sustained efforts to
enforce the provisions of sanitary codes
iu cities , to keep streets clean , and to
prevent the sale of unwholesome food
especially infected milk and tuberculous
meat.
REGENERATION.
You ank for a letter to read tonight ;
And I well , ho\v cnn I hope to please
When , back through tlio din of nn awful flight ,
The thoughts that burden arc all like these :
A snow-white church by a velvet lane ,
A fence with a graceful curve in white ,
And stately trees grow once again
In the picture that crowds my mind tonight.
Tim well-kept lawn and the well-trimmed trees ,
As the pane glints back the setting sun ,
Is a twilight picture that well may please
The ardent worshippers , every one.
Like a youth , you say , in the flush of pride ,
All clean and pure ? True , a graveyard lies
Just a little back , that may in time
Hold all that is left of broken ties.
But who would think in this hour of pride ,
When all complete it strikes the view ,
Of broken ties I Of hopes that died
While the picture before us yet was now ?
Ah , there it stands. A pretty sight ?
Well , yes ; and what powers are latent hero I
As imagery leads to a dizzy height ,
Wo mark for the youth a grand career.
Wo see the church with a gilded dome ,
And a spire that touches the cloud-ribbed
skies ,
A grand old monast'ry of stone ,
And a voice that moistens the sinner's eyes.
A record of souls that are won to God
As long as the roster of civil wars ,
While , out in the church-yard , never a sod
Has yet been laid on a friend of ours.
Thus on , in our imagery , run the years
WhilH honor and fame and wealth are ours ;
And when wo die , our neighbor's tears ,
The first mound there , covered with flowers ,
I look again and note a change.
The kaleidoscope of life is jarred ,
And the picture I wrought has missed the
range ,
The fence and the lawn are somewhat marred.
I sec a funeral train draw near
And I know by the weight of the long-draw n
sigh ,
That beneath the willow and ewe tree , hero
A buried hope will forever Ho.
I see the luster of white lias dimmed ,
And the trees that grow to protect and cheer
Are gone , all gone , while stronger limbed
Have grown the willow and owe tree near.
And other mounds have fllled the space
That imagery painted aa always bare ;
While the stamp of timn on the church's face
Makes the lightless windows fairly stare.
And the moss has covered the rotting sills ,
And the damp has blackened the pulpit chair ;
A feeling of horror our being fills
As wo breathe the chill of the stagnant air.
While the willow has grown till a forcst-shado
Protects the worthless , mouldering pile ;
Till a sunbeam , oven , is quite afraid
To bravo the damp witli a cheering smile.
A groan of anguish is all wo hear ,
As the briar-strewn path wo try to tread ,
While every hope that in youth was dear
Lies buried deep in this field of dead.
Not worn to decay , but from lack of care ,
With all its perfection and beauty gone ,
The youth of valor , with snow-whito hair
To the feeble days of ago has como.
Once more the picture is changed , and wo
May view the lines of a pretty sight ,
As , back to a useful life , wo see
The ancient pile all now and bright.
Once more the scene , with a hallowed light ,
Breaks fair on a tinted autumn ovo.
The lane and the landscape , seared and bright ,
A restful hope in our soul will leave.
The moss and the damp have been cleared away ,
And a smiling welcome awaits you there ,
The dawn of a fairer , brighter day
Has como , for the willows are trimmed and
fair.
Wo can tread the beautiful , flower-strewn
ways
Among the graves of our buried past ,
And look and long for the brighter days
When hopes live always and pleasures last.
As the sun sinks low o'er the western hills ,
An anthem of praise from the vaulted aisles ,
With its soothing tones , our being thrills ;
And peaceful light on the old church smiles.
What means that light in the sin-stained soul ?
And why that brow with a peaceful cast ?
The Angel of God with a Living Coal
Has touched his sorrowful soul at last.
E. E. BLACKMAN.
Roca , Nebraska.
THE SANTA FE IN SAN FRANCICSO.
The Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe
can now run its trains through from
Chicago to San Francisco bay , a great
journey of 2507 miles. This has long
been the ambition of the mangemeut ,
and a dozen or more years ago President
Strong forced from the Southern Pacific
a contract which gave the Santa Fe run
ning powers over the track of that com
pany from Mojave to Oakland. An in
dependent line , however , was the ideal
aimed at , and this has been accomplished
by the purchase and completion of the
San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley
road from Bakersfield north to Port
Richmond , opposite San Francisco , 805
miles , supplemented by a contract with
the Southern Pacific for the joint use of
its tracks between Mojave and Bakersfield -
field , 67 miles. The San Joaquiu Valley
road , also , has a brunch from Fresno to
Visalia , 44 miles ; so that the Santa Fe
has added 349 miles to its mileage
owned , and , including the track leased
from the S. P. , 37.3 miles to the length
of lines operated. The Atchison , Top
eka & Santa Fo system now embraces
7,820 miles of lines , extending from
Lake Michigan to the gulf at Galveston ,
to the Mexican border at El Paso , and to
the Pacific at San Diego , Rendoudo and
San Francisco , with a vast mileage of
interlacing tracks between.
The extension of an arm 372 miles
long northward to San Francisco intro
duces a powerful competitor into the
heart of California , which the Southern
Pacific has served and developed , with
out a rival , for thirty years. It will be