“Among the beneficial results of our labor,” says Dr. Day, “we see our patients developing a higher principle of respect for themselves and their friends.  This, to us, is of great interest.  We see indications convincing us that the mind, under our treatment, awakens to a consciousness of what it is, and what it is made for.  We see man becoming to himself a higher object, and attaining to the conviction of the equal and indestructible of every being.  In them, we see the dawning of the great principle advocated by us continually, viz., That the individual is not made to be the instrument of others, but to govern himself by an inward law, and to advance towards his proper perfections; that he belongs to himself and to God, and to no human superior.  In all our teachings we aim to purify and ennoble the character of our patients by promoting in them true virtue, strong temperance proclivities and a true piety; and to accomplish these ends we endeavor to stimulate their own exertions for a better knowledge of God, and for a determined self-control.”

And again he says:  “Almost every day we hear from some one who has been with us under treatment, who has been cured.  Their struggles had been fierce, and the battle sometimes would seem to be against them; but, at last, they have claimed the victory.  In my experience, I have found that so long as the victim of strong drink has the will, feeble as it may be, to put forth his efforts for a better life, an 4 his constant struggle is in the right direction, he is almost sure to regain his will power, and succeed in overcoming the habit.  By exercise, the will gains strength.  The thorns in the flesh of our spiritual nature will be plucked out, the spiritual life will be developed, and our peace shall flow as the river.  This condition we constantly invoke, and by all the means within our reach we try to stimulate the desire for a better life.  I am pleased to say our efforts in this direction have not been in vain.  For nearly twenty years we have been engaged in this work, and we have now more confidence in the means employed than at any other period.  Situated, as we are, in the midst of a great city, with a Christian sympathy constantly active and co-operating with us, no one can remain in the institution without being the recipient of beneficial influences, the effect of which is salutary in the extreme.  I am fully satisfied that the ‘Washingtonian Home’ is greatly indebted to these moral agencies for its success.”

The following letter, received by us, from Otis Clapp, who has been for sixteen years president of the “Washingtonian Home,” will give the reader a still clearer impression of the workings of that institution.  It is in answer to one we wrote, asking for information about the institution in which he had been interested for so many years: 

     “BOSTON, August 9th, 1877.