USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Early Philadelphia; its people, life and progress > Part 22
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THE PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL
ENJAMIN FRANKLIN in his " Brief Account of the Pennsylvania Hospital," published in 1754, tells us of the concern that was felt in the City about the end of the year 1750 on account of the want of shelter and care for sick and distempered strangers too poor to pay for expensive lodging, nurses and physicians. In his autobiography he tells how his friend, Dr. Thomas Bond, conceived the idea of estab- lishing a hospital and started out to obtain subscriptions for it. Dr. Bond found it slow work and those solicited wanted to know if it had Franklin's approval before they would give. Always willing to aid any good public enter- prise, Franklin accordingly entered heartily into the project, and as was his custom, prepared the people's minds for it by writing in the newspapers. Subscriptions began to come in faster and the Assembly was appealed to with success. The old fellow says he does not remember any of his political manœuvres the success of which gave him more pleasure or for which he " more easily excused myself for having made use of some cunning." To obviate the criti- cism of physician's fees dissipating the funds, Doctors Thomas Bond, Lloyd Zachary and Phineas Bond offered their services without pay and the charter was granted May 11, 1751.
The managers first chosen were Joshua Crosby, Ben- jamin Franklin, Thomas Bond, Samuel Hazard, Richard Peters, Israel Pemberton, Jr., Samuel Rhodes, Hugh Roberts, Joseph Morris, John Smith, Evan Morgan, Charles Morris and the treasurer, John Reynell.
Joshua Crosby was the first President of the Board of Managers, and Benjamin Franklin was its first clerk.
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THE PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL, IN PINE STREET
THE PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL
The house of the lately deceased John Kinsey, on the south side of High Street below Seventh, was rented and on February 6, 1752, an advertisement inserted in the " Pennsylvania Gazette " stating that the hospital was prepared to receive patients. Almost all the money came from the Quakers, who kept the hospital under their con- trol, it being a party stronghold, as the College was to the Episcopal and Proprietary party. The managers were fined for absence and lateness, the Towne Clock or the watch of the oldest person present being the standard to determine the time. Doctors Graeme, Cadwalader, Moore and Redman were appointed to consult with the original three in extraordinary cases. Several spinning wheels, two pairs of cards, wool and flax were secured to furnish light labour for the patients.
The eloquent Whitefield sent the receipts of a persuasive sermon, England sent much material aid and Parliament gave all the unclaimed funds of the Pennsylvania Land Company, amounting to £13,000. So after some con- troversy the square between Spruce and Pine and Eighth and Ninth Streets was obtained and the dignified building we all know was erected. On its ancient cornerstone is deeply cut this inscription:
" In the year of Christ, MDCCLV, George the second happily reigning, (For he sought the happiness of his people) Philadelphia flourishing, (For its inhabitants were public-spirited) This Building By the bounty of the Government, And of many private persons, was piously founded For the relief of the sick and the miserable
May the God of Mercies bless the undertaking."
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Franklin succeeded Crosby as president in 1756 and drew up the very sensible rules for the direction of the hospital.
Hugh Roberts planted the ample lawn with two rows of beautiful buttonwood trees, and with a scion of the famous Treaty Elm, and Franklin characteristically had tin boxes, lettered in gold "Charity for the Hospital " placed to receive the donations of friends and visitors. Gifts from prominent citizens evidenced the popularity and usefulness of the institution which was uninterrupted until the Revolution and its attendent confusion of the public service well-nigh ruined it. The diligent and reso- lute Quaker managers, however, averted the catastrophe, although it was years before it regained its old degree of usefulness.
The First Troop of Philadelphia City Cavalry gave to the Hospital the entire sum received for its services during the Revolutionary War and the Maternity Ward for poor married women was built and endowed with this money. John Penn, grandson of the Founder, in 1804 presented the leaden statue of his illustrious ancestor, which had originally stood in Wycombe Park, Bucks, England, where it was greatly admired by Franklin. In 1817 Benjamin West, then president of the Royal Acad- emy in London, sent a replica of his famous painting of " Christ Healing the Sick," from which the adroit mana- gers of the Hospital realized $20,000 from the eager crowds who thronged to see it.
The minutes of the managers are interesting records of patients and methods. Indian fighters and many soldiers wounded in the struggle of England and France
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for supremacy in America were among the early patients in this first hospital of the Colonies. During the British occupation of the City the military authorities took pos- session and filled it with their sick and wounded. When they left in June, 1778, they carried off the bedding, instru- ments and medicines without giving the least compensation.
A curious source of income in the days when insane persons were thought incurable was derived from a charge of fourpence made for the permission of visitors to walk through the hospital and " see the crazy people." As these unfortunates increased it was found necessary to move them to a separate and much larger accommodation, so in 1841 the department for the insane known as " Kirk- bride's " was built in West Philadelphia. This popular name was derived from the personality of the first super- intendent, Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride, who filled the position with marked success until his death in 1883. Dr. Benjamin Rush was especially active in studying the insane cases and caring for them.
In 1762, Dr. John Fothergill, the Quaker physician of London, presented the hospital with a splendid collection of anatomical casts and drawings and these were made the basis of lectures by Dr. William Shippen, Jr., once a fort- night at a dollar apiece. In 1766 Dr. Thomas Bond began clinical lectures. The anatomist of those days pursued his investigations at the risk of his life and his abode was looked upon as the haunt of body-snatchers and the favour- ite abiding place of ghosts. The dead bodies were brought there, it was said, and " their flesh was boiled and their bones burnt down for the use of the faculty." Boys would advance as far as they dared and retreat suddenly, singing:
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" The body-snatchers! They have come, And made a snatch at me; It's very hard them kind of men Won't let a body be! Don't go to weep upon my grave, And think that there I'll be; They haven't left an atom there Of my anatomy !"
The Hospital was, as has been said, the rallying point of the Quaker or Assembly party. Most of the distin- guished and able members of the Society of Friends have been interested in it down to the present time and its service is eagerly sought by every graduating medical student of note at the University. The beautiful old buildings in the midst of their verdure are next to the State House group one of the most charming in the United States.
THE PHILADELPHIA DISPENSARY
HE picturesque little Colonial build- ing set somewhat back from Fifth Street opposite to Independence Square houses the oldest dispensary in the United States. It was opened on Strawberry Alley, April 12, 1786, for the medical relief of the poor, which could be done at less public expense than in a hospital and in many cases with less inconvenience on the part of the sufferers.
The first managers were Bishop White, Thomas Clif- ford, Samuel Powell, Rev. George Duffield, Henry Hill, Samuel Vaughan, John Baker, Thomas Fitzsimons, Sam- uel Miles, Lawrence Seckel, Samuel Pleasants and Thomas Franklin.
The physicians and surgeons were: Dr. Samuel P. Griffitts, Dr. James Hall, Dr. William Clarkson, Dr. John Morris, Dr. John Carson and Dr. Caspar Wistar, who had for consultants Dr. John Jones, Dr. William Shippen, Jr., Dr. Adam Kuhn and Dr. Benjamin Rush. The first year showed 719 patients at a cost of £326 6s. 4d. and the receipts were £571 12s. 5d., showing the usual careful management. Clifford, the Treasurer, rented John Guest's house on Chestnut Street in 1787 and in 1801 the present location was secured. The prosperous institution soon paid off the debt incurred for the building, and re- stricted its ministrations within the bounds of the old City from Vine to South Street between the two rivers.
The reluctance of the poor to enter a hospital and the still-to-be-found view among them of a horrible experi- mental surgery practised therein, gave the Dispensary great popularity, which was fortunate, for the two hospitals
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in the City could not have cared for more than they did.
The first contribution list, headed of course by Ben- jamin Franklin, contains the names of 361 of the foremost citizens who inscribed their autographs and contributed a guinea each. Bishop White was the first president and Dr. Samuel Griffitts secretary. Many physicians have been trained in the service of the Dispensary and its work has been so quiet and unostentatious that few persons out- side the poor know of its existence. The sick are still visited in their homes when too ill to come to the Dispensary. In 1816 the managers interested themselves in establishing both the Northern and Southern Dispensaries to relieve the parent institution and widen its service.
THE ABOLITION SOCIETY
T is so difficult for us nowadays to picture a community where human slavery existed and where fellow- beings were bought and sold, hus- bands and wives permanently sepa- rated and children ruthlessly torn from their parents that we cannot very well realize the importance, as an innovation, of the first protest against slavery made by Francis Daniel Pas- torius and his comrades of Germantown Friends' Meeting in 1688. Perhaps the recent recognition of John Wool- man's Journal as one of the classics of the English lan- guage has helped some of us to understand the conditions which so distressed that sweet and noble spirit. By 1696 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting took steps to discourage the increase of slavery and to improve the physical and moral condition of the blacks. In 1700 William Penn “ mourned over the state of the slaves but his attempts to improve their condition by legal enactments were defeated in the House of Assembly." A more furious figure than the gentle Woolman was Benjamin Lay, who lived in a natural cave on the York Road above what is now Branchtown. Water and vegetables were his only food and he refused to wear any garment or eat anything involving the loss of animal life or slave labour.
" Only four and a half feet high, hunch-backed, with projecting chest, legs small and uneven, arms longer than his legs, a huge head, showing only beneath the enormous white hat, large, solemn eyes and a prominent nose; the rest of his face covered with a snowy semi-circle of beard falling low on his breast, this fierce and prophetical brownie or kobold made unexpected dashes into the calm precincts
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of the Friends' Meeting House, and was a gad-fly of every assembly." At one time, during Yearly Meeting, he sud- denly appeared marching up the aisle in his long, white overcoat, regardless of the solemn silence prevailing. He stopped suddenly when midway and exclaiming, "You Slave-holders! Why don't you throw off your Quaker coats as I do mine, and shew yourselves as you are?" At the same moment he threw off his coat. Underneath was a military coat and a sword dangling against his heels. Holding in one hand a large book, he drew his sword with the other. "In the sight of God," he cried, "you are as guilty as if you stabbed your slaves to the heart, as I do this book!" Suiting the action to the word, and piercing a small bladder filled with the juice of the poke-weed which he had concealed between the covers, and sprinkling as with fresh blood those who sat near him. Though offensive and peculiar, he was one of the active forces which paved the way to decisive action and was the fore- runner of many less rational agitators. Woolman, patient and persuasive, was the real force, however, which led to the Meeting's denying the right of membership to all those who continued, " after suitable labour had been extended," to hold their fellow-men as property.
In 1774 the " Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free Negroes un- lawfully held in Bondage " was organized, and it was the first of its kind. The founders were John Baldwin, presi- dent; Thomas Harrison, secretary; Samuel Davis, treas- urer; Arthur Thomas, Seymour Hart, Thomas Wishart, John Browne, Joel Zane, Thomas Hood and James Mor- gan. During the same year there were admitted Cad- walader Dickinson, William Lippincott, Amos Wicker- sham, James Starr, Joseph Shotwell, Jr., William Coats,
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Matthew Henderson, John Hamilton, John Davis, Joshua Comly, Thomas Morgan and John Bull. Soon the leaven from the Quakers spread to persons of other denominations and in 1787 Benjamin Franklin became president; James Pemberton and Jonathan Penrose, vice-presidents; Ben- jamin Rush and Tench Coxe, secretaries, and James Starr, treasurer. By 1793 the zeal and activity of the Society had given rise to many similar societies in other States, had secured a wide improvement in State laws relating to slavery and had procured the emancipation of several thousand blacks who were detained in bondage contrary to the laws of the State. The next year it held a convention in Philadelphia which was attended by delegates from all societies for the abolition of slavery in the United States and petitioned the Congress and the Pennsylvania Legis- lature to adopt laws protecting the African race and sup- press the slave trade. On the 22nd of March, Congress adopted such a law.
In Isaac T. Hopper the spirit of John Woolman seemed to find its reincarnation and he became in 1795 a leading member of the Abolition Society. The biography of this Friend and indefatigable abolitionist is one of the most entertaining ever written. It is a record of a long and zealous service to fugitive slaves conducted through much persecution with a calmness and good nature which is re- markable. He taught in the school for coloured children and adults founded by Anthony Benezet for many years and was the friend and legal adviser of coloured people under every emergency. His wit was as keen as his heart was big and his personal presence so strong and impressive that even his enemies looked with admiration they could not repress on the noble face and figure of this smiling marplot of all their schemes. His sense of humour seemed
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to conflict slightly with his Quaker garb and principles and this, together with his powerful and courageous indig- nation, often caused his enemies to become his strongest friends. A curious whim of Hopper's was to amuse him- self by stepping into undertaking establishments and " try- ing on " the coffins by getting into them. One day while walking along the seashore in his plain clothes he was accosted by some city chaps looking for a sailboat for an afternoon's pleasure, who asked, " Are you a skipper? " to which the old Friend replied, " No, I am a Hopper!"
The yearly meetings of the Abolition Society brought together many eminent and positive persons whose fervour for a common purpose was the only force that enabled them to work together. Many women were as prominent as the men and shared with them the rigours of the cause in literature, the " Underground Railroad," and public speak- ing. Among these were Abigail Goodwin, Esther Moore, Mary Grew, the Lewis sisters and the widely known Lucretia Mott, an eminent Minister among Friends. Thomas Shipley, Thomas Garrett, Daniel Gibbons, Charles Cleveland, Miller McKim and such names as Furness, Tappam, Burleigh, Birney and Pierce were the more active lights among the men. The abolitionists were looked upon as disturbers of the peace and found difficulty in securing halls in which to hold their meetings. In 1837 they purchased a large lot of ground at the south- west corner of Sixth and Haines Streets, below Race, where they erected " Pennsylvania Hall." This imme- diately became the storm centre and there was considerable violence from the crowds that came to the meetings, cul- minating in the destruction of the building by fire. In
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these times of extreme feeling, agitation and rioting the Abolition Society took only a mild part, the more belligerent organization being the Pennsylvania Anti- Slavery Society. The Abolition Society, however, has sur- vived and still looks after the condition of the coloured people in Philadelphia as well as administering several trusts for the maintenance of coloured schools in the South.
EARLY DENOMINATIONAL SOCIETIES
NE of the earliest of Quaker testimonies was against a " hireling " ministry. They believe that each individual has 0 "that of God" within him, which if he is faithful to it, will lead and direct his life, so that all are on an equal footing before God and there is no privileged class. Each member is expected to give forth the wish of God in word and deed as freely as he receives it, with no limitation as to time, place or prearrangement. It is obvious then that no organization existed among them for the care of aged ministers or their families. Each monthly meeting has a committee which looks after all needy mem- bers in a secret way, drawing freely upon the meeting funds for the purpose.
There was, however, an early effort among Friends to offer temporary assistance to the distressed of the City. This was through " The Female Society of Philadelphia for the Relief of the Distressed," originated in 1793 after the yellow fever outbreak which brought terror and destitu- tion to so many of the poor who were unable to escape to the country. The Society was founded by Ann Parrish at the house of Isaac Parrish, southeast corner of Second Street and Pewterplatter Alley. Meetings were held at the house of Rose Lowry in Pewterplatter Alley and in 1795 organized with Ann Parrish as clerk and Catharine W. Morris as treasurer. A house of industry or "the house designated for spinners," was established on the west side of Mickle's Court which ran south from Arch Street west of Second. In 1816 the Society was incorporated in the style of that time, which, like contemporary books, tell all the story in their titles, and was called "The Female
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Society of Philadelphia for the Relief and Employment of the Poor." For the next thirty years the house of industry was in Ranstead's Court, running west from Fourth Street above Chestnut. In 1846 the property at 153 North Seventh Street was purchased and occupied.
After the unpleasantness among Friends in 1827 the good souls among the " Hicksites " had to form new organi- zations, as they were excluded by the " Orthodox " brethren from participating with them in works for peace and phi- lanthropy. In 1828 Mary Knight drew some of her friends together on the fifteenth of the eleventh month and organ- ized " The Female Association of Philadelphia for the Relief of the Sick and Infirm Poor with Clothing, etc." How fortunate that little "etc." ! Meetings were held in the schoolroom of Friends' Central School, adjoining the Meeting House at Fifth and Cherry Streets, and gar- ments cut out and made for the sick and suffering poor from materials purchased with dues. Soon " The Northern Association for the Relief of and Employment of the Poor " sprang up from the earlier organization, so as to accommodate those living in another section of the City, and in 1830 another live society was born of the same seed and was called the " Friends' Charity Fuel Association." When Friends' Central School was moved to Fifteenth and Race Streets in 1859 the " Female Association " moved with it and now meets in the Meeting House at that place. Gifts have increased its revenue so that now another group of worthy poor is helped by employment in making the gar- ments. A paragraph from the latest report of the Asso- ciation is so characteristic of it and of Philadelphia that it must be recited:
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" The plan of work of this Association has been widely adopted, showing the wisdom of those gentle women, whose tender obituaries speak of their ' silent ' methods that were so different to those of the present day."
In other denominations the situation is different, since the ministers have no other occupation than the care of the flock and in Philadelphia there were early movements to look after them and their families in old age. In 1717 the Presbyterian Synod created " The Fund for Pious Purposes." The development of this idea by 1755 pro- vided for the annual payment of certain fixed sums by the ministers, who were called " subscribers," and for the pay- ment of certain annuities to their widows and children. This Widows' Fund was essentially a mutual insurance or annuity company and was chartered by Thomas and Richard Penn, Proprietaries, in 1759, as " The Corporation for the Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Min- isters, and for Poor and Distressed Widows and Chil- dren of Presbyterian Ministers. Contributions had been solicited from the congregation and this often led to the failure of many ministers to pay their quotas, so that the corporation was planned to issue formal policies. The names attached to the Charter were the Reverends Robert Cross, Francis Alison, Gilbert Tennent, Richard Treat, Samuel Finley, and Messrs. William Allen, Alexander Houston, William McIlvaine, John Mease, John Blaiklie, Thomas Bourne and Andrew Read. Solicitations were at once begun and the Rev. Charles Beattie visited the Churches of England, Scotland and Ireland for the pur- pose of securing donations to the fund. Efforts were made to enlist churches in the cause by donating a permanent fund for the benefit of their pastors and their families. In 1824 the plan was changed to include aged ministers as
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well as their families. Thus the Presbyterian Ministers' Fund for Life Insurance is the oldest life insurance com- pany in America. Its long career has been increasingly useful, though its field is confined to ministers " Presby- terially governed." Its government is fashioned after the old English companies in that it has no president but is managed by a secretary and actuary, a treasurer and Board of Directors.
The Episcopalians were next in the field with " The Corporation for the Relief of Widows and Children of Clergymen in the Communion of the Church of England in America," which was organized in 1769. The idea seems to have at least been encouraged by the older but similar association in the Presbyterian Church, but the first mover in the Anglican Church here seems to have been Dr. Wil- liam Smith, first Provost of the University, who was so energetic and original in so many useful enterprises. The Vice-Provost was Dr. Alison, who was one of the founders of the Presbyterian Society, and the two may well have planned in harmony for their brethren in the Gospel, as they did for the education of youth generally. Dr. Smith's travels in England just prior to the incorporation also gave him knowledge and experience with the solicitude of the mother church for her ministers. After the formation of the Society he and Rev. Richard Peters began solicitations for the fund in Philadelphia. Dr. Peters was chosen presi- dent and the first act of the Society was attendance upon divine worship at Christ Church, where Dr. Smith, the preacher for the year, delivered one of his eloquent ser- mons, at the conclusion of which a generous collection was taken. The earnestness of the undertaking, as well as its catholicity, is shown by the consultation of its active mem- bers with Benjamin Franklin and Joseph Galloway,
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neither of the Episcopal Communion, in order that the wisest plan might be chosen. Galloway's presence is ex- plained by the estrangement of Dr. Smith from Franklin whom he accused with want of truth and malignant tempers until he was dead, when he preached a funeral sermon over him.
The approval and patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury having been secured, the Society moved on to permanency and usefulness, the only interruption being the War of Independence, which separated the clergy of the two countries for a time.
Another early society of the Episcopal Church which is still active was " The Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsyl- vania," which arose as a part of the general missionary and evangelical movement that marked the beginning of the nineteenth century. A few leading ministers of the Church in Philadelphia, under the leadership of Bishop White, met at St. James' Church on Seventh Street on the 18th of April, 1812, to form a society to advance the doctrines of the Church and care for Diocesan Missions. The Rev. Jackson Kemper was the Society's first mission- ary and was soon joined by the Rev. William Augustus Muhlenberg and the Rev. John C. Clay. These were the pioneers in an organized work which now includes the administration of numerous funds for church purposes.
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