THE ROPER HOSPITAL, _15 Lucas Street_: On the site of the old City Hospital is the Roper Hospital; riverward is its auxiliary pavilion, the Riverside Infirmary, a high-class private hospital. The Roper is a general hospital operated by the Medical Society of South Carolina, the City of Charleston and the County of Charleston contributing to the care of “free” patients. The institution includes a special building for contagious diseases. The hospital owes its origin to the benevolence of Colonel Thomas Roper. In 1849 the Medical Society proceeded to arrange the building of a hospital, “prompted by the deficient and faulty hospital accommodations of the city at that time.” The City Council appropriated $20,000 and a lot was acquired at Queen and Mazyck Streets. Public spirited citizens swelled the building fund. The building was completed in 1852. Before it was completely furnished and equipped, it had to be opened because of the yellow fever epidemic that raged in 1852. In effect, the old Roper Hospital was leased to the City of Charleston, the arrangement between the Board of Trustees and the City Council beginning in 1856 and terminating in 1865. With the evacuation of Charleston by the Confederates, the Union invaders took it over; its trustees were impotent. Next to the Roper, the city improvised and operated its own hospital, and the Roper trustees closed their institution in 1871. The city hospital was virtually destroyed in the earthquake of 1886. The City Council had it transferred to Lucas Street. On this site the present Roper building was erected. It has been greatly enlarged in the last twenty years. Nurses’ homes are on the property, the student nurses being enrolled at the Medical College. ASHLEY HALL, _172 Rutledge Avenue_: Originally one of the historic mansions of Charleston, Ashley Hall, a preparatory school for young ladies, draws its students from many states. In the language of Miss Mary Vardrine McBee, founder and principal: “It is but a little while since Ashley Hall was a venturous experiment. Begun in the conviction that South Carolina and her sister States were ready to welcome a school for girls of high intellectual standing, while cherishing still those amenities of feminine culture which give Southern life its distinctive charm, Ashley Hall was welcomed in its very inception. It had hardly been opened before the necessity of enlargement, alike of building and staff, became apparent.” The grounds about this fine mansion are among the most beautiful in the South. Annually a Shakespearean play is performed in the garden, the students portraying the rôles.