us the place. We accompanied her, though the stench was so foul that it was almost impossible to remain beneath the roof.[1] It was difficult to conceive how these people could endure it and live. The girl opened the bath rooms, in which the so-called baths, constructed on the floor, were dilapidated and ruined. "They are all just now near broke to pieces," she said. I asked her what the patients paid. "Just sixpence a day," she replied, "because one cannot in these hard days charge the people too much." I presume that the patients were expected to bring their diet with them,—and probably their beds.
And yet an invaluable establishment might be built at this spot, and be built in the midst of most alluring scenery! The whole district of which I am now speaking is among the mountains, and the Worcester railway station is not more than eight or ten miles distant. The Auckland Geysers in New Zealand cannot be reached except by long journeys on horseback, and accommodation for invalids could be procured only at great cost. But here an establishment of hot baths might be made very easily. It seemed at any rate to be a pity that such a provision of hot water should be wasted,—especially if it contain medicinal properties of value. We were forced to return to Worcester without trying it, as there were not means of bathing at our command. No possible medicinal properties would have atoned for the horrors of undressing within that building.
- ↑ This did not come at all from any property of the water but simply from the foulness of the place.
