But the overseer of the poor (the number having been reduced from five to one under the city ordinances) aided and assisted by a committee of three from the Common Council, could do no better with the facilities at his disposal, and while the subject continued to be discussed the Council had been slow in making any change. This inaction, however, was not because the citizens did not favor providing better methods for taking care of the poor, because the public favored it, and the necessity was recognized, but because no member felt willing to take the lead in such a movement. In the Fall of 1882 a case of small pox broke out in town, and, strange as it may appear, it caused the erection of the present almshouse. The small pox case occurred near the corner of Princess Ann and Frederick streets. The citizens in that part of the town became greatly alarmed and a stampede was threatened. An extra session of the Common Council was called in haste, to make arrangements for the removal of the patient (a colored man) to some isolated place. The Council met and discussed the matter, but it was found that there was no place to which he could be moved. The town owned no land where a temporary hospital could be erected, and land owners declined to rent to the city, for spreading a tent or for erecting a temporary hospital. In this condition of things the economy of having an almshouse, in which to keep the poor, entered very largely into the discussion, and the result was the farm and residence of Mr. Frank Beckwith, on the hill about half a mile west of the town, was purchased for seventeen hundred dollars. The small pox patient, to the great delight of the citizens in the lower end of town, was at once sent to that place and the excitement subsided. The following year the residence on the farm was greatly enlarged and a commodious department for the colored poor was built, under the direction of the Committee on Poor of the Common Council, consisting of Messrs. S. J. Quinn, E. D. Cole and M. B. Rowe, and the dependent poor of the town were sent to "Mount Nebo," which was the name given to the place, because of its commanding position and the splendid view of the town and surrounding country from that point. Since the poor have been kept at the almshouse they are better provided for and are better satisfied, besides they are more comfortable than under the former system, and the expense of maintaining them has been reduced fully one-half. Mr. Albert Hooton, who was overseer of the poor of the town prior to the erection of the almshouse, was the first superintendent of the institution. Mr. Hooton died on the 23rd of November, 1897, and Mr. John Wesley Ball was elected to the vacancy and is now serving. Mr. A. Mason Garner is chairman of the committee of the Council having the almshouse in charge, and while it is conducted on economical principles, the poor are well provided for, in both food and clothing. WATER WORKS.