Idaho History: �Over the hill to the poor-house' was once a sad lament
 

Idaho History: �Over the hill to the poor-house' was once a sad lament

By Arthur Hart - Special to the Statesman - Edition Date: 08/07/07

There has been poverty in Idaho since the first settlers arrived, a fact recognized by the Territorial Legislature in 1864 when it empowered counties to give relief to the poor.

How they were to manage this was left to their own devices. Boise County established a county hospital at Idaho City, but it was soon unable to care for all who needed it. The Idaho World thought most people trying to get admitted were "really paupers," rather than sick people. It called for establishment of a poor house.

On May 13, 1866, the Idaho Tri-weekly Statesman published a letter from Idaho City that showed how bad things had become: "A scene was witnessed on the streets of Idaho that will long be remembered by all that have one drop of human sympathy in their composition. The county is bankrupt and the County Commissioners being unable to make further provision for the indigent sick, the occupants of the hospital were this morning thrown out of doors upon the mercy of the public. It was a sickening sight: no home, no friends, no bed to sleep in, no place to go to stay hunger or to shelter them from the cold. When will there be an end to this? Will the people suffer this procedure much longer or will they make at least one attempt to sustain the reputation of this promising county and Territory. Let the people of Boise County consider the condition of affairs and act accordingly on the second Monday in August next and let [the commissioners] know that the evil can and shall be remedied."

When the Idaho World suggested that a poor farm be established where able-bodied men and women could work for their keep,. Such institutions had been in operation in the United States for many years. County government was charged with the responsibility of setting them up and managing them.

Ada County had a poorhouse in 1879, but had not yet established a poor farm. An ad in the Idaho Statesman on Jan. 7, 1879, shows how the poor house was managed: "PROPOSALS FOR THE CARE OF THE POOR. Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of County Commissioners of Ada County, at the Recorder's office, up to 3 o'clock on Thursday, January 9th, 1879, for the care, maintenance, board, lodging, medicine, and medical attendance of all the indigent, sick, idiotic and insane persons that are or may become county charges in Ada County for one year, from the 23rd day of January, 1879, to the said day of January, 1880. The Board of County Commissioners reserves the right to reject any or all bids."

From a humanitarian point of view, the obvious flaw in this kind of arrangement, then practiced almost everywhere in the United States, is that the poor received the least expensive food, lodging, and medical care that the low bidder would provide. Reports of committees that checked on poor houses and poor farms regularly confirmed that conditions were deplorable.

The Ada County Grand Jury paid a surprise visit to the poor farm on Foothill Road north of Collister Station. They praised Mrs. Miller, the superintendent's wife for the quality of food she had prepared for the inmates' dinner, but said of their living quarters: "They are very inferior, being a poorly constructed frame building, without proper ventilation, lavatory, or toilet. A narrow steep stairway leading to the second floor makes access to the feeble inmates impossible and exit in case of fire dangerous to all. At the present time the farm has 12 old gray headed men, most of them barely able to totter alone; only one able to assist with the chores at the farm and from his feeble frail appearance to us, we have no doubt but what his personal pride and manhood revive his energy of younger days to still try to make his way in the evening hours of life. Men of these years and so feeble should not be compelled to go some 10 to 15 rods to their meals or to answer the calls of nature through cold and storms, since the toils of poverty do not signify a crime."

A popular poem of the 19th century called "Over the Hill to the Poor-house" was a best seller for more than 50 years. Poet Will Carlton's 1872 work tells of an aged mother abandoned by prosperous but selfish children who did not want the burden of caring for her and sent her to the poor house.

Its opening lines were memorized by schoolchildren, and its message was preached from pulpits: "Over the hill to the poor-house I'm trudgin' my weary way. I, a woman of seventy, and only a trifle gray� What is the use of heapin' on me a pauper's shame? Am I lazy or crazy? Am I blind or lame?"

Carlton's poem is credited with making him famous and awakening America's conscience. It is claimed by some social historians that thousands of guilt-stricken children brought aged parents home after reading it. In the poem, it is the black-sheep son, newly freed from prison, who rescues mother, not his well-off siblings.

Arthur Hart writes this column on Idaho history for the Idaho Statesman. It appears each Tuesday in the Life section.