Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Scotland.
solemnity that I should advert very shortly to the proposed general arrangements of the building , of which you have this clay laid the foundation-stone , as well as to the influences of such an institution on our social system ; ancl it must be gratifying to all of us that such an occasion has been graced hy the presence of so many professors of the gentle art of Masonry . The Barony Poor-house is intended to afford accommodation for four hundred adult malessix hundred females
, , three hundred and fifty youths , one hundred and fifty facile poor—in all fifteen hundred individuals ; and these will be classified by the separation of the sexes , and according to the following order : —the aged , able-bodied , boys and . girls , infants , infirm and sick , imbecile ; each of these classes having distinct workshops and airing yards . It will also comprise a probationary department for each sex , dining-hall and chapel , and extensive kitchen ancl laundry offices . In addition to
this , official apartments will be provided for meetings of the board , and committees and staff , governor ancl matron , surgery ancl relieving officers , warders and domestics , besides the other accommodation requisite for a well regulated establishment of this description . There will also be attached to the institution a school for three hundred and fifty boys and girls , embracing instruction both educational and industrial , and an infant school for a hundred . The situation of the buildingand
, its spacious and airy apartments , must form a striking contrast to the wretched dwellings of the poor in the crowded lanes and wynds of the city , where we are almost surprised to find that human life can be sustained at all . It will also afford an asylum for the young , where they will not only receive moral and religious instruction , but acquire
the knowledge of some trade . Thus they may be elevated from indigence to be self-supporting , and to bear their share of those burdens which others have borne for them . It is in this way that pauperism can be assailed at its very birth , and past experience has demonstrated that the remedy is successful , for it has been ascertained that children trained in a workhouse have become better members of society than those of the same class who have not enjoyed the benefit of the training system there carried into operation . Another leading feature of the
institution will be , that it serves to form a test of the proper limit of out-door relief , and to protect the parish against the numerous devices of the improvident and dishonest pauper . The pride of Scotsmen once repudiated parochial aid , except in circumstances of the utmost privation , and it is to be hoped that we may be able by those means in some measure to restore and preserve this noble attribute of our national character . And it ought not to be overlookedespecially at a time
, when the rate-payers of this parish have been subjected to such heavy assessments , that our workhouse , by its discipline and regulations and general economy , will promote a great saving in the annual cost of pauperism ; so much so , indeed , that in a few years we may reasonably expect to pay , from a diminished expenditure , the sum required for its erection . But I must restrain myself from trespassing further on your timeand tenderin name of the Parochial Board of the Barony parish
, , , to you , R . VV . Prov . Grand Master , and to our brethren of the different lodges , our most respectful acknowledgments for your presence and services on this interesting occasion . " Three cheers having been given , the band struck up the Queen ' s Anthem , in which the assembled multitude heartily joined . The procession was then reformed , and proceeded in inverted order , the Grand
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Scotland.
solemnity that I should advert very shortly to the proposed general arrangements of the building , of which you have this clay laid the foundation-stone , as well as to the influences of such an institution on our social system ; ancl it must be gratifying to all of us that such an occasion has been graced hy the presence of so many professors of the gentle art of Masonry . The Barony Poor-house is intended to afford accommodation for four hundred adult malessix hundred females
, , three hundred and fifty youths , one hundred and fifty facile poor—in all fifteen hundred individuals ; and these will be classified by the separation of the sexes , and according to the following order : —the aged , able-bodied , boys and . girls , infants , infirm and sick , imbecile ; each of these classes having distinct workshops and airing yards . It will also comprise a probationary department for each sex , dining-hall and chapel , and extensive kitchen ancl laundry offices . In addition to
this , official apartments will be provided for meetings of the board , and committees and staff , governor ancl matron , surgery ancl relieving officers , warders and domestics , besides the other accommodation requisite for a well regulated establishment of this description . There will also be attached to the institution a school for three hundred and fifty boys and girls , embracing instruction both educational and industrial , and an infant school for a hundred . The situation of the buildingand
, its spacious and airy apartments , must form a striking contrast to the wretched dwellings of the poor in the crowded lanes and wynds of the city , where we are almost surprised to find that human life can be sustained at all . It will also afford an asylum for the young , where they will not only receive moral and religious instruction , but acquire
the knowledge of some trade . Thus they may be elevated from indigence to be self-supporting , and to bear their share of those burdens which others have borne for them . It is in this way that pauperism can be assailed at its very birth , and past experience has demonstrated that the remedy is successful , for it has been ascertained that children trained in a workhouse have become better members of society than those of the same class who have not enjoyed the benefit of the training system there carried into operation . Another leading feature of the
institution will be , that it serves to form a test of the proper limit of out-door relief , and to protect the parish against the numerous devices of the improvident and dishonest pauper . The pride of Scotsmen once repudiated parochial aid , except in circumstances of the utmost privation , and it is to be hoped that we may be able by those means in some measure to restore and preserve this noble attribute of our national character . And it ought not to be overlookedespecially at a time
, when the rate-payers of this parish have been subjected to such heavy assessments , that our workhouse , by its discipline and regulations and general economy , will promote a great saving in the annual cost of pauperism ; so much so , indeed , that in a few years we may reasonably expect to pay , from a diminished expenditure , the sum required for its erection . But I must restrain myself from trespassing further on your timeand tenderin name of the Parochial Board of the Barony parish
, , , to you , R . VV . Prov . Grand Master , and to our brethren of the different lodges , our most respectful acknowledgments for your presence and services on this interesting occasion . " Three cheers having been given , the band struck up the Queen ' s Anthem , in which the assembled multitude heartily joined . The procession was then reformed , and proceeded in inverted order , the Grand