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The "institution" is supposed to have accommodations for three hundred men, fifty in each of the six wards. At the present time, though, it is housing four hundred and eighty, overcrowding four of the wards and pressing into service a large room never intended to be used as a ward.

Of a different plan and style of construction is the women's building. This is irregular in shape, with a frontage of one hundred and thirty feet and an extreme depth of one hundred and four feet. It consists of a central section and two wings or ward pavilions, each two stories in height. The entrance is from a vestibule into the main ball and day room, where there is a large fireplace and double staircases to the floor above. At the rear of this hall is the main dining room, and on either side are the wards, each thirty-seven by one hundred and three feet, which can be divided into two when necessary. These wards are airy, well-lighted, supplied with fireplaces, and have room each for eighty beds. The bath and toilet rooms are separated from the wards by a "shutoff" corridor and occupy bays. The floor above is arranged on practically the same plan. Here is the matrons' and attendants' dining room. In the basement are the office, receiving room, kitchen, and storerooms. As in the "institution" the heating is by steam and the lighting by electricity.

In construction, the women's dormitory is of the "open-timber work" style. Its exterior walls are filled with terra-cotta blocks, the outside of which is covered with cement, the whole forming panels between the timbers of the frame. This style of construction has the advantage over the ordinary in respect to cheapness and incombustibility. Unfortunately, however, it is not as damp-proof as fire-proof.

The largest of the buildings in ground area is the hospital, which has a frontage of two hundred and eleven feet and a depth of three hundred and fifteen feet. It is divided into three parallel ward pavilions, connected across the front by a corridor, in the centre of which is the administration building and at either end a "head-house." The administration building is three stories high, all the others being one story. The wings are divided into two or three continuous wards and together have room for three hundred beds. Two of the wings are for women and one for men. Between the middle wing or pavilion and those on either side are great courts for light and air. Connected with each ward are sun rooms and toilet and bath rooms. The "head houses" have the offices of administration for the wards, the nurses dining room, the diet kitchen, and rooms for special patients. The general offices of the hospital together with quarters for the physicians, nurses and attendants are in the administration building. Ventilation throughout the hospital is by the aid of fans. In style of construction the hospital is identical with the women's building; as is also the chapel. The superintendents house is of wood.

Permits to Boston's Almshouses are obtained of the Institutions Registration Bureau, one of the five departments into which the Institutions Department was divided by the legislation of last year. The applicant fills out a form with name, date and place of birth, occupation, habits, residence, and other like data. On these representations, supplemented by an investigation into his antecedents and circumstances, the Bureau decides as to the applicants pauperism and legal settlement, the two points on which a permit is issued. The character and past record of the applicant, whatever they may be, while noted by the Bureau, are not taken by it into the consideration of his case, since they affect in no way his status as regards the almshouse. That rests solely on the questions of legal settlement and need. He may have done time at the house of correction or the state prison, he may have been in and out of one and another poorhouse innumerable times, he may be a common drunkard but if he has a settlement in Boston and cannot support himself, he can go to the almshouse, according to the law.

Neither are the circumstances of his relatives taken into the consideration of his case; since however well-to-do any of these may be, they cannot be compelled to maintain him outside of the almshouse. Children, grandchildren, parents or grandparents, however, could be required to pay his board in the almshouse, if able to do so, with the exception of a married daughter whose husband is living. Other relatives would not be liable, whatever their circumstances. As a matter of fact, however, this law of liability is practically a dead letter on account of the difficulty of enforcing it.

Should the applicant have no settlement, he can be sent to the state almshouse; or if his settlement is in some other city or town than Boston, he can be sent to the city almshouse on the understanding that the place of his settlement will pay his board.

Naturally the number of inmates at Long Island varies with the season, reaching its lowest point in summer and its highest in winter. On the first of July last there were in the men's building 184; in the women's building 167, and in the hospital 144; on the first of the following January there were in the same buildings 397, 208 and 149 respectively. It will be observed that the variation in the case of the men outside the hospital was much greater than in that of the women, while in the case of the sick it was practically nothing. As a rule the male population is about twice as great in winter as in summer and the hospital population remains about constant. The following table shows the movement of the population during 1897: -