When I was young growing up in Morrisville, there were certain institutions that were invoked largely in an effort to ensure that we behaved. We were also reminded of the Morristown poor farm and how we would end up there if we were not industrious in our habits. For those of us wrestling with youthful hormones, the Lund Home was often invoked, although mostly for young girls. The community usually surmised the reason.
The concept, not unlike the Irish Magdalene Laundries , was considerably more benign. Young women were not stigmatized or mistreated but were cared for during their pregnancies and deliveries. Typically, the child was given up for adoption. These institutional allusions played a definite role in our youthful behavior.
But as implied threats they played an important part in setting limits on our juvenile behavior. Like other institutions that have outlived their time, they were not all as bad as the visions they invoked.
The community benefit that inspired many were often correctives for other bad influences or events in our society, such as alcohol dependency, physical and sexual abuse, and suicide.
I remember a revered Waterbury friend, even older than I, telling me of seeing the male patients in the Waterbury Hospital eagerly lining up to board buses to go and care for pigs at the nearby pig farm , which was the largest in Vermont.
