can be made during the coming winter, and possibly something be done on the north centres. The store-room and bakery need remodelling for their better adaptation to our present needs, and a new floor should be laid in the lower kitchen. Many necessary furnishings and fittings remain to be purchased. The average weekly cost of support per patient has been $3.01. It gives me pleasure to again commend the officers of the institution to your favorable notice. The employees as a whole have rendered faithful service. There has been no difficulty in securing female help of a superior quality. The character of the male help has not been as good, and, while plenty has offered, it has required some selection to secure proper material. This fact is undoubtedly due to the greater opportunities open to men. Religious services, conducted by different clergymen from the city, have been held every Sunday during the cooler months of the year. Weekly entertainments in the chapel through the winter have furnished amusement and recreation that have assisted in breaking up the routine of asylum life. We are under obligations to the ladies of your Board for pictures and reading matter. The Hospital Newspaper Society has furnished books, magazines, etc., and the publishers of the "Worcester Evening Gazette" have again contributed a copy of their paper. The cordial support which your Board has given me at all times has rendered easier the administration of affairs, and has made possible any measure of success which may have been attained. WORCESTER, MASS., Oct. 1, 1892. E. V. SCRIBNER, Superintendent. |