THE HEALING OF THE HILLS

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 205, 3 October 1914, Page 6

THE HEALING OF THE HILLS

(Specially written for THE SUN.)

DOWN on the plains there is murk of fog sometimes that clings close to the earth where it stretches flat and level. But the hill tops breathe a different atmosphere. They give one a sense of something fuller and freerer. Pleasant and sheltered as the low-lying places may be, the view, remember, is always from the top.

towards it, and in the foreground the land drops abruptly down to the road level. The stately pines close up on either side as if guarding the peace of the Home—truly a place where' tired body and o% rerwrought brain may recover the normal swing of perfect health.

The matron, Miss R. M. Hayward, met me at the sunny, glassed-in shelter which form,s such an attractive entrance to the Home. The.place was gay with flowering plants, and out there in the bright sunshine men and women reclined in lounges and folding chairs, read-

A Splendid Gift,

There is healing in the hills, and so, could a belter site have possibly been chosen for a convalescent home than that which obtains in regard to the Rhodes Memorial Convalescent Home on Cashmere Hills? .High

above the city it stands, surrounded by grounds that might be hundreds of miles away from city streets i:snd pavements, so dissociated are they from the atmosphere of the town. A devious pathway, zig-zaggiug through a pine plantation in a delightful series of inconsequent twists and kinks, leads one from the Dyer's Pas« Road to the Home. It is the kind of road beloved cf the wayfarer—twisting so sharply that one never Sees beyond the next corner, so that there is always the charm of the unknown ahead. On one side is a shelving bank that was draped with the pale, tender green of ihe periwinkle leaves, starred here ami there with its pale blue flowers, on the morning I walked there. The other side sloped down and lost itself in a gully luxuriant with ferns and bracken. A Sun-baked Plateau. The rustic seats that appeafr along the path as if they grew there tempt one to sit and rest. Suddenly one emerges into a clearing, and the Home itself,

standing on a sun-bathed plateau that has been excavated out of the hillside, appears before one in the midst of its twenty-seven acres of grounds. The snowclad Western ranges in the distance gaze eternally ing, chatting, or just simply "lazing" the hours away.

From the shelter one passes into the wide hall, from which rooms branch off on either side, and a stairway leads to bedrooms and bathrooms above. There are two distinct classes of dwellers in the Convalescent Home—those who can afford to pay the fees of private patients, and those who occupy the dormitories. The fees for the former are £2 10/- per week for front, and £2 5/- for back rooms. Dormitory patients pay £1 per week. \ Glorious View of Distant Hills.

The rooms are all bright, airy, and well ventilated, furnished simply but suitably, spotless cleanliness and comfort being observed, while each room is provided | with a fireplace. From the windows one obtains a glorious view of distant hills and near-by plantations, and there is something ineffably restful about it all. The dormitories, with their neat little beds, each one provided with a screen to ensure privacy, are very comfortable, and adequately furnished. Downstairs, in the new wing, there are more bedrooms, and still more in the upstairs portion of it. On the main ground floor jjare pantries, sculleries, and a big, old-fashioned kitchen with well-scoured brick floors and shining metal dishcovers on the wall.

The dining-rooms, also on the ground floor of course, are big, cheerful rooms. That reserved for the use of

the private patients is provided with a piano, and the dormitory patients have an organ in,theirs. Then there are smoking and sitting-rooms, and the matron's own sanctum—a delightful place, furnished in harmonious greens and browns, and*flowers blooming and blowing everywhere. After we had made a conscientious exploration of the Home, we felt at liberty to hearken to the call of the magnetic out-of-doors. We had a look at the orchard, where luscious fruits in abundance are produced, the peach orchard down in the gully in particular coining in for special admiration. Then we inspected the croquet lawn and the flourishing kitchen garden, and finally, reserving the best for the last, we turned our attention to the spring flowers, and so gloriously did they bloom in the invigorating air of the hills that one was fortad to the conclusion that it must really be quite as good for plant life as for humans. There were dim sweet violets, "wallflowers, with their

THE RHODES MEMORIAL CONVALESCENT HOME

homely cottage smell, ; ' as Matthew Arnold has it, pansies for thought, mignonette with its delicate greens and browns, and early primroses, turning their faces to the sun. And there was at least one rose—imagine, a rose in early September! The hills are not the bleak places some people think they are—that is very evident.

The Rhodes Memorial Convalescent Home was started in 1887, and opened for patients early the following year. The family of the late Robert Ileaton Rhodes made a splendid gift to Christchurch when they gave the buildings and furnished them, and ever since, then they have subscribed liberally towards their maintenance. The Home is supported partly by them, partly by a large number of public subscribers, and partly by fees from the patients. Various-kinds of patients are taken there for complete recovery after being at the Christchurch Hospital, who are unable to pay their way fully, and the balance of the sum they contribute is made up by subscriptions, as stated above. Week-end visitors are taken at ten shillings per day, provided they arrange (by telephone or otherwise) with the matron beforehand, and provided that she is satisfied that they have no ailment which might be injurious to others.

The Home is not only for sick people, or those who are convalescing after sickness. Anyone who requires a week's rest, who is merely a little brain or body weary, may seek the shelter of the haven of the hills, provided he or she obtains a proper form of

application, duly signed by a medical practitioner, as a kind of credential of their respectability and freedom from contagious disease and so on. People who cannot, for any reason, go far away from home can thus obtain a complete change of air-and a thorough rest at their very doors, ami in this way tli>e Home-fills a big want. The matron, Miss tlayward—-who, by the way, was a Cliristchurch Hospital nurse, and later on sub-matron at the MeL-ean Institute—sees to it that the wheels of the institution move smoothly, and that there are r.o jarring influences to militate against the beneficent influence of the hills. Summing it all up, the conclusion comes to one that it would be quite worth going through an illness, if one could dally indefinitely with convalescence up in the Rhodes Memorial Convalescent Home. S.I.R.