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The Opal Library

Creator: n/a
Date: May 1853
Publication: The Opal
Source: New York State Library

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As yet there is no distinct permanent order of madmen, recognized as parts of society, and so long as there are those in our world, will the necessity devolve of diminishing whatever of clan or clique may attach unto them. Like Incorporations to a tyro in Law, Asylums unfold a labyrinth somewhat inexplicable, and deserving of studious, serious consideration. No heterogeneous masses of incongruous jargon or absurd associations should ever issue to the eye of the Public. Select, thoughtful views of the relation it sustains, should be held by every person who respects New-York and its Institutions; and whether at home, abroad in the abandon of retirement or the studied phrase and demeanor of the public, the same obligation is devolved, to render tribute unto virtuous exertion and enterprize, by a friendly intelligent and cordial sympathy that extends the hand of reliable constancy and citizenship rather than the sneaking, doubtful one of curiosity and selfishness. The sooner the heart of Insanity is reached the better, the sooner the restoration to the duties of life is obtained, the better for individual, for Asylum, and the State. The more direct the application, the more sure the remedy. -- Change ever produces a strange aspect to the face of society, and few make sufficient allowances for the effect of the past on the present, who have not been actors in the scenes. These changes that rotate on the eye, consign too oft to forgetfulness those mysterious influences of deferred hope that weigh as an incubus on the too oft forgotten Lunatic; and as Asylums cannot expect to set up trade in opposition to the world, it is certain, and honorable as it is certain, that their residents and occupations present an area of utility, and comfort -- the society of the sane might envy -- a scene fulfilling the commands of wisdom and virtue, and inspiring every youthful heart, by the influence of its example to exclaim with Watts:

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"In books, or work, or healthful play,"
Let my first years be past --
That I may render of each day,
"Some good account at last."

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A word at parting to those who have ever been benevolent in books or flowers. A Yankee friend said, "that when persons give to those who appreciate, to any 'you thank them' is to insult them. They contribute to the general stock in the adventure of the world, and expect to reap their reward in the good it will do." Notwithstanding our Yankee, thanks would be a feeble return for the kindness, the interest, the respectability that is thrown so endearingly around sorrow, desolateness and abjectness -- that at so much real hazard and expense, rears a tabernacle for the Moses, the Elias and the Lord, who will reward those who have presented this splendid foreground in the picture of human sorrow, as a prelude to that perspective yet to be developed in the loveliness of the scene its radiation diffuses.

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