diff options
Diffstat (limited to '20747.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 20747.txt | 6724 |
1 files changed, 6724 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/20747.txt b/20747.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2727c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/20747.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6724 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Deaconesses in Europe, by Jane M. Bancroft + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Deaconesses in Europe + and their Lessons for America + +Author: Jane M. Bancroft + +Release Date: March 6, 2007 [EBook #20747] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEACONESSES IN EUROPE *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, David Wilson, Bill Tozier and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + DEACONESSES IN EUROPE + + AND + + THEIR LESSONS FOR AMERICA + + + + BY + + JANE M. BANCROFT, Ph.D + + + + WITH AN INTRODUCTION + + BY + + EDWARD G. ANDREWS, D.D., LL.D. + + _Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church_ + + + "No life + Can be pure in its purpose and strong in its strife, + And all life not be purer and stronger thereby." + + + _NEW YORK: HUNT & EATON_ + _CINCINNATI: CRANSTON & STOWE_ + 1890 + + + + + IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION, + + TO + + THE EARNEST AND DEVOTED WOMEN WHO, + + AS MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE ON DEACONESS WORK + + OF + + THE WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY, + + HAVE AIDED IN EXTENDING THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE DIACONATE + OF WOMEN, + + THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY + + Dedicated + + BY THE AUTHOR. + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE. + + +The Author has aimed to present an accurate and concise statement of the +deaconess cause as it exists at the present time. + +In all cases where it was possible, original sources of information have +been consulted. + +Many friends, both in Europe and America, have given invaluable aid, for +which words of thanks are an inadequate recognition. + +The excellent Index at the close of the volume was kindly prepared by +the Rev. J. C. Thomas. + +Acknowledgments are also due to Mr. Gillett, Librarian of the Union +Theological Seminary, and to Mr. C. H. A. Bjerregaard, of the Astor +Library, for putting not only the facilities of the library, but their +personal assistance, at the service of the writer. + + JANE M. BANCROFT. + NEW YORK CITY, _June 5, 1889_. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + + THE DIACONATE. + + Compassion a Christian virtue--Brotherhood of all men in + Christ--Foreign Missions--Home Missions--Service of + ministering compassion gives rise to the diaconate--Diaconate + of women--Its qualities--Field of labor Page 9 + + CHAPTER II. + + DEACONESSES IN THE EARLY CHURCH. + + Little knowledge of early Church--Pliny's letter--Apostolic + Constitutions--Deaconesses, widows, and virgins--Duties of the + deaconess--Chrysostom, Olympias--Deaconesses in Western + Church--Decline in importance--Extinction--Influences that led + to decay 18 + + CHAPTER III. + + DEACONESSES FROM THE TWELFTH TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURIES. + + Beguines--Characteristics--Duties--Gerhard Groot--Sisters of + the Common Life--Obligations--Duties--Waldenses--Bohemian + Brethren--Luther--Calvin--Reformed Church at Wesel-- + Deaconesses in Amsterdam--Damsels of Charity--Mennonites and + Moravians 34 + + CHAPTER IV. + + FLIEDNER, THE RESTORER OF THE OFFICE OF DEACONESS. + + Efforts for the restoration of the office of deaconess made by + Kloenne--Amalie Sieveking--Von Stein--Count von der Recke-- + Fliedner--His childhood--Youth--Student life--Pastorate and + travels--Marriage--First prison society--Founding of refuge-- + Need of training schools--Rhenish-Westphalian Deaconess + Society 46 + + CHAPTER V. + + THE INSTITUTIONS AT KAISERSWERTH. + + Opening of hospital training-school--Gertrude Reichardt--The + Home-life--Normal school--Fliedner's wife--Publishing house-- + Orphan asylum--Insane asylum--Dispensary--Farm--"Salem"--House + of Evening Rest--Extension of work--Berlin--Foreign lands + Jerusalem--Beirut--Smyrna--Bucharest--Florence--Rome 61 + + CHAPTER VI. + + THE REGULATIONS AT KAISERSWERTH AND THE DUTIES AND SERVICES + OF THE DEACONESSES. + + Two classes of deaconesses--Nurses--Teachers--Qualifications-- + Probationers--Duties--Service of consecration--Conferences-- + Table of results--Instances of work--Duisburg-- + Schleswig-Holstein war--Austrian war--Franco Prussian war 79 + + CHAPTER VII. + + OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS ON THE CONTINENT. + + House at Strasburg--Muelhausen--Marthashof at Berlin-- + Neudettelsau--St. Loup--Riehen--Zuerich--Gallneukirchen-- + Characteristics of institutions--Countries where they exist 93 + + CHAPTER VIII. + + DEACONESSES IN GERMAN METHODISM. + + Origin of Bethany Society--House at Frankfort--Hamburg-- + Berlin--St. Gall--Zuerich--Sister Myrtha--House of Rest--"God's + Fidelity"--House regulations--Training--Results 110 + + CHAPTER IX. + + DEACONESSES IN PARIS. + + Deaconess Home on Rue de Reuilly--Situation--School-- + Hospital--House of Correction--Preparatory school-- + Instruction--Prison mission--Mademoiselle Dumas--Expenses of + house--Its founders--Deaconess house on Rue Bridaine-- + Character of work--Duties of the Sisters--Their consecration-- + Importance of parish deaconesses 120 + + CHAPTER X. + + DEACONESSES IN ENGLAND. + + Early beginnings--The Puritans--Cambridge Platform--Southey's + complaint--Mrs. Fry--Fliedner--Florence Nightingale--Agnes + Jones--Distinction between "sister" and "deaconess"-- + Institutions in Church of England--Garb--Ceremonies-- + Self-denying lives--Dr. Laseron's institutions and others-- + Prison mission of Mrs. Meredith--The Sisters of the People 142 + + CHAPTER XI. + + MILDMAY INSTITUTIONS. + + Rev. W. Pennefather--Sketch of his life--Building of hall and + deaconess home at Mildmay--Conference hall--Nursing hall-- + Mission and hospital at Bethnal Green--The deaconesses--Their + training--Expense--Expenses of institution 166 + + CHAPTER XII. + + DEACONESSES IN SCOTLAND. + + Church of Scotland--Organization of woman's work--Report of + committees--Scheme--Adoption--Women's Guild--Women-workers' + Guild--Deaconesses--Training--Syllabus of lectures-- + Presbyterian Church of England and Ireland Page 189 + + CHAPTER XIII. + + THE DEACONESS CAUSE IN AMERICA. + + German Lutherans--Fliedner visits America--Philadelphia-- + Mother-house of Deaconesses--Deaconesses in the Episcopal + Church--Among the Presbyterians--The Methodist Episcopal + Church--Deaconess-home in Chicago--Action of General + Conference--Fields of work 204 + + CHAPTER XIV. + + THE MEANS OF TRAINING AND THE FIELD OF WORK FOR DEACONESSES + IN AMERICA. + + Advantages of the Home and Training-school--Field of work--In + hospitals--Insane asylums--Infant-schools--Teachers--The + Home-mission deaconess--Her work in London--Similar work + needed in cities of the United States 228 + + CHAPTER XV. + + OBJECTIONS MET AND SUGGESTIONS OFFERED. + + Objection that deaconesses resemble Catholic nuns--Their + influence--Numbers in different orders--Order of Charles-- + Objection to garb--Its advantages--Objection to the life + answered--Opinion of Bryce concerning American women--Women of + Methodism--Advice to candidates--Associates--The Church + commended by its deeds 247 + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +How far, and in what form, ought woman's work in the Church to be +organized? What was the deaconess of St. Paul's epistles? What light on +this subject do the primitive and the mediaeval Churches yield us? Can +"sisterhoods" be established without weakening the sense of personal +responsibility in those Christian women who are not thus wholly set +apart to charitable and spiritual work? Can they be multiplied without +danger of introducing into Protestant communions the evils of the +conventual life? Are there modern instances of safe and successful +organizations? What good have they achieved, and what further good do +they promise? In what relation should such organizations stand to the +authority and fostering care of the Church? What should be their scope, +spirit, methods? What regulations are fundamental and indispensable? +What perils are real and possibly imminent? + +To answer these, and other questions associated with them, this book is +written. Its authoress is a gifted daughter of the Church, well known in +literary and educational circles. During a protracted sojourn in Europe +she enjoyed unusual facilities for studying the deaconess work as +carried on in many places, and particularly in the institutions founded +by Pastor Fliedner at Kaiserswerth in Prussia, and in those at Mildmay +in England. She has also made a thorough and discriminating study of the +subject as developed in the early centuries of the Church and in the +Middle Ages. + +The book itself will amply reveal these facts, and cannot but contribute +largely to the guidance of the newly revived interest of the American +churches in the far-reaching question how Christian women may best serve +their Lord in serving the humanity which he has redeemed. + +It appears at an opportune time. The General Conference of the Methodist +Episcopal Church, at its session in May, 1888, inserted in the law of +the Church a chapter on deaconesses, defining their duties and +providing for the appointment and oversight of them through the Annual +Conferences. This action was the natural outcome of a wide and +increasing appreciation of the service of Christian women in many +departments of Church work; and it was greatly furthered by the advocacy +of Dr. J. M. Thoburn, now the devoted and honored missionary bishop of +India and Malaysia. But it had not been the subject of any considerable +previous discussion in the periodicals of the Church, and there was not +in the Church a widely diffused or an accurate knowledge of the history, +scope, possibilities, or perils of such an organization. The promptness, +however, with which the provision thus made by the General Conference +has been seized upon by the Church in several of our large cities, +indicates that the time was ripe for the movement. But information is +still scanty; ideas concerning the aim and place of the deaconess work +are crude; methods have been very little digested; the foundations of +local homes evidently may come to be very imperfectly laid; and the +movement may easily come to naught. + +This book, it is hoped, will do a twofold work. It will awaken a lively +interest in a movement already arrived at large proportions in some +parts of European Protestantism; and it will guide those among us who +are studying how best to organize, against the sin and suffering of the +world, the practically unlimited resources of Christian women. Whenever +any one shall in some good degree apprehend what helpfulness for the +lost as yet lies undeveloped in the hearts and hands of the daughters of +the Church, and what honor may yet come to Christianity by the rightly +directed use of this power, he will welcome a volume which, like the +present one, offers such guidance as history, observation, and earnest +reflection yield on the question at issue. + + EDWARD G. ANDREWS. + NEW YORK, _May 10, 1889_. + + + + +DEACONESSES IN EUROPE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE DIACONATE. + + +In the ruins of the old cities of Greece and Rome we find buildings that +were used for public purposes of all kinds--forums, theaters, +amphitheaters, circuses, and temples of worship. Every provision was +made for the entertainment of the people, and for their political and +intellectual needs. But nowhere do we find the ruins of structures, +belonging either to the public or to private individuals, indicating +that any attempt was ever made to care for the feeble-minded, the +insane, the deaf, the blind, the sick, or the aged; those that in every +nation of modern times are the wards of the State and the definite +objects of religious ministrations. + +The ruins cannot be found because such buildings never existed. No +provision was made for those suffering from bodily infirmities, because +so far as the State could control circumstances they were not allowed +to exist. Children who were defective in any way were put to death. In +Sparta this measure was carried out under government supervision. Even +Plato in his model republic has all children of wicked men, the +misshapen, or the illegitimate put out of existence, that they may not +be a burden to the State.[1] + +With the coming of Christ new elements were introduced into the +civilization of the world; elements of kindliness, of compassion, of +sympathy of man toward his fellow-man, that up to this time had not been +known. There was a new revelation of the brotherhood of all men in the +fatherhood of God: "We are all one in Christ Jesus." + +This spirit of compassion and of sympathy has grown with every century +in the Christian era, and at no time has it been stronger in the history +of the world than it is to-day. Well has one American historian said: + +"To a generation which knows but two crimes worthy of death, that +against the life of the individual and that against the life of the +State; which has expended fabulous sums in the erection of +reformatories, asylums, and penitentiaries, houses of correction, +houses of refuge, and houses of detention all over the land; which has +furnished every State prison with a library, with a hospital, with +workshops, and with schools, the brutal scenes on which our ancestors +looked with indifference seem scarcely a reality. Yet it is well to +recall them, for we cannot but turn from the contemplation of so much +misery and so much suffering with a deep sense of thankfulness that our +lot has fallen in a pitiful age, when more compassion is felt for a +galled horse or a dog run over at a street-crossing than our +great-grandfathers felt for a woman beaten for cursing, or a man +imprisoned for debt."[2] + +The spirit of Christ has penetrated even where his rule is not +acknowledged, and the humanitarianism of the present day is simply the +leaven of Christian love working among the masses of men. + +In the Christian world the effort to realize the brotherhood of all men +in Christ is producing large results. Treasures of money, and infinitely +more precious treasures of men, are every year devoted to this one +object. The cause of Protestant foreign missions is not yet a century +old, but the latest available statistics tell us that the following +sums are being contributed annually for this great work:[3] + + 32 American societies contribute $3,011,027 + 28 British " " 5,217,385 + 27 Continental " " 1,083,170 + -- ---------- + 87 societies contribute $9,311,582 + +With this large sum American societies are employing 986 men, and 1,081 +women; British societies, 1,811 men, and 745 women; Continental +societies, 777 men, and 447 women. Total, 3,574 men, 2,273 women. + +Visible results of faithfulness in work: + + Members in American societies 242,733 + " British " 340,242 + " Continental " 117,532 + ------- + Total membership in foreign lands 700,507 + Children in the Sunday-schools 626,741 + +The subject of home missions is to-day attracting greater attention than +ever before. "Die Innere Mission" of Germany, the various forms the work +assumes in England, the many societies in the United States occupied by +the questions of city evangelization, work among the Mormons, the +treatment of the Indians, care for the colored race, and other phases +of home work show that Christians are fully understanding that it is +wise to build over against our own house. + +Certainly the reproach cannot justly be made that the Church of Christ +is neglectful of the precept, "As we have therefore opportunity, let us +do good unto all men." + +This is genuine service of man to man, and the motive of the service is +love to God. Every revelation of God is of ministering love and +compassion, and the efforts of his disciples to imitate the divine love +have indelibly stamped upon modern civilization the Christian impress. + +The service of ministering compassion is so clearly one of the duties of +Christ's Church that of necessity there must be ordinances touching the +exercise of this duty. So in Acts vi, 3, we read of the appointment of +the deacons, "men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and of +wisdom," to see that the service of the tables was not neglected. + +But Christian women have ever had special gifts in caring for the poor +and sick and helpless, and the women of apostolic times must necessarily +have had their part in these services of love. In addition to the +diaconate appointed by the apostles recorded in the sixth chapter of +Acts, we must look for a female diaconate as an office in the Church. +This we do not fail to find. In Rom. xvi, 1, we read: "I commend unto +you Phebe, a deacon of the church which is at Cenchrea." Such at least +would have been the form of the verse if our translators had rendered +the Greek word here translated servant as they rendered the like word in +the sixth chapter of Acts, the third of the First Epistle to Timothy, +and in other passages of the apostolic writings. + +"That ye receive her in the Lord as becometh saints, and that ye assist +her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a +succorer of many, and of myself also." These words of St. Paul are +especially valuable as an apostolic witness for the existence of the +office of deaconess at the time when he wrote. They are even more than +that. They are an apostolic commendation of the office addressed to the +Christian Church of all times to accept the deaconess in the Lord, and +to assist her "in whatsoever business she hath need of you." + +Whether Priscilla, spoken of with Aquila as "my helpers in Christ +Jesus," or Tryphena, Tryphosa, and the beloved Persis, who "labored +much," or Julia and Olympas, all mentioned in the same chapter, were or +were not deaconesses we have no means of knowing. + +Outside of this chapter we do not find other references to the order in +the New Testament, unless it be in 1 Tim. iii, 11. In the midst of a +lengthy description of the qualifications of deacons is interjected the +exhortation: "Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, +faithful in all things." Now the word _wives_ has no authority from the +Greek word, which is simply _women_. Bishop Lightfoot remarks, in his +book on the authorized version of the New Testament, "If the theory of +the definite article (in the Greek) had been understood our translators +would have seen that the reference is to deaconesses, not to wives of +the deacons." + +Many eminent scholars are of the same opinion, among whom are +Chrysostom, Grotius, Bishop Wordsworth, and Dean Alvord. Dean Howson +adds: "It should be particularly noticed in connection with this that in +the early part of the chapter no such directions are given concerning +the wives of the bishops, though they are certainly as important as the +wives of the deacons; so that it can scarcely be thought otherwise than +that the apostle's directions were for the deaconesses, an order which +we find in ecclesiastical records for some centuries side by side with +that of deacons."[4] + +Those mentioned in Tit. ii, 3, and in 1 Tim. v, 9, cannot be considered +as holding the office of a deaconess. They belong distinctively to the +class of widows, who held a position of honor in the Church. St. Paul +had clear conceptions of the administrative needs of the Church, and it +is not probable that he would set apart to the service of deaconesses, +which had many difficult duties, those who were already sixty years old. + +The many names of faithful women mentioned in his letters as helpers in +the Church are important witnesses for the great apostle's appreciation +of woman's co-operation in the work of the Church, although his judgment +was necessarily limited in some directions by the influence of the times +in which he lived. + +Let us examine the requirements for the diaconate of the early Church. +The word diaconate means service; helpful service. We use the word to +designate service for the Church of Christ; service that more +particularly concerns itself with administering the charities of the +Church and performing its duties of compassion and mercy. The men who +were selected for this office were to be men of "honest report." They +must have led a blameless life. Those who had repented of wrong-doing +and reformed their lives were excluded from the office, because they +had lost a good report "of them which are without." Pre-eminently they +must be men of spiritual experience, proven Christians, "full of the +Holy Ghost and of wisdom." They were also to have practical gifts that +would make them efficient and capable in the duties of every-day life. +1 Tim. iii, 8. + +These are some of the qualifications spoken of as belonging to the +diaconate, and are the same in application to either sex. The woman +deacon must, however, besides possessing the above qualities, be +unmarried or a widow. The married woman has her calling at home, and +cannot combine with that an official calling in the Church, although she +may be a valuable lay helper. + +The field of labor of the women deacons of apostolic times and of the +present is essentially the same. The conditions of society and of the +Church, however, are totally dissimilar. We must, therefore, look to see +new adaptations of the same useful qualities. In other words, we shall +not expect to take the female diaconate of the days of the apostles and +transport it unchanged, into nineteenth century environments. We shall +rather expect to see the invariably useful qualities of the diaconate of +women adapted to the needs of the sinful, sorrowing, ignorant, and +helpless of the age in which we live. + + + [1] _Heidenthum und Judenthum_, von Doellinger, p. 692. Regensburg, + 1857. + [2] MacMaster's _History of the United States_, vol. i, p. 102. + [3] Statistics from _North American Review_, February, 1889, "Why am + I a Missionary?" + [4] _Deaconesses_, Rev. J. D. Howson, D.D., p. 236. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +DEACONESSES IN THE EARLY CHURCH. + + +To understand the position of the deaconess with respect to the modern +Church we must know something of the relation in which she stood to the +early Church. Concisely as may be we must recall the story of the +intervening centuries to the present, that we may learn the true +position of deaconesses in modern times. + +We have very little knowledge of the early Church. During the first +century and the first half of the second century continued persecution +compelled the religious communities of the new faith to live in almost +complete seclusion. For the same reason little has been left on record +of those years, and it is impossible to form clear conceptions of Church +history during the period. The first trace which we find of the +existence of deaconesses after the times of the apostles comes to us +from an entirely outside source--from the official records of the Roman +government. Shortly after the close of the first century the Emperor +Trajan sent the younger Pliny as prefect to Bithynia in Asia Minor. At +the imperial command he began a persecution of the Christians, but +interrupted it for a time to obtain further instructions from the +emperor. His letter and the reply still exist. In the course of what he +wrote Pliny says that he had sought to learn from two maids, who were +called "ministrae" ("ex duabus ancillis, quae ministrae dicebantur," Book +x, chap. xcvii), or helpers, the truth of what the Christians had said, +and had even deemed it necessary to put them to torture, but could +obtain evidence of nothing save unbounded superstition. Here is +independent testimony of singular interest that deaconesses, followers +of Phebe, were found in Christian communities of Asia Minor at the +beginning of the second century, and that they kept the faith, when put +to cruel martyrdom. + +The clearest conceptions of the characteristics and duties of +deaconesses of the early Church we obtain from the _Apostolic +Constitutions_, a collection of ecclesiastical instructions that +gradually grew up in the Eastern Church, and were gathered into one work +in the fourth century. These instructions were of unequal antiquity, +ranging from the earliest usages to the rules and practices last +determined upon. Whether the _Apostolic Constitutions_ have all the +authority that some claim for them is a question not here to be +decided. If not genuine, they must have been written at a very early +time, and from that fact possess a historical value of their own. "They +prove beyond a doubt that there was a time in the history of the Church +when a clear idea was held by some writer of the office of the female +deacon as essential to the discipline of the Church."[5] From them we +learn of three distinct types of women connected with the administration +of the Church--deaconesses, widows, and virgins. Deaconesses and widows +date from apostolic times, the Church virgins from a somewhat later +period. The distinction between widows and deaconesses was not at first +clearly maintained. By some Church fathers widows were called +deaconesses, and deaconesses widows. It was only after the lapse of time +that we find the classes clearly distinguished, and when that time is +reached the deaconesses have become exalted in office, being regarded as +belonging to the clergy,[6] while the widows have lost somewhat the +honorable position first accorded to them. The deaconesses are active +ministering agents, caring for the necessities of others; the widows +have passed the period of active service, and having won the respect +and protection of the Church are supported in old age from a fund set +apart for that purpose. In the _Apostolic Constitutions_ the order of +deaconesses stands forth independently, its many official activities are +mentioned, and the importance of its service emphasized. + +By combining the different references we obtain a tolerably clear +picture of the deaconess and her duties. She must be a "pure virgin," or +"a widow once married, faithful, and worthy" (Book vi, chap. xvii). Her +special duties were as follows: + +(a.) She was a door-keeper at the women's entrance to the church. This +was an ancient service, dating back to the oldest times.[7] Ignatius +died a martyr's death not long after the beginning of the second +century, and in a letter which bears his name is written, "I greet the +doorkeepers of the holy doors, the deaconesses who are in the Lord." + +This guardianship was maintained not only in times of persecution, but +as a matter of order and discipline in times of peace. + +(b.) She showed women their places in the congregation, being especially +bound to look after the poor and strangers, giving each due attention. + +(c.) She instructed the female catechumens. She also visited the +women's apartments, where male deacons could not enter, carried messages +to the bishops, and acted as a missionary. Teaching was an important +part of the duties of the early deaconesses. + +(d.) The deaconess had certain duties in connection with the baptism of +women that were considered important and indispensable. + +(e.) In times of persecution she visited those who were oppressed or in +prison, and ministered to their bodily and spiritual needs. She seems to +have been less endangered in performing these acts than were men. Lucian +alludes to the service of these devoted women in prisons. She also cared +for the sick and sorrowing, being especially "zealous to serve other +women." + +(f.) On occasion she was a mediator when there was strife in families, +or among friends. Both to deacons and deaconesses "pertain messages, +journeys to foreign parts, ministrations, services." The +ever-to-be-remembered journey of Phebe to Rome, when a whole system of +theology was committed to her keeping, was quite within the sphere of +her duties. It has also been said that to them was given the +safe-keeping of the holy books in periods of persecution. The +enumeration of these principal duties implying so many lesser details +helps us to understand that "deaconesses are needed for many purposes" +(Book ii, chapter xv). The deaconess was ordained to her work, as is +attested by a great number of authorities.[8] "It was because men felt +still that the Holy Ghost alone could give power to do any work to God's +glory that they deemed themselves constrained to ask such power of him, +in setting a woman to do Church service."[9] + +The following beautiful prayer of ordination, attributed to the apostle +Bartholomew, bears within it certain proofs of the very early existence +of the ceremony, as well as of the order of deaconesses: + +"Eternal God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Creator of man and women, +who didst fill Miriam and Deborah and Hannah and Huldah with thy Spirit, +and didst not disdain to suffer thine only-begotten Son to be born of a +woman; who also in the tabernacle and temple didst appoint woman-keepers +of thine holy gates, look down now upon this thine handmaid, who is +designated to the office of deaconess, and cleanse her from all +filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, that she may worthily execute +the work intrusted to her to thine honor, and to the praise of thine +Anointed, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be honor and adoration +forever. Amen." + +The allusion to the creation of man and woman, to the women in the Old +Testament who were called to special service, as well as to Mary, the +mother of the Lord, while no reference is made to the women of the +apostolic Church who were so highly commended, and held in veneration as +worthy of all imitation, go to prove that the origin of this prayer was +so near the time of the apostles as to be almost contemporary with them. + +The office of the deaconess, as described by the _Apostolic +Constitutions_, fitted into the needs of the Eastern Church and the +requirements of Greek life. It was in the East that the diaconate of +women originated, and here that it attained its greatest growth. In the +West custom did not demand the careful separation of the sexes as in the +East, and church relations were less bound by social usages; +consequently we meet with fewer references to deaconesses in the works +of the Latin fathers, and the diaconate of women is not so deeply rooted +in the affections of the church communities as we have found it in the +Greek Church.[10] + +The fourth century was the blossoming period of woman's diaconate, when +it attained its highest importance. All the leading Greek fathers and +Church authorities of the age make mention of it. The office is spoken +of as worthy of all honor, filled by women of rank from noble families, +and those of wealth and ability. It found its special advocate and +protector in Chrysostom, "John of the Golden Mouth," who was Bishop of +Constantinople from 397 until 407 A.D. He seems to have had the +ability, rare for that age, of understanding the value of the services +of Christian women, and through his wise guidance and encouragement had +over them almost unbounded influence. Forty-six deaconesses were under +his direction--forty attached to the mother church at Constantinople, +and six belonging to a small church in the suburbs. A number of these +were closely identified with his history, either as relatives or +friends, and through his writings their memory is preserved. Of these +are Nicarete, of a noble family of Nicomedia. We are told she was of a +modest, retiring nature, and would not take places of responsibility +when urged to do so by Chrysostom. We note a strong tendency toward the +later celibate life of the nuns when we read that she was extolled for +"her perpetual virginity and holy life." Sabiniana was the aunt of +Chrysostom. To Amprucla the bishop wrote two letters still extant.[11] +They are filled with words of consolation for the religious persecution +she has undergone. In one of them he says: "Greatly did we sympathize +with your manliness, your steadfast and adamantine understanding, your +freedom of speech and boldness." "Manliness of soul" seems to have held +a high place in the bishop's favorite qualities. In another place, +writing to the same deaconess, he praises "your steadfast soul, true to +God; yea, rather, your noble and most manly soul." + +Pentadia and Procla were closely associated with Olympias. In a letter +to Pentadia, Chrysostom writes: "For I know your great and lofty soul, +which can sail as with a fair wind through many tempests, and in the +midst of the waves enjoy a white calm."[12] Reading such words of +appreciation, words that in other places approach dangerously near to +adulation, we better understand the influence Chrysostom exercised over +the women of his time, and their steadfast devotion to him. They had the +conviction that all their efforts met with his sincere and profound +appreciation and quick responsive acknowledgment. + +Pre-eminent among the friends of the great bishop was Olympias, of whom +Dean Howson said, "She is the queenly figure among the deaconesses of +the primitive Church." To understand her life we must recall the scenes +by which she was surrounded and the age in which she lived.[13] + +In the great capital of the Eastern Empire, where the luxuriance and +magnificence of the Orient combined with the keen, quick intellectual +life of the Greeks; in the circle of the imperial court, with its +intrigues, its fashions, its favoritisms; at a time when outwardly much +respect was paid to the forms of religious life, but when the great and +vital dogmas of the Church were made the sport of witty sophistical +disputations; when those who endeavored to lead an earnest Christian +life met with nearly as much to oppose them as in periods of active +persecution; such were her environments. They were little favorable to +the strength of mind, the fixedness of purpose, the self-denial and +Christian devotion that marked this noble deaconess. Born in 368 A.D. of +a heathen family of rank, owing to her parents' early death she was +educated a Christian. In her seventeenth year she married Nebridius, the +prefect of the city, but after a married life of twenty months he died, +leaving her at eighteen years a widow, rich, beautiful, and free to +decide her future. The Emperor Theodosius desired her to marry one of +his kinsmen, but she refused, saying, "Had God designed me to lead a +married life he would not have taken my husband; I will remain a widow," +and shortly after she was consecrated a deaconess by Bishop Nectarius. +The emperor, angered at her refusal, took from her the use of her large +fortune, and put it under the care of guardians until she should be +thirty years old, whereupon she only thanked him for relieving her of +the heavy responsibility of administering her estate, and begged him to +add to his kindness by dividing it between the poor and the Church. + +Shamed out of his anger, the emperor soon restored her rights, and when +Chrysostom came to Constantinople her lavish and often unwise generosity +was felt in every direction, being compared to "a stream which flows to +the end of the world." He reproved her unbounded liberality, and advised +her to administer alms as a wise steward who must render an account. +This counsel guided her into safer paths. Finally, when Chrysostom was +driven forth to banishment, by his advice she remained in the city, and +became a support for his followers and those who had been dependent upon +him. She met contemptuous treatment and judicial persecutions, but +continued her works of charity, and outlived the man whose mind and +heart had so influenced hers by eleven years. Chrysostom wrote her many +letters, of which seventeen are extant.[14] They plainly show the +estimate he set upon the diaconate of women, and his endeavor to wisely +cherish it. Unfortunately, they also show exaggeration of compliment and +praise which detract from his words of sincere and honest admiration. +Too often, also, he gives undue value to works of mercy, and exalts acts +of ascetic self-denial. + +The question of the age at which deaconesses could be received is a +vexed one. The confusion of apprehension touching deaconesses and widows +led to differing enactments at different times and places. The +restriction of age, however, must now have lost its force, as we find +Olympias a deaconess when not yet twenty years of age, and Makrina, the +sister of Gregory of Nyssa, was ordained when a young girl. Deaconesses +retained control of their property. In truth, a law of the State forbade +them to enrich churches and institutions at the expense of those having +just claims on them. Deaconesses also existed in the Church of Asia +Minor. Ignatius mentions them as at Antioch in Syria. They were in Italy +and Rome. The Church of St. Pudentiana, in the Eternal City, keeps +alive the memory of two deaconesses whose house is said to have stood on +this site; Praxedes and Pudentiana, the daughters of a Roman senator, +who devoted themselves, with all they had, to the service of the Church. +Deaconesses also penetrated to Ireland, Gaul, and Spain, lingering in +the last named country many years after they had passed out of knowledge +elsewhere. + +We find very little about this order of Christian workers in the Western +Church. There is a passage of Origen in a Latin translation which speaks +of the ministry of women as both existing and necessary, but in the +great Latin fathers, the contemporaries of Chrysostom, scarcely a +mention occurs. From the last half of the fifth century the diaconate of +women declined in importance.[15] It was deprived of its clerical +character by the decrees passed by the Gallic councils of the fifth and +sixth centuries. It was finally entirely abolished as a church order by +the Synod of Orleans, 593 A.D., which forbade any woman henceforth to +receive the _benedictio diaconalis_, which had been substituted for +_ordinatio diaconalis_ by a previous council (Synod of Orange, 441). The +withdrawing of church sanctions made the deaconess cause a private one. +But as such it existed for hundreds of years, often under the patronage +and protection of those high in authority. About the year 600 A.D. the +patriarch of Constantinople, godfather of the Emperor Mauritius, built +for his sister, who was a deaconess, a church which for centuries was +called the "Church of the Deaconesses." It is still standing and, only +slightly changed, is now used for a Turkish mosque.[16] + +In the twelfth century there were still deaconesses at Constantinople. +Balsamon, a distinguished professor of Church law, writing at the time, +says that deaconesses were still elected in that city and took charge of +conferences among women members, but in other places the order had +passed completely away. + +There was no historian of the diaconate of the early Church. We learn of +it only from isolated and occasional references in works devoted to +other subjects. Yet these references are sufficient to enable us to +affirm that deaconesses were a factor in the life of the Church for from +nine to twelve centuries, or two thirds of the Christian era. + +The same influences led to its decay that affected the entire life of +the Church during these centuries. The superior sanctity attached to +the unmarried state, that brought about the celibacy of the priests, +gradually changed the active beneficent existence of the old-time +deaconesses into the cloistral life of nuns. Statutes were passed +forbidding her to marry. Gradually grew up the dangerous superstition of +the marriage of the individual soul with Christ, that made of the nun +the Bride of Christ in an especial sense. It was this false conception +that led the vow of the nun to be regarded as the vow of marriage, and +to be guarded from infringement in the same way as the human marriage +tie, and like it to be lasting for life. The glorious doctrine of +justification by faith was replaced by ascetic mortifications of the +flesh based upon the belief in meritorious works. The cell of the monk +and the nun were esteemed more sacred than the family circle, and in the +darkness of mediaeval times that settled down upon the life of the Church +we lose sight of the busy, active ministrations of women deacons, who +had once been esteemed so needful to her usefulness. + +There are other minor causes that aided in the downfall of the order; +the abuses that arose in some cases; the changes in the ceremony of +baptism by which the aid of women was not so indispensable, and +especially the fact that since the time of Constantine the care of the +sick and poor was placed under the charge of the State.[17] + +These causes combined removed from the life of the Church a powerful +agency for good, and for centuries deprived it of the pre-eminent gifts +of ministration which belong to Christian women. + + + [5] _Woman's Work in the Church_, J. M. Ludlow, p. 21. + [6] _Die Weibliche Diakonie in ihrem ganzen Umfang_, Theodor Schaefer, + 3 vols. Stuttgart: D. Gundert, 1887. Vol. i, p. 45. + [7] _Der Diakonissenberuf nach seiner Vergangenheit und Gegenwart_, + Emil Wacker. Guetersloh: E. Bertelman, 1888. p. 33. + [8] Neander, _Hist. of Chr. Religion and Church_, vol. i, p. 188; + Schaff, _Hist. of Chr. Church_, vol. iii, p. 260; McClintock & + Strong's _Encyclopaedia_, art. "Deaconesses." + [9] J. M. Ludlow, _Woman's Work in the Church_, p. 17. + [10] Neander, _Hist. of Chr. Rel. and Church_, vol. i, p. 188; Schaff, + _Hist. of Chr. Church_, vol. iii, p. 260. + [11] _Sancti Johannis Chrysostomi opera om_, t. ii, pp. 659, 662. + Paris, 1842. + [12] Chrys., _Op._, vol. ii, p. 658. + [13] _Die Weibliche Diakonie_, Theodor Schaefer, vol. i, p. 8. + [14] Chrys., _Op._, vol. ii, p. 600. + [15] Schaff's _History of Chr. Church_, vol. iii, p. 260. + [16] _Denkschrift zur Jubelfeier_, J. Disselhoff, Kaiserswerth, 1880, + p. 5. + [17] Herzog's _Protestantische Real Enc._, vol. iii, p. 589. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +DEACONESSES FROM THE TWELFTH TO THE NINETEENTH +CENTURIES. + + +During these seven centuries whenever there arose a reviving spirit of +true love to God, whether within the Church of Rome or in any of the +churches formed from reforming elements that separated from it, then we +find traces of the diaconate of woman assuming some form of devotion to +Christ and work for him. One of these movements well worth our study +originated in Belgium while the last of the Greek deaconesses were still +daily walking the arched pathway that led to their church in +Constantinople. Toward the close of the twelfth century great corruption +of morals and open abuses prevailed in society, and also in the Church. +One of those who protested against the evils of the times was the priest +Lambert le Begue, as he was called, meaning the stutterer. He lived at +Liege, in Belgium, and just without the city walls owned a large garden. +He determined to make use of this to found a retreat for godly women, +where they could lead in common a life of well-doing. Here he built a +number of little houses, and in the center a church, which was dedicated +to St. Christopher in 1184. Then he presented the whole to some godly +women to be used and owned in common. His earnest words of rebuke +brought persecution upon him from those whose consciences he disturbed, +but he went to Rome and appealed to the pope, who not only protected him +from his assailants, but made him the patriarch of the order he had +founded. Only six months after his return, however, he died, and was +buried before the high altar of the church he had erected in 1187. +Whether he was indeed the founder of the Beguine houses has been called +in question. Be that as it may, fifty years after his death fifteen +hundred Beguines were living around St. Christopher's Church,[18] and +Beguine courts were found throughout Belgium, in the Netherlands, south +along the Rhine, in eastern France, and in Switzerland. The Crusades +made many widows, and both widows and young girls sought shelter in the +community life of the Beguines. As a rule they lived alone, in separate +small houses built closely together and surrounded by a wall. Each house +bore on its door the sign of the cross, and with every Beguine court +there were invariably two large buildings--a church and a hospital; the +one for the worship of the sisters, the other the field of their +self-denying ministrations. At first they were in no wise distinguished +in their dress from other women, but in time they wore a habit which +varied in color with each establishment, but was generally blue, gray, +or brown. The veil was invariably white. The sisters had to earn, or +partly earn, their own livelihood. In the time remaining they rendered +essential service in performing acts of charity. They received orphans +to bring up and educate, taught little children, nursed the sick, +performed the last offices for the dead, and bound themselves by good +deeds closely with the lives of the people. They were in no sense +isolated from the world, but lived busy, useful lives in the midst of +the world. They could leave the community at any time, and after +severing their connection with it were free to marry. They also retained +control of their own property. + +There were certainly many points of resemblance between these women who +were so active in the sphere of Christian charity in the twelfth and +thirteenth centuries and the deaconesses of Europe to-day. The most +prosperous period for the Beguines was the first half of the thirteenth +century, when they were numbered by thousands.[19] Gradually persecution +was directed against them. The nuns looked upon them with disfavor, and +the pope withdrew his protection. In the Netherlands many became +Protestants at the time of the Reformation, but the Beguines of to-day, +changed in many respects from the original type, and now, closely +resembling the other sisterhoods of Catholicism, are frequently to be +seen in the cities of Belgium and north-eastern France. + +A new current of spiritual life swept over the church in the fourteenth +century, and again we find women living together in community life, and +devoting themselves to common service in good deeds, and known as the +Sisters of the Common Life. There was also a Brotherhood of the Common +Life, as there were Beghards, communities of Christian men corresponding +to the Beguines. The Brotherhood and the Sisterhood of the Common Life +honored as their founder Gerhard Groot, of Deventer, who was born in +1340. Of a singularly attractive personality, a creative mind, and an +ardent, enthusiastic nature, he was born to influence and command. He +was already known as a priest of eloquence and wide learning when, in +1374, he met with a deep spiritual change, and from that year dated his +conversion. Henceforth, with every power of a rarely gifted nature, he +sought to lead those who heard him to lives of purity and holiness. +Gradually there grew up about him a circle of like-minded friends, +occupied in writing books to spread his ideas, and aiding him as they +could. His friend Florentius proposed that they live together and form a +community. "A community!" answered Groot. "The begging orders will never +permit that." But Florentius, the planner and organizer, persisted, +offering his own house as a home, and held to the advantages of his plan +until Groot yielded, and said, "In the name of the Lord begin your +work." + +Such was the origin of the Brotherhood of the Common Life, and from its +circle proceeded that immortal book, the _Imitation of Christ_, by +Thomas a Kempis, keeping alive in the hearts of choice spirits of every +generation the thoughts and sentiments of the men of whom its author was +the interpreter. For a community of women of similar aims and purposes +it needed only that Groot should make a few changes in the house that he +had already set apart from his paternal inheritance as a home for +destitute women, and the first sister house began. Like the Beguines, +the Sisters of the Common Life took no obligations binding them to +life-long service, but they differed from them in living more closely +together in one family, and had a common purse. They wore a gray +costume, and also worked for their own support. The special virtues they +inculcated were obedience to those above them in authority, humility +that would not shun the meanest task, and friendliness to all. Their +charitable duties were much the same as the Beguines; they cared for +children, nursed the sick, and often acted as midwives. In the first +half of the sixteenth century there were at least eighty-seven +sister-houses, mostly in the Netherlands.[20] + +It will be noticed that these freer communities of religious women, that +bear so much closer resemblance to the deaconesses of the early Church +than to the sisterhoods of nuns contemporary with them, mostly existed +in the great free cities of Germany and the Netherlands, which were the +cradles of political and religious liberty, the centers of commerce and +of civilization at that time. + +Among the Waldenses, the Poor Men of Lyons, who were already prominent +in the last half of the twelfth century, we find there were +deaconesses. We learn of them again, too, among the Bohemian brethren, +the followers of Huss. With deep Christian faith they endeavored to form +a Church after the apostolic model, and in 1457 appointed Church +deaconesses. "They were to form a female council of elder women, who +were to counsel and care for the married women, widows, and young girls, +to make peace between quarrelers, to prevent slandering, and to preserve +purity and good morals,"[21] aims which keep close to the apostolic +definition of this office. + +Luther, the great master-mind of the Reformation, was too clear-sighted +to fail to appreciate the importance of women for the service of the +Church. Speaking of the quality which is an inherent part of the +diaconate of women, he says: "Women who are truly pious are wont to have +especial grace in comforting others and lessening their sorrows." In his +exposition of 1 Pet. ii, 5, he uttered truly remarkable words, for the +age in which he lived, concerning women as members of the holy +priesthood. He says: "Now, wilt thou say, Is that true that we are all +priests, and should preach? Where will that lead us? Shall there be no +difference in persons? shall women also be priests? Answer. If thou +desirest to behold Christians, so must thou see no differences, and must +not say, That is a man or a woman, that is a servant or a lord, old or +young. They are all one, simply Christian people. Therefore are they all +priests. They may all publish God's word, save that women shall not +speak in the church, but shall let men preach. But where there are no +men, but women only, as in the nuns' cloisters, there might a woman be +chosen who should preach to them. This is the true priesthood, in which +are the three elements of spiritual offerings, prayer, and preaching for +the Church. _Whoever does this is a priest. You are all bound to preach +the Word, to pray for the Church, and to offer yourself to God._"[22] + +There is no mention in Luther's writings, however, of the diaconate of +women. It would be more natural that he should have tried to adjust the +lives of the monks and nuns as he knew of them to the new relations +arising from the Reformation rather than to bring to life an office of +which he had no personal knowledge. This was what he did when he wrote +to the burghers of Herford in Westphalia. In their new zeal they wanted +to drive the inmates from the religious houses, although the latter had +been the means of teaching them the reformed doctrines. In his letter +of January 31, 1532, Luther says: "If the brothers and sisters who are +by you truly teach and hold the true word it is my friendly wish that +you will not allow them to be disturbed or experience bitterness in this +matter. Let them retain their religious dress and their accustomed +habits which are not opposed to the Gospel."[23] + +Certainly Luther would have seen no harm in allowing deaconesses the +protection of a special garb. + +Passing to another great reformer, Calvin, we find not only references +to deaconesses as filling a "most honorable and most holy function in +the Church," but in the Church ordinances of Geneva, which were drawn up +by him, there is mention of the diaconate as one of the four ordinances +indispensable to the organization of the Church. + +In the Netherlands several attempts were made to revive the ancient +office. The General Synod of the Reformed Church at Wesel, in 1568, +first considered the question. A later synod, in 1579, expressly +occupied itself with the work and office of the deaconess, but the +measures taken were not adapted to advance the interests of the cause, +and it was formally abandoned by the Synod of Middleburg in 1581. In +the city of Wesel, however, there continued to be deaconesses attached +to the city churches until 1610. In Amsterdam local churches preserved +the office still later than at Wesel. Already in 1566 we read that in +the great reformed Church not only deacons but deaconesses were elected. +The terrible days of the Spanish fury swept away all Church organization +for a time, but when it was restored in 1578 both classes of Christian +officers again resumed their duties. From 1582 lists of deaconesses were +kept, showing at first three; later, in 1704, twenty-eight, and in 1800 +only eight. At the present time there are women directors of hospitals +and orphanages in Amsterdam who are called by the title of deaconesses. +The helpless, sick, and neglected children are now gathered in +institutions instead of being cared for individually as was formerly the +custom, and women having positions of control in these institutions are +designated by the name formerly applied to those who had the personal +care of the same needy classes. + +It is interesting to note that there was one association of women in the +century of the Reformation that bears close resemblance to the Beguines +and the Sisters of the Common Life. These were the Damsels of Charity, +established by Prince Henry Robert de la Mark, the sovereign prince of +Sedan in the Netherlands. In 1559 he, together with the great majority +of his subjects, embraced the doctrines of the Reformed Church, and +instead of incorporating former church property with his own +possessions, as did so many princes of the Reformation, he devoted it to +founding institutions of learning and of charity. These latter he put +under the care of the "Damsels of Charity," an association of women +which he had instituted. The members could live in their own homes or in +the establishments, but in either case they devoted themselves to the +protection and succor of the poor and sick and the aged. While taking no +vows, they were chosen from those not bound by the marriage vow, and +were subject only to certain rules of living. The Damsels of Charity +have been held by some to be the first Protestant association of +deaconesses, although not called by the name.[24] + +There are two evangelical societies, small in numbers, but one at least +powerful in influence, which have retained deaconesses from their origin +to the present time. These are the Mennonites or Anabaptists, and the +Moravians. It was among the Mennonites in Holland that Fliedner saw the +deaconesses, who so interested him in their duties that he obtained the +convictions which in the end led him to devote his life to their +restoration in the economy of the Church. Among the Moravians, +deaconesses were introduced at the instance of Count Zinzendorf in 1745, +but only as a limited form of woman's service, by no means measuring up +to the place accorded them to day in Germany. + +We have now reached the nineteenth century, and from the early Church to +the present time we find successive if sporadic attempts to incorporate +into the Church the active diaconate of women. These constantly +recurring efforts imply a consciousness, deep, if unexpressed, of the +need to utilize better the especial gifts of women in Christian service. +We have reached the moment when this consciousness is to take a suitable +and enduring form; when the Church machinery, long defective in this +particular, is to be re-adjusted and made complete. + + + [18] _Die Weibliche Diakonie_, vol. i, p. 67. + [19] _Woman's Work in the Church_, Ludlow, p. 117, note. "Matthew + Paris mentions it as one of the wonders of the age, for the + year 1250, that in Germany there rose up an innumerable multitude + of those continent women who wish to be called Beguines, to that + extent that Cologne was inhabited by more than a thousand of + them." + [20] _Die Weibliche Diakonie_, Schaefer, vol. i, p. 70. + [21] _Der Diakonissenberuf_ E. Wacker, p. 82. + [22] _Denkschrift zur Jubelfeier_, J. Disselhoff, p. 5. Guetersloh, + 1888. + [23] _Die Weibliche Diakonie_, vol. i, p. 73. + [24] _Histoire de la principaute de Sedan_, Pasteur Pegran, vol. ii, + chaps. i, ii. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FLIEDNER, THE RESTORER OF THE OFFICE OF +DEACONESS. + + +The first years of the present century were sad years for Germany. There +was a life-and-death struggle with an all-powerful conqueror to preserve +existence as a nation. The Germans still call this "the war for +freedom." Immediately thereafter followed a period of religious +awakening, and this proved to be the hour when the diaconate of woman +rose again to life and power. When the fullness of time arrives for a +cause or a movement to take its place among the forces of society, many +hearts become impressed with its importance. So, between the years 1820 +and 1835, there were four several attempts to awaken the Christian +Church to an enlightened conscience in this matter, the last of which +obtained a wide and an enduring success. The first was made by Johann +Adolph Franz Kloenne, pastor of the church at Bislich, near Wesel. +Stirred to admiration by the activity that the women's societies had +shown in the Napoleonic wars, he lamented the fact that the +associations had dissolved, and complained that they had not taken a +permanent form, in which the members might have performed the duties for +the Church that deaconesses had done in the early years of Christianity. +In 1820 he published a pamphlet entitled _The Revival of the Deaconesses +of the Primitive Church in our Women's Associations_. This he sent to +many persons of influence, trying to win their co-operation for the +cause. He received a great many answers in reply, among them one from +the Crown Princess Marianne. But while in a general way his project met +with approval, no one could suggest a practical method by which his +thought could be realized. + +A distinguished woman, Amalie Sieveking, attempted the same task of +utilizing the labor of Christian women as deaconesses in the Church. She +belonged to a well-known patrician family in the old free city of +Hamburg, and was well known for her philanthropic views and her generous +deeds. "When I was eighteen years old," she relates, "I first learned +about the charitable sisterhoods in Catholic lands, and the knowledge +seized upon me with almost irresistible power. Like a lightning's flash +came the thought, What if you were appointed to found a similar +institution for our Protestant Church?"[25] The thought stayed by her, +and disposed her to receive willingly a similar suggestion coming from +the great Prussian minister Von Stein, the Bismarck of Germany during +the first quarter of this century. He had been favorably impressed by +what he had seen of the Sisters of Mercy in the camp and in hospitals. +He consulted with one of his councilors about increasing their number, +so that they could be employed in all the Hospitals, Insane Asylums, and +Penitentiaries which had women inmates. To another minister he +complained with warmth that the Protestant Church had no such +sisterhoods by which the beneficent stream of activities among women +could be directed into well-regulated channels. "The religious life of +Protestantism suffers from the want of them," he said. These words were +repeated to Amalie Sieveking and stirred her to make the endeavor to +fulfill her own long-cherished wishes, which were those of Stein. Just +at this time, in 1831, the cholera broke out in her native city. She +took this as a providential opening, by means of which deaconesses could +begin their work, and went at once to one of the cholera hospitals, +offered her services as a nurse, and at the same time issued an appeal +for sister-women to join her. But no one came. The only outcome of her +effort was a woman's society which she formed to care for the sick and +the poor of her native city, and to work for this she devoted the +remainder of her life. Stein and Amalie Sieveking had in mind an order +of women closely resembling the Sisters of Charity. That their efforts +were not crowned with success seemed to the evangelical Protestant +promoters of the deaconess cause in later times providential.[26] + +Shortly after, in 1835, Count von der Recke, already well known as the +founder of two charitable institutions, issued the first number of a +magazine called _Deaconesses; or, The Life and Labors of Women Workers +of the Church in Instruction, Education, and the Care of the Sick_. Only +a single number appeared, but his earnest plea for deaconesses, and the +elaborate plan he devised for an institution and officers, aroused wide +attention, and brought him a letter of warm commendation from the crown +prince, afterward King Frederick William IV. Evidently the idea was +ripening, and a near fruition could be anticipated. But neither to +minister of state, count, nor prince--to no one among the distinguished +of the earth--was the honor given of reviving the female diaconate. It +was to a humble pastor of an obscure village church that this work was +committed. + +The little village of Eppstein lies in a beautiful country, full of high +mountains and deep-lying valleys, about a dozen miles from Wiesbaden. At +the village parsonage of the little hamlet was born, January 21, 1800, a +son, the fourth of a family that numbered twelve children. The pastor, +whose father before him had filled a like office, was a favorite among +his people for his pleasant speech, sound advice about every-day +matters, and his faithfulness in instructing the children in the Bible +and the catechism, and caring for the sick and the afflicted. + +The little boy proved to be a strong, healthy child, and as he grew +older developed a liking for books. His father taught a class composed +of his children and some boys in the neighborhood, and when Theodor +became old enough to join it he soon outstripped the rest, giving his +father no little pride by his fluent rendering of Homer. Theodor +Fliedner was not quite fourteen years old when the sudden death of the +father changed the whole life of the family, and left the mother with +eleven children to maintain and educate. Now began for Fliedner a +struggle to complete his education. The simple, kindly hospitality that +had been so generously exercised in the village parsonage met its +reward. Friends came forward to offer help, and at the beginning of the +New Year Fliedner and his brother went to the gymnasium at Idstein. Here +he was obliged to live sparingly, and earned his bread by teaching, but +he was happy and contented, and found in study his great delight. He was +fond of reading books of travel and the lives of great men, which +stirred him to emulation. In 1817 he went to the University of Giessen. +Here he kept aloof from the political agitations among the students. +Neither was he affected by the rationalistic teachings of the +professors. His shy, retired nature aided him in this course, and his +leisure hours were passed in reading the writings of the Reformers. The +jubilee festival of the Reformation occurred in 1817, and the lives of +the heroes of the faith were brought freshly home to him. Their strength +of faith shamed him, but he had not yet learned the secret of their +power. He was yet without a deep, spiritual life. From Giessen he went +to Goettingen, where he devoted himself to a year's study of history, +philosophy, and theology. During the holidays, as is the custom with +German students, he made repeated pedestrian tours. In this way he +visited the great free cities of the north, Bremen, Hamburg, and +Lubeck. From Goettingen he and his brother went to the theological +seminary at Herborn, where the following summer he passed with credit +his theological examination. He was now ready to enter God's great +school of practical life to be further fitted for the mission he was to +accomplish. In September he went to Cologne and was employed in the +house of a wealthy merchant as a private tutor. This was a great change +for the quiet youth of country habits. He took great pains to +accommodate himself to his surroundings, and to acquire the truly +Christian art of becoming all things to all men. In after life, when +speaking of this period and its usefulness to him, he wrote: "It is a +great hinderance to a man, even to his progress in the kingdom of God, +not to have been brought up in gentle and refined manners from his +childhood." Although a faithful and devoted teacher his life-work was +not forgotten. He constantly sought to widen his knowledge and +experience, was made assistant secretary of the local Bible society, and +formed friendships which led to his appointment to the pastorate at +Kaiserswerth. This was a Catholic town formerly of some importance. The +ruins of an imperial palatinate are still to be seen there, but in +Fliedner's time it had become a little village of workmen dependent on +a few manufacturers. On January 18, 1822, alone, and on foot, to save +his poor society the expense of his journey, Fliedner entered the town +where his life was henceforth to be centered. He was to share the +parsonage with the widow of a previous pastor, and his sister was to be +his housekeeper. His income was one hundred and thirty-five dollars a +year. Only a month after his arrival the great firm of velvet +manufacturers who provided the work-people with employment failed, and +the little church community seemed about to be dispersed. The government +offered him another and better appointment, but he felt that he must be +a true shepherd, and not a hireling, and would not leave his people. He +decided to make a journey to collect money to form a permanent endowment +for his church. A journey over sixty years ago, to a young German of +quiet habits, was a very different matter from a similar trip taken in +this day of railroads and steamboats. To Fliedner it seemed a very +important matter; and so it was in its results, which reached far beyond +the little congregation he served. With great hesitation he began at +Elberfeld, a town near at hand. A pastor of the city, to encourage him, +accompanied him to friends, and on parting gave him a friendly +suggestion that, in addition to trust in God, such work required +"patience, impudence, and a ready tongue." Before starting on the longer +journey to Holland and England he returned to his congregation and +encouraged them by the sum of nine hundred dollars that he had so far +secured. He was now absent for nine months, and during that time +obtained an amount sufficient to put the little church in a position +where a certain, if modest, annual allowance was assured. The pastor had +also, in serving others, greatly strengthened and broadened his own +faith. As he says, "In both these Protestant countries I became +acquainted with a multitude of charitable institutions for the benefit +both of body and soul. I saw schools and other educational +organizations, alms-houses, orphanages, hospitals, prisons, and +societies for the reformation of prisoners, Bible and missionary +societies, etc., and at the same time I observed that it was a living +faith in Christ which had called almost every one of these institutions +and societies into life, and still preserved them in activity. This +evidence of the practical power, and fertility of such a principle had a +most powerful influence in strengthening my own faith, as yet weak." It +was while in Holland that he wrote to Kloenne concerning the deaconesses, +whose duties he had observed among the Mennonites. After his return he +applied himself with zeal and success to his pastoral duties. Work was a +delight to him, and his energy and force of character were constantly +seeking new ways by which to make his church services more attractive, +and to increase his influence over each member of his congregation. "He +never asked himself what he _must_ do, but always what he _might_ +do."[27] But, work as industriously as he would, his small society left +him time for other activities. While in London he had been profoundly +impressed by the noble labors of Elizabeth Fry in the prisons of +England. It was this woman's hand that pointed out the way for Fliedner +in Germany. The prisons in his own land had remained untouched by any +spirit of reform. The convicts were crowded together in small, filthy +cells, and often in damp cellars without light or air; boys, who had +thoughtlessly committed some trifling misdemeanor, with gray-headed, +corrupt sinners; young girls with the most vicious old women. There was +no attempt at classification of prisoners. Some of them might be +innocent people waiting for trial. Neither was there oversight, save to +keep the prisoners from escaping. No work was provided, and as for +schools, where the larger number of convicts could neither read nor +write, no one thought of such a thing.[28] That such idleness, the +beginning of all vice, was here especially pernicious and corrupting can +be readily seen. But few knew of this state of things, and those few +left it for the government to provide a remedy. + +Fliedner, however, could not rest in this indifference. He says: "The +smallness of my charge left me more leisure than most of my clerical +brethren, and the opportunities I had enjoyed on my travels of at once +collecting information and strengthening my faith imposed a more urgent +obligation on me to try to make up by the help of our God for our long +neglect." He tried to obtain permission to be imprisoned a few weeks in +the prison at Duesseldorf, that he might view prison life from within the +walls, but his request was refused. He then obtained leave to hold +services every other Sunday afternoon in the prison at Duesseldorf. The +efforts that he put forth succeeded in waking the interest of a great +many persons, and at last there was formed by his efforts the first +society in behalf of prisoners in Germany. + +It was while engaged in this work that he met his wife, Frederika +Muenster, who was occupied in bettering the condition of the prisoners in +the penitentiary at Duesselthal. He married her in 1828, and she became +a helpful, inspiring co-worker with him in all his undertakings. + +In 1832 he was commissioned by the government to revisit England, to +furnish a report on the various charitable organizations, especially +those connected with prisons and alms-houses. This brought him into +closer relations with Elizabeth Fry, as well as with many other noble +men and women of all ranks who were caring for the poor and neglected of +England. He extended his journey to Scotland, met Dr. Chalmers, and +found his heart strangely touched by what he saw. His spiritual +experience had deepened with the years, and while here he wrote to some +friends, "The Lord greatly quickens me." + +His heart became still more open to works of mercy and love, and he +gathered rich experiences which were afterward utilized in his work. + +Fliedner had now attained a certain reputation of his own as a friend to +prisoners and outcasts. It was not surprising, therefore, that a poor +female convict, discharged from the prison at Werden, should have taken +the weary six miles' walk to Kaiserswerth September 17, 1833, to ask the +good pastor for help. There stood in the parsonage garden a little +summer-house twelve feet square, with an attic. This was offered to the +convict Minna as a temporary refuge, and she became the first inmate of +the Kaiserswerth institutions. She had arrived at an opportune moment. +In the previous spring Count Spee, the President of the Prison Society, +had urged the founding of two institutions, one Lutheran and one +Catholic, to receive discharged female convicts. Fliedner, who had seen +such refuges in England, declared himself ready for the plan, and tried +to induce the pastors of the larger and wealthier communities in the +neighborhood to locate the Protestant asylum in some one of these +cities. No one responded to his appeal. His wife, whose courage was +often greater than his own, urged him to make a beginning in the little +village where he lived, unpromising as the conditions seemed, and after +a little hesitation, seeing no one was ready to assume any +responsibility in a matter that he took so deeply to heart, the good +pastor decided to follow her advice. The old parsonage was for rent, and +he secured it on low terms. + +Frau Fliedner had a friend of her school-days and early youth, now a +woman of experience and ability. She sent for her to come and visit them +to see if she would become the superintendent of the refuge, but shortly +after her arrival she was taken sick, and her friends sent letters of +expostulation urging her to return. Just now, when affairs were in +rather an untoward state, appeared the first inmate. Let Fliedner tell +the story: + +"We at first gave her lodging in my summer-house, and the necessity of +attending to her did more good to the poor, distressed superintendent +than all her quinine and mixtures. Countess Spee, the wife of our +president, had prophesied that our inmates would never remain with us a +month, they would certainly run away. So when the first month was over I +marched over to Heltorf and triumphantly announced, 'Minna is yet +there.' Minna was followed by another, and the garden-house became too +small." + +Finally Fliedner obtained possession of the house he had hired, after +some delay on the part of the former tenants, and the asylum was opened. +The number of inmates increased, and Fraeulein Goebel soon had more than +she could manage. She must have an assistant. The need of trained +Christian workers, who could care for these poor women, grew daily more +apparent. + +Fliedner's thoughts constantly dwelt on the subject; they gave him no +rest. He had discovered with joyful surprise in 1827 the traces of the +apostolic deaconesses among the Mennonites, and two years later he +wrote: + +"Does not the experience of this our sister Church, do not the women +societies in our last war, does not the holy activity of an Elizabeth +Fry and her helpers in England, and the women's associations of Russia +and Prussia formed after their model to care for the bodies and souls of +women prisoners--do all these not show what great power God-fearing, +pious women possess for the up-building of Christ's kingdom as soon as +they have opportunity to develop it?"[29] + +His practical experience with the work he had in hand brought him to the +same conclusion; namely, that there must be training-schools where +Christian women, especially set apart for such service, could have +instruction and practice in the duties they had undertaken. As a +consequence there were drawn up in May, 1836, and signed by Fliedner and +a few friends, the statutes of the Rhenish-Westphalian Deaconess +Society. + +Fliedner had now reached the work that was henceforth to be his life +mission; that is, the restoration of deaconesses to the Christian Church +of the nineteenth century. + + + [25] _Denkschrift zur Jubelfeier_, J. Disselhoff, Kaiserswerth, + 1886, p. 8. + [26] Schaefer, _Die Weibliche Diakonie_, vol. ii, p. 86; _Denkschrift + zur Jubelfeier_, p. 9. + [27] T. Fliedner, _Kurzer Abriss seines Lebens_, p. 43. + [28] T. Fliedner, _Kurzer Abriss seines Lebens_, p. 48. + [29] _Kurzer Abriss seines Lebens_, p. 60. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE INSTITUTIONS AT KAISERSWERTH. + + +Fliedner saw clearly that if the office of deaconess were to be planted +in the Church there must be soil suitable to nourish it: in other words, +there must be an institution founded which could furnish not only +instruction, but practice in their duties, and a home for those who +should offer their services for this office. "But," he says, "could our +little Kaiserswerth be the right place for a Protestant deaconess house +for the training of Protestant deaconesses--a village of scarcely +eighteen hundred people where the large majority of the population were +Roman Catholics, where sick people could not be expected in sufficient +numbers for training purposes, and so poor that it could not help defray +even the yearly expenses of such an institution? And were not older, +more experienced pastors than I better adapted for this difficult +undertaking? I went to my clerical brethren in Duesseldorf, Dinsberg, +Mettmann, Elberfeld, and Barmen, and entreated them to start such an +institution in their large societies, of which, indeed, there was +pressing need. But all refused, and urged me to put my hand to the work. +I had time, with my small congregation, and the quietness of retired +Kaiserswerth was favorable to such a school. The useful experiences I +had gained on my journeys had not been given me for naught, and God +could send money, sick people, and nurses. So we discerned that it was +his will that we should take the burden on our own shoulders, and we +willingly stretched them forth to receive it. Quietly we looked around +for a house for the hospital. Suddenly, the largest and finest house in +Kaiserswerth was offered for sale. My wife begged me to buy it without +delay. It is true it would cost twenty-three hundred thalers, and we had +no money. Yet I bought it with good courage, April 20, 1836. At +Martinmas the money must be paid." + +It is not possible to give here in detail the occurrences by which loans +were made, and the money that was needed obtained at the required time. +God gave friends for the cause, and through them provided the means. The +house was furnished with a little second-hand furniture which had been +given him, and October, 1836, was opened as a hospital and training +school for Christian women. Services of praise and thanksgiving +consecrated this deaconess home yet without deaconesses, this hospital +without patients. Both, however, soon became inmates of the building. +The first deaconess was Gertrude Reichardt, the daughter of a physician. +She had assisted her father in the care of the sick, and had become +experienced in looking after the welfare of the poor and the destitute. +She was an invaluable helper in the new enterprise, and shared with the +doctor the duty of giving instruction in nursing and hospital duties. +Fliedner's wife was the superintendent. She had the oversight of the +house, gave the deaconesses practical direction in housekeeping, and in +their early visits to the sick and poor accompanied them from house to +house. Fliedner was the director, and took upon himself the religious +instruction of the sisters. Every effort was taken to make the house a +home in which a cheerful, loving spirit should prevail. Nearly every +evening Fliedner or his wife would go over to the home, and read to the +sisters, or tell them interesting facts outside their lives. When he +went away on his journeys he would write in full every thing pertaining +to the interests of the common cause, and the letters would be read +aloud. This was to be a home in every sense of the word, in which the +members were to feel themselves belonging to one great family, bound +together by the common tie of unselfish devotion to others "for Christ's +sake." The spirit of the founder has permeated the institution even to +the present time. Those who know any thing of Kaiserswerth testify to +the strong affection for the common home, the "mother-house," as they +beautifully term it, felt by all its children. Every pains is taken to +preserve it. There is correspondence, frequent and regular, from here to +every sister. No matter in what distant land she may be, her birthday is +remembered, and she is taught to look to this as a waiting refuge for +the days of trouble, sickness, and old age. + +There was soon arranged a series of house regulations and instructions +for work which became the basis for after regulations in nearly all +existing institutions. + +Almost contemporary with the mother-house arose the normal school for +infant-school teachers. It had first started as a child's school, and +afterward young women who had taste for the care of children were +received to be taught their duties. Fliedner took great interest in the +instruction of children. He devised little games for them, and arranged +stories to be told. His simplicity and his child-like nature led him to +disregard formalities, and to think solely of the end he had in view. +On one occasion, when picturing the combat of David and Goliath, +reaching that point in the narrative when the young shepherd lad slings +the stone that brings the giant to the ground, he cast himself headlong, +to the great delight and amazement of his little audience, who enjoyed +to the full this object-lesson that made the story so vivid to them. + +Then he took special pains that his teachers should learn to tell the +stories of the Bible so as to make them clear and interesting to the +youngest child. Every day a story was told in school, and each evening +the teacher whose turn it was to relate the story the following day came +to Fliedner and rehearsed it to him as though he were a child, afterward +receiving his suggestions as to how the narrative could be improved. The +work went along quietly, ever growing, ever advancing. "Among all +others, and more than all others, was Fliedner's wife his best help. Her +keen glance, made pure and holy by her Christian faith, preserved him +from mistakes. With the household virtues of cleanliness, order, +simplicity, and economy she united large-hearted compassion toward those +needing help of any kind, yet knowing withal how, with virile sense and +energy, to prevent the misuse of ministering love. She became a model +for the deaconesses, as well as a mother to them, and her name deserves +to be mentioned with honor, as one who had an important part in the +Protestant renewal of the diaconate of women."[30] + +In 1842 a new building was erected for the normal school for +infant-school teachers. The publishing house of the institution was also +started, which issues religious books and tracts. The first work sent +forth was a volume of sermons, presented to the new enterprise by the +late Professor Lange, which went through several editions. + +The same year the _Kaiserswerth Almanac_ appeared and a large picture +Bible for schools was published. In 1848 the magazine _Der Armen und +Kranken Freund_ was sent forth as an organ for the deaconess cause, not +only for Kaiserswerth, but for all the institutions that are represented +at the triennial Conferences. The publishing house is an important +source of income, as the institution has little in the way of endowment +beside the produce of the garden land attached to it. At present about +three fourths of the expense are met by the sale of publications and the +fees of patients; the remaining sum is given by friends. + +The financial story of Fliedner's life could form a tale of thrilling +interest, if it were separated from other facts and told by itself. He +constantly went forward, purchased houses, added lands, and erected new +homes when he had no money in reserve, but unfailingly when the time +came for payments to be made the sum was obtained in some way or other +to meet them. "We have no endowment," he once said, "but the Lord is our +endowment." + +The same year, 1842, the orphan asylum was opened. For a very moderate +sum this receives children who are both fatherless and motherless, and +who belong to the educated middle class, having fathers who were pastors +or professors, or the like. Fliedner hoped not only to provide a home +for these girls befitting their station in life, but to develop among +them those who should make a vocation of the care of children and the +sick, and in this hope he was not disappointed. + +In the midst of these successes the hand of God often lay heavily on +Fliedner's family. Brethren and children passed away, and, sorest +affliction of all to him, his wife, who had so closely and +sympathetically shared all his labors, died April 22, 1842. "She was the +first of the deaconesses to die," writes Fliedner. "As she, their +mother, had always led the way for her spiritual daughters in life, so +she was their leader into the valley of the shadow of death."[31] Not +long after this a normal school for female teachers in the public +schools was started, for this practical believer in woman's work was one +of the first to advocate the introduction of women teachers in the +public schools of Germany, against which there then existed a strong +prejudice. The Board of Education looked favorably on his project, and +afterward sent a government commissioner to attend the examinations and +award the certificates at Kaiserswerth. At a later period provision was +made for teachers of girls' high schools, as also for those who desired +to become teachers but were too young to enter the normal school. Over +two thousand teachers have gone forth from these schools, carrying with +them a love for the institution which has brought back to it many +returns in money and service. Fliedner well called them his "light +skirmishing troops." + +In 1849 he resigned his pastorate, and henceforth, with singleness of +purpose, devoted himself to his one calling. From time to time new +buildings were added to meet new needs. In 1852 an insane asylum for +Protestant women was founded, as sisters were often called upon to nurse +patients of this class. The building set apart for the purpose was +formerly used as military barracks and was given to Fliedner by King +Frederick William IV. In 1881 this, as with so many others of the +original buildings at Kaiserswerth, became too small for the increase in +numbers, and a new building took its place. It stands on an eminence +just outside of the village, and is provided with every modern +appliance. Fliedner's practical good sense and administrative ability +led him to care for all the minor details that were needed for the +success of so great an undertaking. He added a dispensary to the +hospital, where a sister who had passed a regular examination before the +government medical board made up the medicines required for the +hospital. Many deaconesses have been trained to the same knowledge, +which has been an especially valuable acquisition in the hospitals +situated in Eastern countries. Little by little he secured land for +farming operations, until there were one hundred and eighty acres in +garden and meadow land, generally lying close about the various +buildings, and affording means of recreation as well to the inmates. +Nearly all of the vegetable and dairy products that are needed are so +provided. A bakery, bath-houses, homes for laborers and officials, were +added, and bakers, shoemakers, carpenters, and blacksmiths formed part +of the staff of the great establishment. + +Gradually every variety of institution that could furnish active +practice to the deaconesses took its place here, and the whole might be +denominated a great normal training-school for Christian women. The +refuge for discharged female convicts, which was the starting-point of +the movement, still continued its good work during all these years. The +last report[32] states that nine hundred and nineteen women of different +ages and different degrees of wrong-doing have been its inmates. Parents +send insubordinate girls; societies forward those who profess penitence; +magistrates sentence degraded creatures often too late for any +reasonable hope to reform them. The old experience of the refuge is +repeated in this last report: one third are saved, one third are +irredeemable, and the judgment as to the remaining third, doubtful. +There were two buildings erected during the later years of Fliedner's +life in which he took great interest. One of these was a cottage among +the neighboring hills, where deaconesses who had become exhausted by +long days in the sick-room, or whose health was suffering from +over-toil, could retire for a few weeks of mountain air and quiet rest +during the summer months. This pleasant retreat was well named Salem. +Soon afterward was laid the corner-stone of the second building, +regarded with peculiar favor not only by the good pastor, but by all +friends of the institution. This was the "Feierabend Haus," the House of +Evening Rest, where, somewhat apart from the busy activity of the great +household, those deaconesses whose best strength had been given to +faithful labor in the service could pass the evening hours of life in +quiet waiting for the last great change, while using the experience they +had gathered and the strength still remaining in behalf of the cause +they had faithfully served. + +Such are the main features of the great establishment that year by year +grew up in this village on the Rhine. But from this as a center had +gradually branched off manifold lines of service, and many +daughter-houses both in Germany and foreign lands. It was only a year +and a half after the home was opened that the first appointment of +deaconesses to work outside of Kaiserswerth was made. + +This was an important victory for the new institution. It took place +January 21, 1838, on Fliedner's birthday, when he and his wife escorted +two of the sisters to Elberfeld, where they were to act as trained +nurses in the city hospital. From that time to the present the hospital +has continued under the management of the Kaiserswerth deaconesses. + +Soon afterward sisters were sent out to nurse in private families, and +in 1839 two more were sent to superintend the workhouse in Frankfort. As +the institution became known there was a constant demand for +superintendents, and matrons for public reformatories, prisons, and +charitable establishments. Between 1846 and 1850 more than sixty +deaconesses were at work at twenty-five different stations outside of +the mother-house. About the same time deaconesses began to work in +connection with special churches which called for their services, having +the duties which in England are assigned to those called "parish +deaconesses." + +King Frederick William IV., from the beginning Fliedner's faithful +friend and supporter, had long desired a deaconess home in Berlin. This +was finally obtained, and set apart under the name "Bethanien Haus," or +Bethany House, October 10, 1847, at a special dedicatory service, at +which the king, with his court, was present. It was while seeking a +superintendent for this home in Berlin that Fliedner learned to know +Caroline Bertheau, of Hamburg, a descendant of an old Huguenot family +that was driven from France by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He +led her home as his wife in May, 1843, and she became to him a true +helpmeet for his children, his home, and his institution. She is still +living, having survived her husband over twenty-five years, and in an +advanced age still retains a place on the Board of Direction at +Kaiserswerth. + +In one place after another deaconess homes arose, sometimes simply +through Fliedner's advice, more often by his direct co-operation. From +1849 to 1851 he was chiefly engaged in traveling from one land to +another, occupied in kindling the zeal of Christian women to devotion to +the sick and sorrowing, and finding fields of service for their +priceless ministrations. He visited the United States, England, France, +and Switzerland, as well as various cities of the East, including +Jerusalem and Constantinople. + +The work in our own land was begun at Pittsburg, where Fliedner came +with four sisters in the summer of 1849, at the invitation of Pastor +Passavant, of the German Lutheran Church. + +The deaconesses at once entered upon hospital work, and their care of +the sick met with warm appreciation, but their numbers did not increase. +An orphanage was afterward started at Rochester, and hospitals under the +same auspices exist at Milwaukee, Jacksonville, Ill., and Chicago. Still +the work has not grown, and it has proved the least successful of any +initiated by Fliedner. Upon his return he aided in opening +mother-houses in Breslau, Koenigsberg, Dantzic, Stettin, and Carlsruhe. + +We have now come to the period when Kaiserswerth institutions met with a +notable extension. Fliedner had long been looking toward Jerusalem, +hoping to found a deaconess home there. "Who would not gladly render +service on the spot where the feet of the Saviour once brought help and +healing to the sick?" he had said. + +Now, through Dr. Gobat, the Bishop of Jerusalem, the opportunity was +given. The king offered two small houses in Jerusalem that were his +private property, and volunteered to pay the expenses of the journey. +Associations were formed in all parts of Germany to provide an outfit +for the mission. Gifts flowed in rapidly, and March 17, 1851, Fliedner, +accompanied by four deaconesses, two of them being teachers, set out on +this new and peaceful crusade to the holy city. From that beginning has +resulted a net-work of stations throughout the East. + +There is at Jerusalem a hospital[33] where, during 1887, four hundred +and ninety-three patients were given medical aid and nursing, and seven +thousand seven hundred and two patients were treated in the dispensary. +No woman in the city is better known or more justly honored than Sister +Charlotte, the head-deaconess. + +The Mohammedans at first regarded the work of the sisters with fanatical +distrust, but a glance at the statistics of the last report will show +how completely they have cast aside their prejudices. + +Of the 493 patients in 1887, there were 404 Arabians, 43 Armenians, 30 +Germans, 5 Abyssinians, 4 Greeks, 3 Roumanians, 2 Russians, 1 Italian, +and 1 Hollander. As to religion, there were 235 Mohammedans, 97 +Protestants, 78 Greeks, 23 Roman Catholics, 45 Armenians, 6 Copts, 3 +Syrian Christians, 4 Proselytes, 1 Jew, and 1 Maronite; so that in all +nine nations and nine religious faiths were represented in the hospital. + +There is also a girls' orphanage, called "Talitha Cumi," just outside +the city walls at Jerusalem, where one hundred and fourteen native girls +were last year taught by the Kaiserswerth deaconesses. Over a hundred +more made application to enter, but there was no room to receive them. +In Constantinople, Alexandria, Cairo, Beirut, and Pesth there are also +well-appointed hospitals, some of them of spacious dimensions, and all +having excellent medical service and nursing that cannot be surpassed. + +The orphanage and school at Beirut had a sad foundation. In 1860 came +the terrible news of the massacre of the Maronite Christians by the +Druses in the Lebanon mountains. + +Kaiserswerth deaconesses were immediately sent out, and were among the +first to arrive to join the resident Europeans and Americans in caring +for the sufferers. Numbers of children were left fatherless and +motherless, and the sisters started the orphanage at Beirut to shelter +them. When its twenty-fifth anniversary was celebrated in 1885 over +eight hundred girls had received a home and education here, and had gone +forth to eastern homes, carrying with them the light and knowledge of +Christian faith into the dark, degraded social life of the Orient.[34] + +From the two orphanages at Beirut and Jerusalem over forty have gone out +as teachers in girls' schools in Palestine and Syria. Twelve others have +become deaconesses, and are ministering in this capacity to their own +countrymen and to foreigners in eastern hospitals.[35] + +In Smyrna there is also a girls' school, that was opened at the request +of some wealthy Protestants residing there. The school is not so needed +as formerly, since the government has started girls' high schools, but +it is still maintained, and aids in bringing new life into the hopeless +society of the East. There is also an orphanage at Smyrna, where some +girls of the poorer classes were gathered after the ravages of the +cholera had left them without parents or homes. + +The eastern deaconesses have also their Salem. Just above the little +village of Areya, in the Lebanon, on the summit of a hill overlooking +the Mediterranean, stands the house of retreat, where, during the summer +months, the more than forty sisters stationed in Beirut, Alexandria, +Cairo, and Jerusalem can take refuge in seasons of overpowering heat. + +The deaconess who superintends the house has a school for the native +children of the village, which is taught by one of the girls educated at +the Beirut orphanage. + +Prosperous girls' schools are also in existence at Bucharest, and at +Florence, Italy. The Italian school was started in 1860 with four girls +in the upper floor of a rented house. It now possesses a beautiful house +and grounds of its own, and had one hundred and forty-five girls under +its charge the past year. Most of these were Italians, but different +foreign residents also availed themselves of the opportunity to send +their children to an excellent Protestant school. There is also a +mission at Rome maintained by deaconesses during the winter months. + +The large majority of the undertakings outside of Kaiserswerth were +initiated personally by Fliedner. When we recall the complex demands of +the home field in Germany we marvel at the versatile executive ability +of this man, who started life as the humble pastor of an obscure village +church. But he loved work. He possessed "iron industry." He was ever +hopeful, courageous, and indefatigable. Above all, he trusted completely +in the leadings of Divine Providence, and constantly went forward with +sure confidence. Then he was a true leader. He knew men. He put the +right person in the right place, gave him full liberty of action, and +held him to a strict responsibility for results. So, while Fliedner +remained the soul of the great institution, he knew how to make himself +spared, which was not the least of his qualifications for his calling. + + + [30] _Der Diakonissenberuf_, Emil Wacker, Guetersloh, 1888, p. 116. + [31] _Life of Pastor Fliedner_, translated by C. Winckworth, London, + 1867. + [32] _Ein und fuenfzigster Jahres-Bericht_, p. 30. + [33] _Achtzehnter Bericht ueber die Diakonissen Stationen im + Morgenlande_, 1888. + [34] _Vierzehnten Bericht ueber die Diakonissen Stationen am Libanon._ + [35] _Der Rheinisch Westfaelische Diakonissen Verein_, p. 64, + J. Disselhoff. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE REGULATIONS AT KAISERSWERTH, AND THE +DUTIES AND SERVICES OF THE DEACONESSES. + + +The regulations in daily use at Kaiserswerth are based on those that +Fliedner drew up in the early days of the institution. They have been +adopted with few alterations by the larger number of deaconess +institutions that have since arisen, so that to understand the spirit +and usages prevailing in them it is well to give these rules some study. +They are contained in a book numbering one hundred and seven pages,[36] +treating with great minuteness every question that affects the daily +lives of the deaconesses. The qualities that the office demands are +first dwelt upon as they are described in Acts vi, 3, and 1 Tim. iii, 8, +9. The sisters are reminded that their life is one of service; that they +serve the Lord Jesus; that they serve the poor and the sick and helpless +"for Jesus' sake;" and that they are servants one of another. + +Special stress is given to the importance of cultivating unity, love, +and forbearance in the relations of daily life, and the deaconesses are +enjoined "to protect and further the honor of other sisters," "to form +one family living unitedly as sisters, through the tie of a heartfelt +love for the one great object that brings them to this place." + +There are two classes of deaconesses formally recognized, nurses and +teachers; although there is another, deaconess whose work is year by +year becoming more important, and that is the deaconess who is attached +to a church in the capacity of a home missionary. She is designated by +the term "commune-deaconess," or, as the English translate it, +"parish-deaconess." + +Those who desire to become nurse-deaconesses must have the elements of a +common school education, must be in good health, and, as a general rule, +be over eighteen and not over forty years of age. Most important of all +is it that she possess personal knowledge of the salvation of Christ, +and a living experience of the grace of God. Those who desire to become +teacher-deaconesses must, in addition, present certain educational +certificates, and be able to sing. All must pass some months at the +mother-house, taking care of children and assisting in housework, so +that their fitness for the office can be proven. A great deal of care +is taken to test the efficiency of the candidates, and only about one +half the probationers finally become deaconesses in full connection. The +teachers have, further, a seminary course of one year for those who are +to teach in infant schools, of two years to prepare for the elementary +schools, and of three years for the girls' high schools. + +While probationers, they receive, free of charge, board and instruction, +and the caps, collars, and aprons that are their distinctive badges. +Their remaining expenses they provide for themselves. Those who have +completed the full term of probation, and have proved their fitness for +the office, must pledge themselves to a service of at least five years. +At the end of the time they may renew the engagement or not, as they +wish. Should a deaconess be needed at home by aged parents, or should +she desire to marry, she is free to leave her duties, but is expected to +give three months' notice of her intention to do so. + +The deaconess performs her duties gratuitously. This is a main feature +of the system. She is not even free to accept personal presents, for +envy, jealousy, and unworthy motives might then creep into the system. +She is truly "the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ." All of her wants +are supplied, and her future needs anticipated, so that, literally +"taking no thought for the morrow," she can give herself with +single-hearted devotion to the work in hand. The deaconess at +Kaiserswerth receives from the institution her modest wardrobe, +consisting of a Sunday suit, a working-dress of dark blue, blue apron, +white caps and collars. A deaconess attired in her garb, with the +placid, contented countenance that seems distinctively to belong to her, +is a pleasant, wholesome sight that is constantly to be seen on the +streets of German cities. Her deaconess attire is not only a protection, +assuring her chivalrous treatment from all classes of men, but it is a +convenient identification that insures her certain privileges on the +State railroads and steamboats, for the German government recognizes the +sisters as benefactors of society, and treats them accordingly. For her +personal expenses the Kaiserswerth deaconess in Germany receives yearly +twenty-two dollars and fifty cents; sometimes when in foreign lands she +is paid a slightly larger sum. When she becomes unfitted for service by +reason of sickness or old age, and has no means of her own, the Board of +Direction provides for her maintenance. + +The rules for probationers are full of practical suggestions touching +the details of daily life. There is not space to transcribe them here, +but those who have charge of training schools will find them valuable +reading. Every kind of house and hospital service is clearly defined. +The deaconesses are instructed what duties are theirs in hospitals for +women and in hospitals for men. In the latter the sister undertakes only +such nursing as is suited to her sex, and for that reason she has a male +assistant. She must follow strictly the doctor's orders in all matters +pertaining to diet, medicine, and ventilation, and must inform him daily +of the patient's state. She also assists the clergyman, if desired, in +ministering to spiritual needs. But she must not obtrude her religion, +when it is distasteful to her patients; rather manifest it in her deeds +and manner of life. + +Every portion of the day has definite duties assigned to it. On reading +them over you say, Can much be accomplished when the hours are +subdivided into so many portions, and given over to so many objects? But +the unvarying testimony is that no nurses accomplish more than the +German deaconesses. No matter how busy they may be, the effort is made +for each to have a quiet half hour for meditation and private devotion. +Every afternoon the chapel is opened for this purpose, and all the +sisters who can be spared meet here. A hymn is sung, and afterward each +spends the time as she will in meditation, reading the Bible or silent +prayer, the quietness and stillness being unbroken by words. The "Stille +halbe Stunde," as it is called, is greatly prized by the sisters, and is +observed by them in all their institutions, and in all lands. There are +Bible-classes and prayer-meetings for the deaconesses during the week, +and the first Sunday of every month there is a special service of prayer +and thanksgiving for all sisters, all the affiliated houses, and similar +homes wherever they exist. Fliedner prepared a book of daily Bible +readings for the use of the sisters, and a hymn-book, used in all the +Kaiserswerth institutions at home and abroad. "We have no vows," he +said, "and I will have no vows, but a bond of union we must have, and +the best bond is the word of God, and our second bond is singing."[37] +The sisters of each house meet together to give their votes for the +admission of new deaconesses and the election of the superintendents. +Each deaconess is expected to obey those who are placed over her, and to +accept the kind of work assigned her, except in the case of contagious +diseases, when her permission is asked. What a tribute it is to these +women that such a refusal has never yet been known! Every effort is made +to harmonize the right of the individual with the needs of the whole +body, a marked characteristic of the Protestant sisters of charity. + +When a probationer becomes a deaconess she is consecrated to her work by +a service the main features of which it may be well to indicate. They +are as follows: + +Singing. Address commending the deaconesses for acceptance. Address to +the deaconesses, recalling the ever-repeated thought, "You are servants +in a threefold sense: servants of the Lord Jesus; servants of the needy +for Jesus' sake; servants one of another." Then, having answered the +question, "Are you determined to fulfill these duties truly in the fear +of the Lord, and according to his holy will?" the candidate kneels and +receives the benediction: "May the Triune God, God the Father, Son, and +Holy Ghost, bless you; may he give you fidelity unto death, and then the +crown of life." After this is repeated the prayer of the _Apostolical +Constitutions_, that beautiful prayer which has been said on similar +occasions in many lands and in many tongues.[38] The service ends with +the communion. + +A similar consecration service is used by nearly all the German +deaconess houses. The features of those that meet together in the +triennial Conferences at Kaiserswerth are strikingly similar; the spirit +of the original founder pervades them all. + +The first of the Conferences was held in 1861, just twenty-five years +after the founding of the first deaconess house at Kaiserswerth. It was +celebrated as a Thanksgiving festival for the restoration of the +diaconate of women to the Church. The representatives of twenty-seven +distinct mother-houses met together to exchange their experiences, and +to deliberate on matters touching the further usefulness of the order. + +Since then the Conferences have been continued at intervals of three and +four years. The last General Conference assembled at Fliedner's old home +in September, 1888. + +Just before it convened, as is the custom, statistics were obtained from +the different mother-houses represented in the association, and pains +were taken to verify their correctness. The results so obtained are +given in the following table:[39] + + Mother- Fields of + Conferences. houses. Sisters. Work. + 1861 27 1,197 ? + 1864 30 1,592 386 + 1868 40 2,106 526 + 1872 48 2,657 648 + 1875 50 3,239 866 + 1878 51 3,901 1,093 + 1881 53 4,748 1,436 + 1884 54 5,653 1,742 + 1888 57 7,129 2,263 + +Five additional houses had made application for entrance at the time the +table was made, and were received at the ensuing Conference, among which +was the Philadelphia mother-house of deaconesses in connection with the +Mary J. Drexel Home. + +Over sixty mother-houses now belong to the association, and +notwithstanding the necessary loss of deaconesses from death or removal +from work since the preceding Conference, there are 1,476 more in number +now than then. Surely the deaconess cause is striking deep root in the +religious life of Protestant Europe. During Fliedner's life-time +occasions arose which called the deaconesses outside their accustomed +fields of work, and proved their value in the exceptional emergencies +that so often arise. Here is an instance that occurred during the early +days of the establishment:[40] + +"An epidemic of nervous fever was raging in two communes of the circle +of Duisburg, Gartrop, and Gahlen. Its first and most virulent outbreak +took place at Gartrop, a small, poor, secluded village of scarcely one +hundred and thirty souls, without a doctor, without an apothecary in the +neighborhood, while the clergyman was upon the point of leaving for +another parish, and his successor had not yet been appointed. Four +deaconesses, including the superior, Pastor Fliedner's wife, and a maid, +hastened to this scene of wretchedness, and found from twenty to +twenty-five fever patients in the most alarming condition, a mother and +four children in one hovel, four other patients in another, and so on, +all lying on foul straw, or on bed-clothes that had not been washed for +weeks, almost without food, utterly without help. Many had died already; +the healthy had fled; the parish doctor lived four German leagues off, +and could not come every day. The first care of the sisters, who would +have found no lodging but for the then vacancy of the parsonage, was to +introduce cleanliness and ventilation into the narrow cabins of the +peasants; they washed and cooked for the sick, they watched every night +by turns at their bed-side, and tended them with such success that only +four died after their arrival, and the rest were only convalescent after +four weeks' stay. The same epidemic having broken out in the neighboring +commune of Gahlen, in two families, of whom eight members lay ill at +once, a single deaconess was able, in three weeks, to restore every +patient to health, and to prevent the further spread of the disease. +What would not our doctors give for a few dozen of such hard-working, +zealous, intelligent ministers in the field of sanitary reform?" + +The Schleswig-Holstein war of 1864 was the first in which Protestant +deaconesses were active as nurses. Already in the Crimean war the Greek +Sisters of Charity among the Russians, the Sisters of Mercy among the +French, and Florence Nightingale and Miss Stanley among the English, had +wakened the liveliest gratitude on the part of the soldiers, and secured +the respect and approbation of the surgeons. + +In the Austrian war of 1866 two hundred and eighty-two deaconesses were +in the hospitals and on the battle-fields, fifty-eight of whom were from +Kaiserswerth. The Franco-Prussian war of 1870 was on a greater scale, +and afforded wider opportunities for the unselfish, priceless labors of +these Christian nurses. Neatly eight hundred deaconesses, sent from more +than thirty mother-houses, cared for the sick and wounded in the camp +hospitals or on the field. The willingness of a number of boards of +administration to release sisters who were in their service, and the +voluntary offers of other women to take their places, enabled +Kaiserswerth to send two hundred and twenty of the number. Their +experience in improvising hospitals, in aiding the surgeon in his +amputations, and in ministering to the wounded and dying, throws a +tender glow of compassionate sympathy over the terrible scenes of +war.[41] + +The importance of trained deaconesses in times of war is now well +understood by the military authorities at Berlin. In the winter of 1887, +when war seemed imminent, the directors of the German deaconess houses +were summoned by the government to a conference at the German capital to +take measures for supplying nurses in case war should be declared. + +Deaconesses are now thoroughly incorporated into the religious and +social features of the German national life, as must be admitted by any +one who has weighed the facts that have been given. + +The example of Kaiserswerth has been far-reaching; the mission of +Fliedner, that simple-hearted, true-souled, practical, energetic pastor, +has been wonderfully successful. + +In this rapid sketch I have said but little of the hinderances he met, +nothing of the ridicule which at first attacked him unsparingly. He paid +no heed to these obstacles, and why should we waste time in detailing +them? Steadfastly and undeviatingly he went forward toward the end he +had in view; that is, to restore in all its aspects the devoted +disciplined services of Christian women to the Church. He passed away +from life October 5, 1864, leaving the great establishment that he had +watched over in the charge of his son-in-law, Pastor Disselhoff, and +other members of his family. + +The institution has become an imposing mass of building, forming an +almost absurd contrast to the little garden house, the cradle of the +whole establishment, which is still standing in the parsonage garden. + +When the fiftieth anniversary of the rise of the deaconess cause was +celebrated in 1886 the Kaiserswerth sisterhood put their mites together +and purchased the little house, to hold it in perpetuity as a monument +of God's providence. + +The symbol of Kaiserswerth is a white dove, carrying an olive branch, +resting against a blue ground. The blue flag floats from the old +windmill tower on the river-bank, attracting the attention of the +traveler as he floats up the Rhine. + +Other flags bear messages of conquest, of victory, of battles fought and +won, of storm and stress and endeavor in the conflict of man against his +fellow-man. But only peace and good-will, the victory of goodness and of +love--these alone are the messages that are waved forth to the wind by +the blue flag of Kaiserswerth. + + + [36] _Haus Ordnung und Dienst-Anweisung fuer die Diakonissen und + Probeschwestern des Diakonissen Mutterhauses zu Kaiserswerth._ + [37] _Deaconesses_, Rev. J. S. Howson, D.D., p. 81. + [38] Refer back to page 23, chapter ii, where it can be found. + [39] _Der Armen und Kranken Freund_, August Heft, 1888. + [40] _Woman's Work in the Church_, p. 273, J. M. Ludlow. A. Strahan, + London, 1866. + [41] _Denkschrift zur Jubelfeier_, p. 215. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS ON THE CONTINENT. + + +In a book of these dimensions no exhaustive historical account can be +given of all the developments of the deaconess movement in the various +countries on the Continent. Only a few of the leading houses can be +spoken of, but through a knowledge of these we can gain an insight into +the life and characteristics of the movement as a whole. + +The mother-house at Strasburg is one of the oldest ones, dating from +1842. It owes its origin to the holy enthusiasm and life experiences of +Pastor Haerter, who exercised a deep religious influence in the city +where he lived. In 1817, when he was a young man of twenty, the great +Strasburg hospital was re-organized. The six to eight hundred patients +were divided according to their religious faith. To the Catholics were +assigned as nurses Sisters of Charity. For the Protestants there were +paid women nurses. + +The magistrates appealed to the pastors to find at least two Protestant +women of experience and ability to oversee the nurses, but the most +persistent search in the various churches of Strasburg failed to procure +suitable candidates. Years afterward, when death entered Haerter's family +circle, and his life became clouded and darkened, he was called as a +pastor to the largest church in Strasburg. He entered upon his new +pastorate with a heart heavy and sad, and not until after ten months of +struggle, in which the depths of his soul were stirred, did he come +forth strong, confident, and positive as never before that "Jesus Christ +came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." Henceforth +there was force to his life, conviction in his words, and never-ceasing +energy in good works. + +When he heard of Fliedner's new undertaking below him on the Rhine he +remembered the difficulty in finding Protestant nurses for the hospital, +and declared that Strasburg must have a similar institution. He won the +support of a number of Christian men and women, and the house was opened +in October, 1842. From its beginning many branches of charitable and +religious work were undertaken. Especial attention was at first given to +preparing Christian teachers, and the schools in connection with the +deaconess house were filled with pupils. The success in this particular +aroused apprehension lest the deaconesses should be diverted from their +legitimate duties in caring for outside interests, so for a time the +schools were discontinued. They have been resumed, however, and are +to-day prosperous as of old.[42] There are also a hospital, a home for +aged women, a servants' training-school and a foundling asylum under the +charge of the deaconesses. They are, as a class, of higher social rank +than these of Kaiserswerth, the preponderating number of whom are from +the lower grade of social life. They are also better educated. This is +partly a necessity, from the fact that the city is on the border-land +between two great nations and if the deaconesses are to be effective +they must be familiar with the spoken and written speech of both +peoples. Strasburg continues to be a great and powerful center of +deaconess activities, having a number of branch houses and various +fields of work. + +The affiliated house at Muelhausen has obtained an especially good report +for its successful use of parish deaconesses. No other house has so +systematized their labors or developed their possibilities as has the +deaconess house at Muelhausen. All the authorities on deaconess work +agree that the office of the parish deaconess is the crown and glory of +the diaconate, and approaches most nearly the type of the deaconesses of +the early Church. + +The parish deaconess has occasion to use every gift which she can +possibly acquire in the varied training of the deaconess school. She +must know how to care for the poor, the weak, the sick, and those +needing help for either body or soul, as she finds them in her visits +from house to house. She must be able to pray at the bedside of the rich +man, and to serve in the kitchen of the poor man; to be motherly to +children, sympathetic with the sorrowing, and silent with the +complaining. She must be an intelligent nurse, having some knowledge of +medicine, able to faithfully carry out the instructions of the +physician. She must be keen in detecting imposition, and wise in the +administration of charity, knowing that "to deny is often to help, and +to give is often to corrupt." Truly, there is no gift of Christian +womanhood which has not here its use. + +For many reasons Muelhausen was well adapted for a field of labor for +parish deaconesses. It is an old city, dating back to mediaeval times, +having a population of about sixty thousand inhabitants, half of whom +are workmen. It has long been known for its noble and successful +endeavors to promote the well-being of the working class. One of the +first building and loan associations was started here to enable the +operatives to earn their homes by gradual payments. Other organizations +whose object is the moral elevation of the employees have united the +different social circles by strong ties of sympathy. It was an easy +matter, therefore, to raise a subscription of two hundred thousand +francs to provide a home for the deaconesses who were invited here from +Strasburg in 1861. There are now fourteen sisters in the deaconess +house. Half of the number remain at the home to nurse the sick, and +perform house duties. The remainder are parish deaconesses, who go forth +early in the morning, each to her own quarter of the city, where she is +busy at her labors during the day. In the evening she returns to the +central home. In each of the seven districts into which the city is +divided is located a district house; a pleasant, well-kept place. This +contains a waiting-room for the deaconess and a consultation-room for +the district physician, who comes at stated hours during the week. The +poor who are recommended by the sister he treats gratuitously, and, so +far as the physician directs, she furnishes food gratuitously. She keeps +on hand a good stock of lint, bandages, and instruments. Each house has +a kitchen and cellar. Every morning a woman comes in and prepares a +large kettle of nourishing soup, and at 11 A. M. this is given out to +the sick and poor. + +In the store-room are rice, sugar, coffee, meal, and similar articles of +food. From here she sends out at noon such portions as are needed for +the most destitute of the district. In winter she also sells from her +stores to the poor. Then there is a closet amply provided with sewing +materials, and when the deaconess obtains work for seamstresses she +furnishes them at a small price the necessary outfit to begin sewing. At +two o'clock the deaconess ends her duties at the district house, and +spends the remainder of the day in making visits in her quarter. To +provide means to support the constant expenditure, there is in each +quarter of the city a committee of fifteen ladies and three gentlemen, +being in all more than one hundred ladies and twenty gentlemen, who are +responsible for the administration of the charity. Each committee has a +yearly collection in its district, and in this way about forty thousand +francs are gathered annually. In each quarter nine hundred francs (one +hundred and eighty dollars) is set apart for the maintenance of the +sister and the rent of the district house. The remaining sum is expended +by the deaconesses in their several districts in caring for the sick and +destitute. Every month each one receives the sum allotted her from the +treasurer, and in return reports her expenditure. The ladies on the +committee often give personal assistance to the deaconess, and sometimes +assume responsibility for individual cases, or for an entire street. The +arrangements are constantly being improved upon as knowledge is gained +by practice. The experience that has been gathered at Muelhausen is very +practical, and therefore very valuable. Similar work could be undertaken +in any of our large American cities, with the anticipation of like +beneficent results. For that reason the above detailed description has +been ventured upon, with the hope that the Old World example will find +imitators in the New.[43] Similar institutions, although not so +carefully perfected, are found in Gorlitz and Magdeburg. + +In Berlin are a good many deaconess institutions. Among them is the +Marthashof, a training-school for servants, and a home for those out of +employment. + +The first impulse to care for the girls who come to large cities to +obtain work, and to provide them a home where they can have respectable +surroundings, came from Pastor Vermeil, the founder of the deaconess +house at Paris. When Fliedner visited the Paris house his heart was +touched by what he saw. He thought of the thousands of girls coming +annually to Berlin from the provinces, and of the exposures and +temptations to which they were subjected. He knew that many of them in +their ignorance and inexperience were ruined body and soul in the +lodging-houses to which they resorted, and drifted away on the streets +of the city, only to find a place eventually in the hopeless wards of +the great hospital, La Charite. + +He determined to do what he could to provide a remedy, and, as was his +wont, "without money and without noise" he set to work. In the north of +Berlin, at quite a distance from the railroad stations, he hired a small +house on a street then called "The Lost Way"--a street well named, as it +was unlighted and unpaved, and so poorly kept that when the queen came +to visit the home, shortly after it was opened, her carriage, in spite +of the strong horses, got stuck in the mud. + +By the aid of some ladies in the city the home was furnished with twelve +beds; three deaconesses were put in charge, and after perplexing +difficulties the authorization to open a registry for servants was +obtained. The idea at first met with derision. It was said that such an +institution was rightly located on "The Lost Way," for no one would ever +come to it. But they came. In two years the number of beds increased to +twenty, and the same year Fliedner purchased the entire court in which +the house stood, containing five houses and a fine garden. Queen +Elizabeth of Prussia became the patroness of the institution, and it +grew in favor with the people. A training-school was added in which the +girls were taught to wash, iron, cook, and sew, and also to work in the +garden and to care for cows, the last two branches of domestic service +being required of servant-girls in Germany. Later an infant school was +added in which nursery girls were practiced in taking charge of +children, a pleasant, helpful demeanor being made one of the requisites. +Over two hundred children, mostly coming from the poorest and gloomiest +homes, are in daily attendance. About three hundred and fifty more +attend the girls' school for children of the working classes. In the +home and training-school for servants about eight hundred girls are +received annually, and sixteen thousand have been sheltered and taught +during the years it has been open. They readily secure situations, over +two thousand applications being annually received for the servants of +the Marthashof. They remain in friendly relation to the home, receive +good counsel and advice, and are encouraged to spend their free Sundays +there. + +The Marthashof has had a beneficent influence over the moral and +spiritual welfare of servants throughout Germany. In nearly all the +cities similar homes are now established, while in the larger cities +Sunday associations are formed to provide suitable places of meeting for +the entertainment and instruction of those who are free Sunday +afternoons and evenings. So far as I am aware, no similar work has been +attempted for servant-girls in the United States. It is true that +training-schools exist, but not with religious supervision, and with the +moral and religious instruction of the inmates made a prominent feature. +The Marthashof offers us a lesson well worth our learning. + +The deaconess house, "Bethanien," in Berlin, was founded by King +Frederick William IV., who as the Crown Prince took a warm interest in +Fliedner's undertakings.[44] It still remains under the protection of +the emperor, and is one of the most important mother-houses. Over three +thousand patients are annually admitted to the hospital connected with +the house, and five hundred children are treated at a dispensary devoted +solely to cases of diphtheria. Outside of the city it has thirty-three +stations. There are also the Lazarus Hospital and Deaconess Home, the +Paul Gerhardt Deaconess Home, provided for parish deaconesses, and the +Elizabeth Hospital and Home, which started independently but is now +allied to Kaiserswerth. + +The deaconess house in Neudettelsau stands in closest union with the +Lutheran Church. The sisters are mostly from the higher ranks of +society, and intellectual training is made prominent. Certain liturgical +forms are used, and in the main deaconesses are employed in preparing +ecclesiastical vestments and embroideries for church adornment. + +In marked contrast to Dettelsau is the deaconess house at Berne. It is +almost a private institution, having only slight connection with the +State Church. It owes its origin to Sophie Wurdemberger, a member of one +of the old patrician families of Berne. A visit to England made her +acquainted with Elizabeth Fry, with the usual beneficent result of +increased interest and activity in good works. On her return to Berne +she gained the support of a society of women, and through their aid +secured a hospital and deaconess home. It is now fourth in number among +the largest mother-houses, has two hundred and ninety-seven deaconesses, +five affiliated houses, and forty-five different fields of work. + +The oldest mother-house in Switzerland is at St. Loup, not far from +Lausanne, standing on one of the beautiful heights of that picturesque +region. It was founded by Pastor Germond in 1841, through the direct +influence of the work at Kaiserswerth. There are now seventy-three +deaconesses, mostly acting as nurses either in private homes or public +institutions.[45] + +There is also a large institution at Riehen near Basel, which sends out +two hundred deaconesses. The greater number are of the peasant class, +and are nearly all employed as nurses. The home at Zuerich was at first a +daughter-house of Riehen, but is now an independent institution with +twenty-seven stations. In Austria there is a mother-house at +Gallneukirchen from which sisters are sent forth, four of them working +in as many Vienna parishes. The story of deaconess work in Austria is an +interesting one, and is told by Miss Williams in a recent number of +_The Churchman_, from which the following extracts are taken: + +"The Protestants of Gallneukirchen were first formed into an independent +parish in the year 1872, and it is the only one lying between the Danube +and the Bohemian frontier. It is very widely extended, but numbers only +three hundred and eighteen souls, and is so poor that with the greatest +effort it can raise only four hundred florins a year (about one hundred +and sixty dollars) for church and school. With the aid of those +interested in the work a parish-house has been secured, where the pastor +and his wife reside, and in which is the deaconess asylum for the aged, +infirm, and insane of all classes. It has not as yet been possible to +clear off the debt on the purchase. Still the sisters strive in every +way to enlarge their usefulness, so that they now possess extensive +buildings and farms--only partly paid for, it is true--wherein to house +the many afflicted who apply to them for aid. In one building, standing +alone on a hill, they purpose to collect the insane patients, and +suitable additions are now being made to insure their safety and +comfort. In another village, two hours' drive from here, is their +school, where more than sixty boys and girls are taught, fed, and +clothed, in most cases gratuitously, at worst at a nominal charge." + +"The sisters are bright and cheerful, and keep their various dwellings +so exquisitely neat and clean, with their white-washed walls adorned +with Scripture texts and pictures. No work, however menial, is beneath +them. I have myself seen one scrubbing the stairs, and in turns they +sleep on a hard straw bed on the floor, ready to rise in the night as +often as a bell summons them to the aid of a suffering invalid or a +refractory lunatic." + +There are a few institutions that exist independently of those +represented at the Kaiserswerth General Conference. They stand alone for +various reasons; perhaps they have not met the conditions required of +those which belong to the association. Any house whose administration +rests exclusively either in the hands of a man or a woman is excluded +from the Conference. In every mother-house there represented the +administrative head is twofold, consisting of a gentleman, who, with +rare exceptions, is a clergyman, and a lady who is a deaconess. The +Kaiserswerth authorities regard this joint management as an +indispensable condition. + +The rector, as he is usually called, cares for the intellectual and +spiritual instruction of the probationers, conducts public services in +the chapel, and issues the publications and reports of the house. + +The oberin, or house-mother, is the direct head of the sisters. She is +responsible for the interior management, regulates the duties of the +sisters, and gives practical instruction. The two are jointly +responsible for the acceptance and dismissal of probationers, for the +assignment of the sisters to different fields of labor, and the kind of +labor required. Every mother-house has its own peculiarities. The +personal characteristics of those who conduct it are naturally impressed +upon the house. + +Then, too, the influence of environment is to be reckoned with. The +house may be located in a large city or in a small one; in the country +or in towns. It may be under the influence of a State Church, as in +Germany, or of Christians of all Churches, as at Mildmay. It will share +the characteristics of the race of people from which come its workers. +Doubtless in the Methodist Episcopal Church in America the deaconesses +that eventually become recognized as set apart to special Christian +service, through the training that is provided for them, will be women +who are peculiarly adapted to the needs of that Church, with all the +distinguishing American traits that will prepare them to understand the +people whom they are to serve, and that will give them access to the +hearts of this people. + +If the deaconess cause should gain favor with us as it has in Europe, +and should the deaconesses become as established in the social life of +the people as they are there, the effective agencies will be largely +increased that are to deal with the questions that come to the front +whenever, as in great cities, large numbers of people are massed +together. + +Deaconess institutions now exist in Switzerland, France, Holland, +Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Austria, England, and Germany, while +the countries in which these homes have stations are literally too +numerous to mention. Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the countries of +Northern Africa, and of Asia Minor, as well as isolated mission stations +throughout the entire world are now served by deaconesses. + +If there were ten times the number of sisters, places could be at once +found for them. It is instructive on this point to read what Pastor +Disselhoff says[46] in the account he gives of the various demands made +upon him, which he has been unable to meet. One of the letters he quotes +was from an English missionary on the Cameron River. "Send us +deaconesses for our hospital," he says. "It was built for European +sailors, especially Germans. We hope and trust to overcome the +superstitions of the natives, and that they too, may come to be healed." +But there were no sisters to send. + +A similar call came from Shanghai, but as it was impossible to return a +favorable answer, although the hospital was a Protestant institution, +the Sisters of Mercy were invited in, and given control. From 1870 up to +1886 over two hundred and twenty-seven places at widely remote +distances, such as Madras, New Orleans, Port Said, Rio de Janeiro, and +elsewhere, sent most urgent appeals for Kaiserswerth deaconesses to be +assigned them, but invariably the same answer must be returned: "There +are none to send." Disselhoff closes by saying, "How many open doors has +God given! Whose fault is it that they remain closed?" + + + [42] Schaefer, _Die Weibliche Diakonie_, vol. i, p. 21. + [43] The details of the deaconess work at Muelhausen are largely + taken from Schaefer's _Die Weibliche Diakonie_, vol. ii. + [44] _Life of Pastor Fliedner_, translated by C. Winckworth, London, + 1867, p. 133. "The favor of the great, especially the + condescending kindness of our late Sovereign, he took as a gift + from the King of kings, who allowed his own work to be thus + promoted. He strenuously avoided all personal distinction, and + never wore the order which had been sent him; 'for a servant of + the Church,' he said, 'there should be but one order--the Cross + of the Lord.'" + [45] _Der Armen und Kranken Freund_, August, 1888. + [46] _Denkschrift zur Jubelfeier_, pp. 248, 249. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +DEACONESSES IN GERMAN METHODISM. + + +The good results of the work of deaconesses in the other Protestant +bodies of Germany doubtless had their influence upon German Methodism. +As far back as 1868 in Wurtemberg, and later in Frankfort, some +preachers introduced parish deaconesses for the care of the sick; but +well-directed efforts, and unity in management, were lacking. + +The existing association was started July 8, 1874, under the title of +"Bethanienverein," or the Bethany Society, through the efforts of +several members of the German Conference, among whom were Rev. G. Weiss, +who, with two deaconesses, initiated the work in Bremen, Rev. Frederick +Eilers, the present inspector, and Rev. G. Hausser, who for several +years was president of the board of direction, and now resides in +America.[47] A further number of ministers showed themselves inclined to +stand by the society, both by their influence and through contributions +taken in their churches, so that in 1876 the first trained deaconesses +were set at work in the city of Frankfort. + +As has been said,[48] the little institution in its early days had to +pass through a series of critical experiences, as a young child has to +encounter the series of childhood diseases that assail it; but it +outlived them all, and is now enjoying a vigorous youth. It was but +another illustration of the truth that all beginnings are difficult, and +that successful experience has to be bought by overcoming hinderances +and obstacles. + +To-day there is no branch of German Methodism more successfully and +substantially incorporated into the Church life than the deaconess +society, and none that wins greater favor among those outside of +denominational lines. + +The first printed report was issued in October, 1884. In this the +inspector says: "Our society is now in three cities, Frankfort, Hamburg, +and Berlin, and our sisters are not able to meet all the demands upon +them for service." At that time there were thirteen deaconesses and +twenty probationers. The last report, issued in July, 1888, shows an +increase in numbers both of deaconesses and their stations. There are +now eighty-nine deaconesses, eleven of whom are probationers, and there +are stations in five places. Besides the ones previously mentioned in +Germany, two additional stations have been started in Switzerland: one +in Zuerich, and one in St. Gall. + +Nearly all the Methodist German deaconesses are engaged in caring for +the sick; it is only recently that attempts have been made in some other +directions of charitable endeavor. In the last report we are told that +at Frankfort steps have been taken to reform fallen women. One of the +sisters seems to be especially endowed with tact and ability for this +difficult work. She has already induced twenty-two of these girls to +enter the asylum at Sachsenhausen. The police authorities and city +magistrates have given this same sister access to the women prisoners, +which is a decided favor, coming from German officials. Besides her work +in this particular, she has devoted her remaining time to the care of +the poor and the sick. + +Many deaconesses were called upon to go out as nurses in private +families, and, in order to obtain room to accommodate the added number +these services required, it has been necessary to rent an additional +house. There are two clinics in connection with the institution; one for +those suffering from nose, throat, or lung diseases, the other for +diseases of women. In both, the hours of consultation are free, and +attract numerous visitors. Two hundred and forty-six people were +received in the hospital last year, and were cared for in four thousand +one hundred and fifty days of nursing. Spiritual results are also +anticipated from the seed of God's word sown in the hearts of the sick +through daily prayer and Sunday services. + +The house at Frankfort is too small for its increasing needs, and a +permanent home of more ample dimensions is greatly to be desired. + +In Hamburg the house has been enlarged, and there is now room for +thirty-five sisters; yet still there are more demands made than can be +met. In one month ninety requests were handed in for the aid of the +deaconesses. The city authorities offered them a large lot of land at a +very moderate sum, which is at present used as a garden, and adds much +to the enjoyment of the home. + +On the 4th of March, 1888, occurred the anniversary of the founding of +the Hamburg house, at which time six sisters were set apart to their +life calling by a service of consecration. As in all places where our +deaconesses are employed, so also in Hamburg their influence is felt in +the increase of religious life among the families they serve. + +In Berlin, again, there is an imperative call for enlarged house +accommodations, and more sisters are needed to meet the requests for +help that are constantly coming to them. As the report expresses it, +"Something must happen!"[49] After six years of activity in Berlin the +deaconesses find themselves well appreciated, and with a broad field of +labor. The city authorities gave them permission to take a house +collection during the months of February and March. One of the German +ministers said, "This is an unusual favor, only granted in exceptional +cases, as when a village is swept away, or there is an inundation, or a +failure of harvests." This collection was no easy task. In the depth of +winter, in rigorous cold and snow the sisters had to climb weary flights +of stairs, in houses four and five stories high, arranged in flats; to +knock at many doors, often meeting with but slight success or a positive +refusal; yet daily they went with fresh courage to their work, +encouraged by the thought that they were toiling not for themselves, but +to serve the needy, "for Jesus' sake." The collection resulted in +obtaining nearly twenty thousand marks, to which has been added the loan +of a larger sum at a small rate of interest, so that there is good +prospect of soon obtaining a permanent home as the property of the +deaconess society. + +St. Gall is one of the newer stations, but from the beginning it has +been a work of promise. In this old center of missionary operations, +where Irish missionaries founded one of the most famous monasteries of +mediaeval times, is now to be erected a hospital under the care of +Methodist deaconesses, who have already begun to collect means for this +purpose. In Scheffel's famous story of _Ekkehard_ the only way in which +the Duchess Hadwig could enter the monastery of St. Gall (as there was a +law that no woman should set her foot upon the threshold) was by the +ingenious device of a young monk, who lifted her over in his arms. These +peaceful women of Methodism are finding no obstacle now as did Hadwig of +old; they do not need even figuratively to be lifted over the entering +threshold; they are gladly welcomed, and are introducing a new element +into the life of the old city. + +In Zuerich seven deaconesses are at work under the protection, and with +the sympathetic co-operation, of the pastor and the church. I saw +something of the deaconesses and their duties in this place. The +inspector, Rev. Fr. Eilers, came with the first deaconesses and +introduced them to their new field when I was a resident of the city. On +Sunday morning he occupied the pulpit, preaching from Rom. xvi, 1, +commending the deaconesses to the kindness and helpful aid of the +members of the church. I used often to see Sister Myrtha, who was the +head sister, hastening hither and thither on her errands of mercy. In +her plain black dress and round shoulder-cape to match, and broad white +collar and white cap, she was a pleasant and attractive figure. She was +always happy and contented, ready to answer the many questions with +which I plied her in my desire to look through the eyes of a deaconess, +and to obtain her views of the office to which she belonged. She had a +great love for her work, and believed that she was doing service for +Christ in a true missionary field. Her simple uniform was a +distinguishing mark that insured her respect and attention wherever she +went, and she regarded it as a garb of honor that marked her as +belonging to the daughters of the great King. You could not call such a +life an austere or unnatural one. It was too thoroughly filled with +thoughts of love to others to be either morbid or introspective. I +obtained my first favorable impressions of the usefulness of deaconesses +and their importance to the Church from the cheerful, contented labors +of Sister Myrtha and her associates among the poor and sick of +Zuerich--quiet women, of no particular prominence in the social world, +and not learned or accomplished; "_nur einfache Maedchen_" (only simple +maidens, quiet, ordinary women, as we might translate Sister Myrtha's +own phrase), but living "not to be ministered unto, but to minister," +commending their creed by their deeds, and winning sympathy by the +loving, self-denying spirit that they manifest. + +During the last year a house of rest has been opened similar to the +house Salem at Kaiserswerth. This is called by the beautiful name +"_Gottestreue_," or "God's Fidelity." The report says that they have +named it God's Fidelity in recollection of this: "That the Lord has so +faithfully led us and has cared for us in all storms which, especially +at the beginning of the work, threatened to overwhelm it, has watched +over us and upheld us, and has so richly blessed us." The acquisition of +this house came through the work of the sisters. One of them was caring +for an aged widow, whose sympathies were so won that she offered to give +her property, amounting to about ten thousand marks, to the deaconess +society, asking only that she be cared for for the remainder of her +life. This sum enabled the house to be built, and last summer it was +opened for use. It lies upon a mountain, has a pleasant outlook to the +south, and a beautiful view over the valley of the Main and off to the +distant forests. Near at hand is a grove of chestnut trees, and farther +removed are extensive pine forests with pleasant walks. The house is in +the charge of one of the older sisters. + +The regulations touching the training and duties of the sisters are +similar to those of Kaiserswerth. Two years of probation are required, +part of which is devoted to practical work under the superintendence of +an older deaconess. The rules of daily life are much the same; a quiet +half hour of prayer and meditation is strongly urged, and the same +freedom in control of personal property and withdrawal from the office +exists. It is pleasant to record that our deaconesses have secured to +themselves such good report for their usefulness that the city officials +in Germany accord to them the free use of steamboats and street-cars; +and the Prussian government does the same for roads that are under State +control. + +The Bethany Society of the German Methodists is self-supporting and is +independent of the Conference, save only that the board of direction is +composed of Methodist preachers chosen by the Conference. Each of the +homes at the five stations has also its board of control, made up of the +inspector, the pastor in charge, and the head sister. The inspector is a +member of the Conference, but has no appointment, as his whole time is +devoted to the duty of superintendence. Last year the society took the +further step of deciding that henceforth the deaconesses should not be +sent, as heretofore, to outside hospitals or other institutions to +complete their training, but should be given the advantages they require +at our own homes. Owing to this decision only six probationers can be +received for the coming year, and others who have made application to +enter must wait their turn. + +The German Methodist Church, the daughter of American Methodism, +anticipated the parent Church in utilizing the womanly gifts and +services of deaconesses as members of her aggressive forces, and +furnished it a very helpful and stimulating example. + + + [47] _Jahresbericht des Bethanienvereins_, 1884, Bremen. + [48] _Der Christliche Apologete_, article by Rev. G. Hausser, + September 20, 1888. + [49] _Jahresbericht_, 1888, page 8. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +DEACONESSES IN PARIS. + + +When in Paris we visited the deaconess establishment on the Rue de +Reuilly, and had the pleasure, ever to be remembered, of seeing the +institution in all its workings under the guidance of Mademoiselle Sara +Monod, the daughter of Adolphe Monod; members of a family that have been +Protestants of the Protestants in the annals of France. We examined with +some degree of thoroughness the different departments, and saw them in +the busy working hours, when the full activities of the great +establishment were in exercise. + +In addition to the information and reports then secured I am under +further obligation to Mademoiselle Monod for other material lately +received, among which is a pamphlet entitled _Une Visite a la Maison de +Diaconesses_, by Madame W. Monod, "the worthy daughter of one of the +founders, and the worthy wife of one of the present chaplains of the +institution." I have translated freely from this in the following pages, +as it is pervaded by a tone of intimate knowledge, and nothing can take +the place of the long years of close personal relation that make this +little book so fresh and attractive in its recital. + +The institution is situated on the outskirts of the Faubourg St. +Antoine, upon an elevation, where the view in one direction is limited +by Mont St. Genevieve, and on the other embraces a large territory +intersected by the windings of the Seine and by lines of railroad. The +space is thickly dotted by the high chimneys of manufactories and +massive constructions of various forms. A great pile of buildings which +fronts upon the street forms one of the sides of the court within; two +long wings extend at right angles, which seem to have been built at +different intervals of time. That on the right ends with the +penitentiary, or house of correction; the left wing terminates more +modestly at the garden entrance; while farther, at the extreme portion +of the grounds, still to the left, rises the hospital, standing apart +from the rest. The whole establishment, including the gardens, has an +extent of fifty-five hundred square meters. + +In the little room at the entrance, where the _concierge_ is usually +found in these French houses, sits one of the sisters, surrounded by +bell-cords and tubes and bells which are constantly in use, bringing +messages to and fro in all directions. A sister is always on duty, +morning, afternoon, and at night when it is necessary, responding with +discreet politeness to the inquiries made. Adjoining are the little +reception rooms, where comers and goers are met, and the consulting-room +of the distinguished oculist, who twice a week gives gratuitously his +valuable services. Then come the office and reception-room of the +chaplain of the house, followed by the little "prophet's chamber," +occupied by the former directress when she returns upon visits which her +age and poor health render only too infrequent. + +What the French call the "_economat_" or business office, next demands +our attention. A dozen registers admirably kept, portfolios of all +kinds, and numberless papers are arranged upon different shelves. The +sister in charge notes in her journal every entrance and every +departure, and all the journeys and leaves of absence of the sisters. In +a safe she has the necessary money for current expenses, the rest being +deposited in the bank. She provides the stores, examines the accounts of +the pharmacy and the kitchen, pays the salaried employees, gives or +sends to each deaconess the modest sum allowed her for personal needs, +and transacts the daily business of the house. She must also every +month hand in three reports--one to the Prefect of Police, another to +the Minister of the Interior, and the third to the Minister of Finance, +giving detailed statistics concerning the age, occupation, and progress +of her _proteges_. "How many know how to read? How many to read and +write? How many to read, write, and cipher? What progress has been made +since the last report?" These are some of the questions she has to +answer; and, meanwhile, if a crowd of little children come in, she turns +from her writing and calculations and plays with them as if she had +nothing else to do. + +Let us see where these children come from. Here is the "Salle d'Asile," +as it is called, with its benches and chairs for the little ones, maps +and historical pictures suspended upon the walls, slates and globes, and +all the belongings of a school-room. The sister who has directed this +school for thirty-five years has seen sons and daughters succeed fathers +and mothers. More than nineteen hundred children have passed through her +hands. With what pride she showed us the copy-books, and pointed out +some particularly good compositions. Hers was no perfunctory task; a +mother could not have displayed greater interest in her children. The +number of pupils varies from one hundred and ten to one hundred and +thirty, a little less than half of them being Catholics. All kinds of +primary instruction are given, including gymnastics, singing, and +marching. Bible stories hold an important place in this elementary +teaching, even those which are sometimes considered to be beyond the +reach of children; for there is nothing in any other book to take their +place. It is useless to add that not only lessons are given, but shoes, +aprons, and garments of all kinds, some of the little ones being clothed +from head to foot by the institution. Every day soup is distributed, +ostensibly to the poor and the ill-nourished, but practically partaken +of by all. Even during the siege of Paris the soup continued to appear. +It gradually became less substantial, it is true, but still it was soup. + +From four to six o'clock the mothers and older sisters and brothers, or +perhaps some old lady who has been engaged to have the care of several +children, come to take the little ones home. The influence of these +children is felt beyond the school-room; it is a visible, constant +force. Such a little girl has persuaded her grandmother not to work on +Sundays. Another asks for a book that her father can read aloud to the +family. And similar instances could be multiplied; they are always to be +obtained where loving Christian hearts are interested in children, and +when they remember that fine saying of Jacqueline Pascal; "_Parler a +Dieu des petites ames plus qu' aux petites ames de Dieu._"[50] + +There used formerly to be attached to this a "_Creche_," where a mother +could bring her babe when she went to work in the morning, and could +come for it at night. But the government has now started a day-home for +this district of the city, so this part of the work of the deaconesses +has been discontinued. + +Passing by the vegetable garden, which is also a pleasure garden for the +sick and infirm, we come to the hospital. This was opened in September, +1873, and can accommodate sixty to seventy patients. There are two large +wards for women, one for children, a dormitory for aged women, and rooms +with one, two, and three beds. All are perfectly heated, lighted, and +ventilated. The medical inspector visits the house every month, and +gives it due praise for meeting every condition of modern medical +science. + +A committee of ladies takes the hospital as an especial object of its +care. They have organized a system of patronage, by which beds are +furnished poor patients at a low rate, in some cases gratuitously. +Fifteen subscribers give each two francs, or forty cents, a month; the +sick man or his patron pays a franc a day, to which the Deaconess Home +adds also a franc daily. These three francs represent the bare expenses +of a hospital bed. Of course, sixty cents a day is far from meeting the +entire cost of rent, food, baths, medicine, and service; but those +patients who have been accustomed to a certain degree of comfort in +life, when paying three francs, are freed from the painful impression of +receiving charity. + +Many of the patients, when sent forth from the hospital, are directed to +the Convalescents' Home, at Passy. This is an inestimable benefit; what +could this poor servant do, whose strength is not yet sufficient to +undertake fatiguing labor? Or this mother of a family, who would +certainly fall ill again if obliged to resume the heavy burden of +housekeeping, accompanied by privations and wearing economies, were it +not for the home at Passy? Such homes of rest and convalescence are a +necessity in connection with every well-equipped deaconess institution. +The pharmacy is in the charge of a deaconess trained especially for her +duties. A deaconess director, several nurse deaconesses and +probationers, with one or two aged women, constitute the working force +of the hospital outside of the physicians. So many denominational +hospitals are now arising in America that the arrangement of hospitals +under the care of deaconesses in Germany, France, and England, cannot +fail to have interest for us. + +There are no nurses like the deaconesses. Other nurses, however well +prepared in the best of training-schools, do not have the same high +motive that lifts the service onto the plane of religious duty, where +the question of self-interest is wholly lost sight of. It was the +perception of this truth that led the authorities of the German Hospital +in Philadelphia to send to Germany for deaconesses as nurses, and that +has brought about the erection of the magnificent Mary J. Drexel Home +for Deaconesses. + +But let us return to Paris and our examination of the home on the Rue de +Reuilly. Leaving the hospital, and turning in the opposite direction +from that to which we came, we are at the house of correction. Bars of +iron before the windows apprise us of the character of the building. +There are two divisions of inmates; the one in which the discipline is +more rigid is called the _retenue_. Those placed here are generally +between fourteen and twenty-one years of age, although occasionally a +child of precocious depravity is met with, who has to be separated from +those under less restriction even at ten years of age. The +_disciplinaire_ is the division of milder restraint. The twenty-five or +twenty-six places in each of the two divisions are ordinarily applied +for in advance. Pastor Louis Valette said: "We shall not have room +enough until we have too much room." + +There are three classes of inmates: those who are put here by their +parents for insubordination or other grave faults; those who are sent +here by order of a judge of the court for a limited period, and those +who are recognized guilty of a misdemeanor, but are acquitted on account +of their age, and must remain a certain time, sometimes until they have +attained their majority, in houses of correction and education. + +The Minister of the Interior pays twelve cents a day for pupils of the +third class; the Prefect of Police four hundred dollars a year for those +of the second class, whatever their number, only the establishment is +bound to receive them at any time and at any hour. + +There is a system of rewards, to promote good behavior, and those who +profit by it can accumulate a small sum of money, sometimes amounting to +sixteen or eighteen dollars, to have when they go out from here. In +other cases there is a large indebtedness on the opposite side, which +can never be collected. + +The days are occupied in household work, washing, ironing, and sewing, +and two hours of schooling. When the nature of the work will permit, +instructive books are read aloud, or the deaconesses give pleasant talks +on different subjects that will keep the thoughts of the workers busy, +and give them helpful ideas to store away in their minds. As we went +about in the sewing-classes, we noticed that the time was invariably +utilized in some way that was profitable to the girls. Most of them are +pitiably ignorant of even the commonest knowledge demanded in life. +There are separate court-yards for the recreations of the two divisions. +The girls of the _disciplinaire_ are sometimes taken outside the +institution for walks; those of the _retenue_, never. The work in this +last division is especially difficult, and requires the utmost patience +and love. These poor girls have to be watched carefully, and kept +isolated from one another. Some are greatly influenced by the atmosphere +of the place, the gentle, firm kindness of the sisters, and the +restriction they receive. Others go out to take up again the old life of +immorality, and are dragged away into the meshes of sin, finding their +place, after brief delay, in the wards of a hospital, or sometimes a +suicide's grave. It is a singular fact that the numerical appreciation +of those influenced by this school of reform is precisely the same as +that given in the report of the similar work at Kaiserswerth, although +the two reports have no connection with one another, and one in no wise +supposes the other. Thirty-three years ago one of the founders of the +institution, Pastor Valette, said in answer to a question as to the +amount of good accomplished, "Sixteen years ago this question came to my +ears, and I stated as a principle that one cannot and ought not to +answer it precisely and absolutely, because no one but God can give an +appreciation of its real value. However, out of curiosity, I set myself +at work to gather and register some results; and, matured by the +experience of six years, I offer them, such as they are: One third of +the moral results may be considered excellent; another third as offering +good guarantees, and a final third has no value. It seems to me, +however, as I am sure it will seem to you, that here is cause for +rejoicing. Here is something for which to praise the Lord, and to +encourage those who administer our affairs. For, I ask of the merchants +who listen to me, if any one were to offer you thirty-three and one +third per cent. assured, with the hope of a dividend, would you refuse +the investment?" + +In 1871 an occurrence took place worthy of being recorded. On April 13, +at ten o'clock in the evening, emissaries of the Commune entered the +house, revolvers in hand. Armed men were posted at all the entrances. +The deaconesses were summoned to one of the parlors, and held prisoners +until three o'clock the following morning. Meanwhile an investigation +took place among the girls in the penitentiary, as they would be the +most likely of any of the inmates of the house to have complaints. The +officers of the Commune interrogated them closely. Their answers were +favorable beyond all expectation. "Are you happy here?" "Oh, yes, very +happy." "What have you done deserving punishment?" "Nothing that we need +talk to you about." "How are you punished here?" "The sisters don't +punish us; they advise us what to do, and warn us." "Now," said the +chief to one, "just tell me quietly, no one else need hear; if you are +not contented I will take you away with me." "What a coward you are," +she answered, quite scornfully. Not one of them thought of escaping. All +this time the prison wagon had been waiting in the street, and would +have been filled with deaconesses had the slightest cause of complaint +been found; but it went away empty. Later the sisters had occasion to go +to the head-quarters of the Commune in their ward, and they met with +polite consideration. This is not the only experience of the troubled +political life of the great city that the deaconesses have had. The +Faubourg St. Antoine has been noted ever since the time of the Fronde as +being the haunt of all that is turbulent and revolutionary. In February +1848, a great barricade was thrown across the Rue de Reuilly, men, +women, and children hurrying with bricks and stones to help in building +it. Then came the moment of storm and attack, and forty-two men lay dead +in the street. Some of the wounded were received by the sisters, crowded +as they were with the children whom the mothers had brought for safety. +Meanwhile the deaconesses went about unmolested, bought food and +medicine, hunted friends and relatives for the sick, and through all +that period of excitement and strife kept up their ministrations of +mercy. + +There is no distinct home for women who are left alone and desire +Christian surroundings, as is the case in several German institutions, +but about sixty such ladies are received as boarders in the Paris home. +Frequently also the hospitality of the house is enjoyed by young girls +who come to Paris alone to earn a livelihood, or who have to stop here +for some hours on their way to another place; a great advantage for +inexperienced young women, unversed in the ways of a city, who find +themselves alone in the great world for the first time. + +The preparatory school for deaconesses is on the first floor, below the +rooms of the sisters. For two years the candidates are under the +instruction of superior sisters. They are received into the house +gratuitously, and accept its regulations while they remain. They have to +pass through all practical duties of house-work, and care of the sick +and children. They also pursue practical and theoretical courses in +hygiene, and receive lessons in singing and pedagogics. The chaplains of +the institution give them courses of religious instruction, and lectures +on Church history. Some (the larger number) need very elementary +lessons; others come with a good education. Each is directed according +to her education and experience. In fact, all classes are represented +among the deaconesses; servants, teachers, ladies, and shepherdesses. +They come from different parts of France, but in larger numbers from the +South. + +Deaconesses are constantly in demand to go out in the city as nurses in +private families. Such requests often meet with refusals, because +sisters cannot be spared for such duties. Their work is limited by the +smallness of their numbers. The last report gives sixty deaconesses +attached to the Home on the Rue de Reuilly. + +The work is upon sterile soil as compared to Germany. The Protestants of +France are in a small minority, surrounded by an overwhelming majority +of Catholics; while in the beginning of the work some influential +members of the Protestant faith, having an inadequate comprehension of +the good in the movement, and a misconception of its plans, exerted a +powerful influence that for awhile told adversely to the cause. The home +has now passed beyond the stage when it can be affected by adverse +criticisms; and it to-day not only has the approbation of Christians, +but also of those who regard it solely from the point of view of +philanthropy.[51] + +There are but two parish deaconesses who are at work in Belleville and +Ste. Marie. The directors of the institution would be glad to increase +the number, as they regard the work of the sisters under the direction +of the city pastors as that which presents the widest opportunities for +doing good, while it perpetuates those aspects of the deaconess work +which most closely resemble those of the early Church. But Calvin's +reply from Geneva to the Church of France is theirs. When petitioned to +send more pastors over the boundary into France he replied, "Send us +wood and we will send you arrows." So the want of deaconesses is a +continual hinderance to the furtherance of the cause, both in the city +and the provinces. + +The prisons for women in France are under the supervision of women, save +the office of chief director, which is filled by a man. The great +majority of the prisoners in France being Catholics, the number of +Sisters of Charity is naturally much larger than the number of +deaconesses employed. At the prison of Clermont four of the Paris +deaconesses are kept constantly at work among the prisoners. + +In connection with the old prison of St. Lazare, the women's prison of +Paris, the deaconesses have a mission especially concerned with caring +for discharged female convicts. As was the case at Kaiserswerth, this, +in its initiation, is closely connected with the saintly life of +Elizabeth Fry. When she came to Paris, in 1835, a drawing-room meeting +was held at the residence of the Duchess de Broglie, in which she told +of her efforts to effect a reform in prisons in England. None of the +ladies of rank and wealth who heard her were stirred to greater effort +than was demanded by the keen interest with which they listened to her +words; but a quiet governess was present, Mademoiselle Dumas, and with +her the seeds of truth fell into prepared ground. She determined to +attempt for her own country a portion of the work Mrs. Fry had +accomplished for England. Obtaining permission from the authorities to +visit the prison of St. Lazare, she went daily to the prisoners shut up +in the rooms of this great building, formerly the monastery of St. +Vincent de Paul, the founder of the Sisters of Charity. After the +deaconess home was established, some deaconesses were set apart to aid +Mademoiselle Dumas in her work. All these years the mission has +continued, not interrupted even during the dark days of the Commune. A +committee of ladies aids in providing shelter and work for the prisoners +when they are discharged. The great publishing house of Hachette & Co., +although the head of the firm is a Catholic, provides employment in +folding paper for books. + +Through the kind offices of Mademoiselle Monod we called on Mademoiselle +Dumas. She is now an extremely aged woman; but her interest in the +Christian reformation of prisoners of her sex is as keen as it was over +fifty years ago, when her labors began. The registers of many years +stand by her desk, and from these we were shown how the records of the +mission are kept, and in what way the lives of those assisted are +watched and followed for years. Narratives of individual reformation +were related to us, and through the long correspondence of many years +she was enabled to tell us of those who had turned to a better life and +held to it permanently. As she talked her eyes brightened, the tones of +her voice became stronger and clearer, her manner more vivacious, and +the years seemed to slip from her. Finally, as if overcome by the +memories that the long retrospect had brought to her, and thrilled by +the recollections, of all this work meant to her, she ended by +exclaiming, "O, my dear St. Lazare!" I looked at her astonished. I had +just come from the walls of the gloomy prison, and the place had chilled +me with horror as I walked through its corridors, and read the stories +of shame and guilt in the faces of its inmates; most hopeless looking +faces, belonging to little children of ten and twelve up to hardened and +prematurely aged women of fifty and sixty. I could not comprehend a term +of endearment applied to such a place. But a moment's consideration led +me to see that this aged saint had there fought and won the best of her +life's battles, and the place remains glorified in her thoughts by most +hallowed and Christ-like memories. + +Now that Mademoiselle Dumas is kept to her room, the deaconesses still +come to her weekly, make their reports, and keep up the proper entries +in her books. + +A recent letter from Mademoiselle Monod says: "Mademoiselle Dumas still +lives, having completed her ninety-sixth year the 26th of last December +(1888). Only yesterday our prison committee met at her house, she acting +as presiding officer." + +The life of this quiet woman is but little known outside the circle of +her immediate influence, but it has been more valuable to her country +than that of many a general or statesman who has been ranked among the +famous of the earth. + +The deaconess home has also branches of work in different parts of +France. These include nine hospitals, two homes for the aged and infirm, +four orphanages, two work-rooms for young girls, and a convalescents' +home. The house has established close connection with the deaconess +houses at St. Loup in French Switzerland, and with Strasburg. The ties +of a common language and former memories are strong, and these are the +homes most akin to the Paris home. + +The ordinary expenses of the Paris deaconess home are about thirty +thousand dollars a year. Nearly seven thousand dollars are collected +annually by subscriptions, the remaining sum being made up of returns +arising from service. + +The institution was founded in 1841 by Rev. Antoine Vermeil, a +distinguished minister of the Reformed Church, aided by a devout and +worthy minister of the Lutheran Church, Rev. Louis Valette. It has grown +up under the joint and harmonious patronage of these two State Churches. + +A later deaconess home, entirely devoted to training and employing +parish deaconesses, was started in 1874, under the sole control of the +Lutheran Church. Some pastors secured the co-operation of a few young +Christian women to consecrate a portion of their strength and time to +the service of the Church. From this beginning sprang the work that +exists to-day. The home is located in the Rue de Bridaine. There are now +sixteen deaconesses, six of whom are probationers. Five of them are +located in different parishes in Paris, usually at a long distance from +the central house. Each goes forth early in the morning to her parish, +where is a room of some kind serving as a center to the work. Materials +used in nursing and medicines are stored here, and there is an office +for the physician, who comes at stated periods to give free +consultation. From the district house the deaconess goes in all +directions and in all weather to look up families which have fallen away +from the Church, to gather in children for the Sunday-school, to visit +the sick, and to collect garments and money from the rich in order to +distribute them among the poor. Such are some of their duties. Each +sister is under the direction of a pastor, and is aided by his advice, +while still remaining a member of the community to which she belongs. + +In both of the deaconess houses of Paris, as in the German houses, a +special service sets apart those sisters who have passed their period of +probation, and have been received into full connection. As one of the +deaconess reports beautifully says: "When Christ calls the soul to a +special vocation he gives it special grace, and those who consecrate +themselves to him he consecrates to their task by the strength of his +Spirit. So in conformity with the usages of the primitive Church we give +consecration to our sisters by the laying on of hands. The consecration +is not a sacramental act, conferring a particular character, greater +sanctity, or special powers; neither is it simply a ceremony or pious +formality. It is a real and efficacious benediction, which the Saviour +accords to our sisters to consecrate them to their holy work, as he +accorded it to the deacons who received the imposition of the apostles' +hands." + +The good that can be accomplished by deaconesses working together with +ministers in behalf of the manifold interests of the Church is +incalculable. The most faithful pastor can make only short and +unsatisfactory visits. Many sorrows which he overlooks the deaconess can +discern and assuage. She knows best how to reach the heart of a +sorrowing woman, to care for her needs, to discern her wants, and to +bring solace to the sorrowing and succor to the needy. Deaconesses who +have been specially trained for service cannot be spared now that the +world has learned to know of them. For "charity cannot take the place of +experience, nor good-will replace knowledge;" and trained Christian +service is the highest of all service. + +The old spirit of the Huguenots has not died out of France, and with +that ready susceptibility to noble ideas which is a marked +characteristic of the French character, we can expect to see the +deaconess cause thrive and prosper as it has done in other lands. + + + [50] Speak to God about the little ones, rather than to the little + souls of God. + [51] See a sympathetic study of the work by Maxime du Camp, a + member of the French Academy, in his book _Paris Bienfaisant_. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +DEACONESSES IN ENGLAND. + + +To learn the first facts about deaconesses in England, we must go back +to the early days of the Puritans. In 1576, under Queen Elizabeth, about +sixty non-conformist ministers of the eastern counties assembled to make +regulations concerning Church constitution and discipline, and one of +them was as follows: "Touching deacons of both sorts, namely, both men +and women, the Church should be admonished what is required by the +apostle, that they are not to choose men by custom or course, or for +their riches, but for their faith, zeal, and integrity; and that the +Church is to pray in the meantime to be so directed that they may choose +them that are meet. Let the names of those that are thus chosen be +published the next Lord's Day, and after that their duties to the +Church, and the Church's duty toward them. Then let them be received +into their office with the general prayers of the whole Church."[52] + +There are other references in the works of the early Puritans that +indicate that the office of deaconess was as well known and recognized +as were the other offices that were named in accordance with the usages +of the primitive Church. + +In the early part of the seventeenth century it still survived, as we +shall see from a quaint and curious picture that is of especial interest +to all Americans, because it portrays what took place in that community +of pious souls who furnished us the men we delight to honor as the +Pilgrim Fathers. A number of these heroic souls, who could give up their +country, but would not yield their faith, went forth from England in +1608, and settled in Amsterdam. They preserved in a foreign land their +own Church usages, as the following words show: "In Amsterdam there were +about three hundred communicants, and they had for their pastor and +teacher those two eminent men before named (Johnson and Ainsworth); and +had at one time four grave men for ruling elders, three able, godly men +for deacons, and one ancient widow for a deaconess, who did them service +many years, though she was sixty years of age when she was chosen. She +honored her place, and was an ornament to the congregation. She usually +sat in a convenient place in the congregation, with a little birchen rod +in her hand, and kept little children in awe from disturbing the +congregation. She did frequently visit the sick and weak, especially +women, and as there was need called out ladies and young women to watch +and do them other helps as their necessity should require; and if there +were poor she would gather relief for them of those that were able, or +acquaint the deacons. And she was obeyed as a mother in Israel and an +officer of Christ."[53] + +Whether the "ancient widow" with the little "birchen rod" had any +followers in the early Puritan communities of the Plymouth Colony we +cannot say, as there are no records that throw light on the subject; but +the history of early New England Congregationalism gives us one +indication that the office was recognized in the New World. In the +Cambridge Platform, a system of Church discipline agreed upon by the +elders and messengers of the New England churches assembled in synod at +Cambridge, in 1648, the seventh chapter enumerates the duties of elder +and deacons, and then adds, "The Lord hath appointed _ancient widdows_, +where they may be had, to minister in the Church, in giving attendance +to the sick, and to give succor unto them and others in the like +necessities." The same confusion of thought concerning the Church widow +and the deaconess is here seen, but there is evident the recognition of +the services that women were officially to render the Church. + +In the early part of the present century Southey voiced the complaint, +long reiterated, that Protestantism had no missionaries. We who live in +the closing years of the same century, surrounded by the multiplied +evidences of the extent of missions, when the Protestants of the world +are expending nearly ten millions of dollars annually, and employing +nearly six thousand men and women as missionaries, cannot realize the +change that has taken place. In 1830 Southey again wrote: "Thirty years +hence another reproach may also be effaced, and England may have her +Sisters of Charity." He had learned to know their value when serving as +a volunteer in Wellington's army, and a year after the battle of +Waterloo he had visited the Beguines at Ghent, and what he saw deeply +impressed him. "We should have such women among us," he said. "It is a +great loss to England that we have no Sisters of Charity. There is +nothing Romish, nothing unevangelical in such communities; nothing but +what is right and holy; nothing but what belongs to that religion which +the apostle James has described as 'pure and undefiled before God the +Father.'"[54] + +Southey's prophecy has come true. England to-day in her deaconesses +possesses her Sisters of Charity. How has this change been brought +about? The acquaintance of Mrs. Fry with Fliedner, and her visit to +Kaiserswerth, led her to introduce into England the practical training +of nurses for the sick. The Nursing Sisters' Institution in Devonshire +Square, Bishop's Gate, was founded through her efforts in 1840, and +still exists "to train nurses for private families, and to provide +pensions for aged nurses."[55] + +In 1842, Fliedner came to London, accompanied by four sisters, at the +invitation of the German Hospital at Dalston. These deaconesses won +golden opinions from the hospital authorities for their quiet, efficient +manner, and their trained skill. The hospital continues to be served by +them, but the Sisters now come from the mother house at Darmstadt. + +Kaiserswerth and its deaconesses became more widely known through the +life and inestimable services of Florence Nightingale. When a child, +one of Fliedner's reports fell into her hands. Its perusal marked an +era in her life. It made clear to her what she should do. She would go +to Kaiserswerth, and fit herself for a nurse. Her childish resolve never +wavered. "Happy is the man who holds fast to the ideals of his youth." +Florence Nightingale held fast to hers. She went to Kaiserswerth at two +different times, and through her deeds and her writings the care of the +sick in England has been completely transformed. She has won a nation's +gratitude, and now is living in honored old age in one of the London +institutions founded mainly by the money that she contributed, and which +she obtained by selling some valuable gifts given her by a foreign +government in acknowledgment of her care of its wounded soldiers during +the Crimean war. + +Another woman distinguished in England's philanthropies is Agnes Jones, +who left a home of wealth and refinement to receive her training also at +Kaiserswerth. Returning to England she gave her time and talents in +single-hearted devotion to the care of the poor in the Liverpool +work-house, and met death in the midst of her labors. The training which +led two such women to accomplish such noble deeds naturally was +recognized as valuable, and Kaiserswerth soon became an honored name in +England. + +In 1851 Miss Nightingale sent out anonymously her little book entitled +_An Account of the Institution of Deaconesses_, which added to the +knowledge already in circulation about the movement in Germany. +Meanwhile articles were appearing in the reviews. In 1848 one was +written in the _Edinburgh Review_ by John Malcolm Ludlow, who later, in +1866, gave the results of the thoughts and studies of a number of years +in _Woman's Work in the Church_, the best historical study of the +subject up to the date at which it was written. Since then the Germans +have pushed their historical investigations further, and the work needs +to be revised and to be brought down to the present time. + +In _Good Words_ for 1861 there were two articles by Dr. Stevenson, of +the Irish Presbyterian Church, entitled "The Blue Flag of Kaiserswerth," +afterward incorporated in his work, _Praying and Working_, a book too +little known among us. + +The great upholder of the deaconess cause in the Church of England was +the late Dean of Chester, Rev. J. S. Howson. His essay, first published +in the _Quarterly Review_, was amplified and issued in book form in 1860 +under the title _Deaconesses_. It won many friends. The cause remained a +favorite one with him, and he constantly advocated it by speech and by +deed. Since his death his latest thoughts, which remained substantially +the same as those that he first advanced, have been published in a work +entitled _The Diaconate of Women_. + +Within the Church of England, however, the deaconess cause has not met +the same prosperous development that it has obtained in connection with +certain independent institutions, notably that of Mildmay. + +Among the institutions on the Continent, as well as in the pages of this +work up to the present, the terms "sister" and "deaconess" are used +synonymously, to indicate one and the same person. But when we come to +consider the deaconess institutions within the Church of England we +cannot continue to use these two names in the same way. A deaconess is a +member of a deaconess institution, actively engaged in charitable deeds, +but, like the deaconess on the Continent, she can sever her connection +with it when adequate cause presents itself, and return to her family +and friends. A sister belongs to a sisterhood which closely resembles +the Roman Catholic sisterhoods in many features. These sisterhoods began +in 1847 with a number of ladies brought together through the influence +of Dr. Pusey, who formed themselves into a community to live under its +rule. Their influence and number increased, and twenty-three +sisterhoods are mentioned in the last official report.[56] + +Doubtless it was the activity and great usefulness of the continental +deaconess houses that provided the stimulating examples which acted on +the Church of England and led to the rise of sisterhoods and deaconess +institutions. But the two opposing tendencies within the Episcopal +Church--namely, that which desires to approach the Church of Rome, with +which it feels itself in sympathy on many points, and that which views +with disfavor any conformity to it, and strives to keep to the landmarks +set at the great Reformation--these two distinct tendencies are closely +reflected in the woman's work of the Anglican Church.[57] The +sisterhoods are distinctly under the fostering care of the former +element, the deaconesses are manifestly favored by the latter. +Sisterhoods, again, differ among themselves, some being strongly +conventual in their life and practice, adopting the three vows of +poverty, chastity, and obedience, and a few even advocating penance and +confession. The vows are taken for life, and, in connection with the +view of the sacred obligation to life-long service, great stress is laid +upon the position of the sister as the "bride of Christ"--the same +thought of the mysterious union with the heavenly Bridegroom that is so +dwelt upon in the nunneries of the Catholic Church. With such views +Protestants, distinctly such, can have no sympathy. Those who look upon +the deaconess as a valuable member of the Church economy do so because +they regard her as a Christian woman, strengthened and disciplined by +special training to do better service for Christ in the world. This is +the recognized difference: "The sisterhood exists primarily for the sake +of forming a religious community, but deaconesses live together for the +sake of the work itself, attracted to deaconess work by the want which +in most populous towns is calling loudly for assistance; and with a view +of being trained, therefore, for spiritual and temporal usefulness among +the poor."[58] + +There are now seven deaconess establishments in the Church of England, +each having a larger or smaller number of branches, with diocesan +sanction and under the supervision of clergymen.[59] + +The first of these was founded in 1861, and is now known as the London +Diocesan Deaconess Institution. At that time Kaiserswerth was accepted +as its model; deaconesses were sent there to be trained; Kaiserswerth +rules were adopted as far as possible, and a modification of the +Kaiserswerth dress for the sisters. The house was then represented at +the triennial Conferences in Germany, and in the list of mother houses +published at Kaiserswerth[60] the name still appears. It would seem, +however, that now the Kaiserswerth connection is entirely set aside by +the London house, for in an historical sketch of the revival of +deaconesses in the Church, that is found in the organ of the +institution, called _Ancilla Domini_, for March, 1887, there is no +mention made of any of the continental houses. The Anglican Church +apparently dates the entire work from the setting apart of its first +deaconess, Elizabeth C. Ferard, in 1861, as she was the first to receive +consecration through the touch of a bishop's hand. The former connection +with Kaiserswerth and the great work carried on in Germany from 1836 to +the present time are quite ignored. + +Besides the London house already mentioned an East London deaconess home +was opened in 1880, to provide deaconesses and church-workers for East +London. Besides the deaconesses and probationers thirty-two associates +are connected with this home. The associates are ladies who do not +intend to become deaconesses, but give as much time as they can to the +work. They live with the deaconesses, conform to the rules, and wear the +garb, but pay their own expenses. These associates are a highly +important part of the working force. They form a valuable tie connecting +the sisters with sources of influence and aid that would otherwise be +closed to them. Nearly always they are ladies of independent means, and +come for longer or shorter periods to relieve the deaconesses, their +zeal often being as great as that of the sisters whose places they take. + +Besides these houses there are homes located at Maidstone, Chester, +Bedford, Salisbury, and Portsmouth, in the respective dioceses of +Canterbury, Chester, Ely, Salisbury, and Winchester. + +In the home at Portsmouth sisters not only engage in nursing and parish +work, but are also given special training for penitentiary and +out-of-door rescue work. They also have a home for the rescue of +neglected children. + +The Salisbury Home is beautifully situated in the quiet cathedral city +of the same name. The house is a picturesque and venerable mansion, +covered with clinging green vines, opening out into a garden which in +olden times belonged to the convent. There is in connection with the +home an institution for training girls for domestic service, supported +by the funds of a charity given for that purpose. The whole service of +the house is done by the girls. They attend upon the deaconesses and the +ladies who board there to receive training in the hospital. Each +deaconess pays for board and lodging while training, and, if able to do +so, when she returns for rest, or a visit to her old home. + +In other houses the deaconess is expected to keep her own room in order, +and may have some duties in the house, but servants do the rough work. +The social status of the English deaconesses is, as a rule, markedly +different from the German deaconesses. Here ladies of rank and inherited +social traditions, of refinement, of accomplishments, and of education, +many of them women of means, defraying their entire expenses and often +those of their poorer sisters, are largely represented among the +deaconesses. On the other hand, the German deaconesses, as we have seen, +are largely of that station in life that furnishes many for domestic +service. Although of course there are among them women of all ranks and +all degrees of education, still such women form the larger number; and +the conditions under which Fliedner began the work, as well as the +difference of custom and habit in the two countries, incline the German +houses to maintain the rules of service by which nearly every detail of +domestic service in their institutions is cared for by the deaconesses. +There is more of ceremony and formality in the English deaconess +institutions which are under the direction of the Church of England. At +Salisbury, for instance, the candidate must reside in the home for three +months, that her ability and efficiency may be tested. If accepted, she +then puts on a gray serge habit, a leathern girdle, white cap, black +bonnet, the veil and cloak of a probationer, and is admitted to the +"degree" of a probationer at a special service. The year of probation +having come to an end, she is again presented to the bishop, and is set +apart as a deaconess by the laying on of hands. This time the habit is +changed from gray to blue, and a black ebony cross, with one of gold +inlaid, is hung upon her neck.[61] + +This is very different from the way in which Fliedner regarded the dress +and adornment of the deaconesses for whom he was responsible. The king +of Prussia desired to present them with a small silver cross as their +badge of service, but the simple-hearted German pastor dissuaded him, +saying that the deaconesses needed no ornament save a meek and quiet +spirit, and they must avoid symbols which would suggest Romish +imitations. + +The Strasburg deaconesses also at first wore a small cross, but Pastor +Haerter discontinued it when he found that the wearing of it gave +occasion for complaint. + +Yet however we may differ in the lesser details, of garb, of rules, and +of ceremonies, from those accepted by some of the Church of England +deaconess institutions, we can give unstinted admiration to the lives of +self-denial, and active, unceasing efforts in behalf of others, that we +see among their numbers. Take, for instance, the little publication _The +Deaconess_, issued by the East London Home, and notice the undertakings +carried on by the members--district-visiting, nursing of the sick, +mothers' meetings, Sunday-school teaching, Bible classes, and all the +multitudinous ways of meeting the squalor, poverty, ignorance, sickness, +and sin of the poor of the east of London. There is no poetic enthusiasm +that strengthens one for such work, the dirt, the degradation, the +forlorn condition are so trying. The little children so precociously +wicked, so preternaturally cunning, that the natural charm and +attraction of childhood have wholly disappeared; the sights and sounds +that assail the senses; the dulled, hopeless faces, the apathy, the +stunted intellectual growth--these are the depressing influences that +continually beset the deaconesses, and nothing short of God-given +strength and Christ-like enthusiasm can enable these women to devote +six, eight, and ten years of service to this worst city district, and to +come forth with sunshiny, peaceful faces, and sympathetic, loving +hearts. + +Taking the total number of deaconess institutions under the Church of +England, there are eighty one deaconesses, thirty-four probationers, and +two hundred and twenty-nine associates.[62] + +So far, sisterhoods have proved more attractive to the women of the +Church of England than have deaconess establishments. The latter do not +seem to increase largely in numbers. Vexing questions have arisen as to +how the deaconess should be set apart to her work. Should she be +consecrated by the imposition of the bishop's hands? What relation +should she have to the Church? These questions have been partially +settled by the principles and rules that were drawn up in 1871 and were +signed by the two archbishops and eighteen bishops. They define a +deaconess as "a woman set apart by a bishop, under that title, for +service in the Church;"[63] placing her under the authority of the +bishop of the diocese. These recommendations have not been formally +adopted by the Church of England; they hold good only so far as they are +accepted. + +But there are other institutions, lying outside of the boundaries of the +State Church, which have developed more fully and prosperously than +those within it. Of these we must speak first of the institution of +Dr. Laseron, which is more closely connected with Kaiserswerth than any +other in England. In 1855 Dr. Laseron and his wife lost their only +child; and as Mrs. Laseron walked through the streets with burdened +heart she looked at the little children with quickened sympathy, and +noticed how many were poor and hungry and scantily clothed. She talked +with her husband, and they opened a "ragged school" for children. This +increased and branched off, until now there is an orphanage, workhouses +for boys, and a servants' training school for girls. Requests were +frequently made for some of the older girls to act as nurses among the +poor; and, finally, Dr. Laseron, who was a German by birth, determined +to found a deaconess house and hospital. A small hospital of twelve beds +was opened, and proved insufficient to meet the demands; and none could +be accepted as deaconesses, as there was no opportunity to train them in +so small a place. While waiting to see how the house could be enlarged, +he mentioned his perplexity to Mr. Samuel Morley. This gentleman heard +him with interest, and said that he was one of the directors of a large +hospital; that at a recent meeting of the directors a Catholic bishop +had offered to send Sisters of Charity who, without compensation, should +nurse the sick, and he had thought what a fine thing it would be if the +Protestant Church had also its women of piety who could devote +themselves to a similar work. The result of the conversation was that +Mr. Morley contributed forty thousand dollars, with which Dr. Laseron +purchased a site in Tottenham, built a hospital with fifty beds, and a +deaconess was called from Kaiserswerth to superintend it. The hospital +has been again enlarged, so that it now accommodates one hundred +patients. Sixty-four deaconesses are connected with it, who are at +service in the hospitals of Cork, Dublin, Scarborough, and Sunderland. +This institution is unsectarian, and has met with special aid from +non-conformists. It still keeps in close relation to Kaiserswerth, and +is represented at the Conferences. It has constantly thriven, and the +mother-house at Tottenham is a center for various benevolent +enterprises. + +In connection with Dr. Barnardo's Orphanage there is also a deaconess +house. Harley House, the missionary training-school under the direction +of Dr. and Mrs. Grattan Guinness in East London, has a deaconess home as +one of its branches. The Kilburn (St. Augustine's) Orphanage of Mercy, +and the London Bible-women's Mission are also centers for the training +and organizing of women's work in London. + +We must pause more at length over the prison mission under the care of +Mrs. Meredith. American women are beginning to occupy themselves with +questions of philanthropy and religious activity to an extent not before +equaled. The women's prisons in England are especially fruitful of +suggestions to us, as many here are interested in having our women +prisoners separated in prisons by themselves, as has already been +attempted in a few States. Mrs. Meredith's work is in behalf of the +prisoners after they have served their sentence and are discharged. She +is the daughter of General Lloyd, who was formerly governor-general of +prisons in Ireland. As a little child she was accustomed to go about +with her father, and the interior of prisons became familiar to her. +Later in life, when her family ties were broken, and her hands left free +for service, her interest was engaged in behalf of the women convicts +who were discharged from prison. She enlisted the support of other +ladies of like views, able to assist her, and in 1866 the Prison Gate +Mission began, which has continued to the present day. Every morning, as +the gate of Millbank prison swings back to allow those who have been +released from penal bondage to come forth, a sister stands waiting to +invite those who will go with her to a room near by, where breakfast +awaits them; there are ladies to inquire about their plans and to offer +them work. A great laundry was opened in 1867 to provide employment for +these women. Here washing is done for two classes: for the poor and +sick, to whom the service is given as a charity, and to those who pay +for the work and whose money enables the mission to be partly +self-supporting. Then the ladies extended their plans to take in the +children of the prisoners. A law was passed by Parliament which enabled +Mrs. Meredith and her associates to have the care of those children at +the Princess Mary Village Home until they are sixteen years of age. This +home was founded at Addlestone in 1870, and was named after the Princess +Mary, Duchess of Teck, who aided in obtaining funds to build it. The +institution takes not only the female children of criminal mothers, but +also little girls who are likely to drift into a career of crime. It is +conducted on the cottage plan, each little house having ten inmates and +a house mother to superintend it, and being complete in its own +arrangements. There are eighteen cottages, a large, generous +school-room, a small infirmary for the sick, and a little church. About +two hundred children of criminals and the unfortunate class are here +cared for. Instead of allowing them to drift away and to perpetuate +vice, crime, and immorality, they are taken entirely from their old +surroundings, and new influences of knowledge and purity are thrown +about them. There is no part of Mrs. Meredith's mission which has such +hope for the future and is so valuable in results as this preventive +work among the children. + +There are also a woman's medical mission (1882), a Christian woman's +union, a girls' school, and a deaconess house in Jerusalem under the +control of the same association. How it arose is well intimated by the +following extract from a letter from Mrs. Meredith to the author, dated +March 9, 1889: "You will know that my course has been progressive with +regard to the mode of congregating the women who joined me in working. +At first we merely came together daily from our own homes, as those who +make a business concern do. Then to spare time and money we began to +live together. The next step was to admit useful and devoted women who +had no property, and to form an association with degrees of membership. +When we found ourselves becoming a corporation of importance, and having +combined to acquire property and to found institutions, we invited the +help and counsel of some men of known eminence. Our institutions are all +branches of a parent stock, and are now placed in the charge of these +good men, and we have taken the name of the Church of England Woman's +Missionary Association. I am daily persuaded of the value of such +organizations." + +In connection with the London West Central Mission there is an +association of ladies called the Sisters of the People. "They are +expected to be worthy of the beautiful name they bear. They are true +sisters of the unprivileged and the disheartened; as ready to make a +bed, cook a dinner, or nurse a baby as to minister to the higher need of +the immortal spirit. The sisters live together in the neighborhood of +their work, and wear a distinctive dress as a protection and for other +reasons; but they take no vows, and are at liberty to withdraw from the +mission at any time. Their work is directed by Mrs. Hughes. Katherine +House, the residence of the Sisters of the People, was opened early in +November, 1887, and from that day the work of the sisters dates its +commencement. Their daily labors are very similar to those of the +deaconesses of Mildmay, who work among the London parishes. Each sister +has a district allotted to her, which she visits regularly and +systematically. The first object which she sets before herself is to get +to know the people, and to make them feel that she is their true sister +and friend, irrespective of the fact that they are themselves good or +bad, respectable or degraded. When once true friendliness is +established, the way is opened for direct religious influence; and many, +who in the first instance would never pay any attention to religion, +will listen to an appeal from one whom they love and respect."[64] + +Katherine House accommodates twelve sisters. A second house is urgently +needed, and a strong plea is made for it in the Report. + +There are besides "out sisters," who work with the sisters but reside at +their own homes. This is a valuable feature of this mission, as it +interests ladies who are living in their own homes, and yet who can be +very useful to those who devote their whole work to the sisters' labor. +In the Report a great many instances are given which show what an +intimate knowledge of the poor people is obtained by these sisters, and +in what practical ways they minister to the bodily and spiritual needs +of those whom they find in their house-to-house visitations. The term +"sister," as it is used in the report of the London West Central +Mission, is in all respects a synonym for "deaconess," as the name is +understood in the large deaconess establishment at Mildmay. To the study +of this we shall devote the following chapter. + + + [52] Daniel Neal's _History of the Puritans_, London, 1703, vol. i, + pp. 344-346. + [53] _Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth, + from 1602 to 1625._ By Alex. Young. Second edition. Boston: + C. E. Little & J. Brown, 1844, pp. 455, 456. + [54] Schaefer, _Die Weibliche Diakonie_, vol. i, p. 207. + [55] _The Royal Guide to London Churches_ for 1866, 1867. By Herbert + Fry, p. 162. + [56] _Official Year-book of the Church of England_, 1889. + [57] _Andover Review_, June, 1888, art., "European Deaconesses," + p. 578. + [58] _Deaconesses in the Church of England._ Griffith & Farran: + London, 1880, p. 22. + [59] _Official Year-book of the Church of England_, 1889. + [60] _Armen und Kranken Freund_, October, 1888. + [61] "Deaconess Work in England," _The Churchman_, May 19, 1888. + [62] I am indebted to the kindness of the Rt. Rev. the Bishop of + Wakefield for these numbers, upon whom the mantle of Dean Howson + seems to have fallen in caring for the deaconess cause. + [63] _London Diocesan Deaconess District Services._ + [64] _First Annual Report of the London West Central Mission_, + pp. 14-42. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MILDMAY INSTITUTIONS. + + +Valuable suggestions will be obtained from the study of every successful +deaconess institution, and none will perhaps furnish more practical +models for American Methodism than does the establishment at Mildmay +Park in North London. Its methods of work are flexible, and allow place +for a diversity of talent among the workers, while a wide variety of +charitable and evangelistic effort is undertaken. These two causes give +a breadth and vigor to the work at Mildmay that impress every one who +has knowledge of it. + +Whenever we find a good cause carried on successfully and prosperously, +we know that behind it there must be a strong man or woman who has +"thought and wrought" to good purpose. So the first question that arises +in the mind of the visitor who for the first time forms one of the +audience in the great Conference Hall, or looks about in the adjoining +building to see the deaconess home, is, "Who first thought this out? Who +was the founder of this wonderful mission?" And the answer tells us +that Mildmay originated, as did Kaiserswerth, in the prayerful +determination of a Christian minister and his wife to reach out to every +good end that God's spirit of enlightenment could suggest to them. Rev. +William Pennefather was rector of Christ's Church at Barnet, and while +devoted to his ministerial duties his sympathies did not end with his +own people, nor his own denomination. His home was sometimes called the +"Missing Link," for it was a meeting-place for noblemen and farmers, +bishops and clergymen of all churches; a place "where nationalities and +denominations were easily merged in the broad sunshine of Christian +love."[65] He carried his principle of Christian fellowship further, +for, after mature deliberation, in 1856, he issued a call for a +conference to be held at Barnet whose object was "to bring into closer +social communion the members of various Churches, as children of the one +Father, animated by the same life, and heirs together of the same +glory."[66] These conferences have been continued from then to the +present time, and are known and prized in many lands. I was present at +the conference of 1888, and representatives were there from nearly +every Protestant country, while on the platform were leaders of nearly +every Protestant denomination, furnishing a wonderful illustration of +the union of the Christian Church in Christ; a spiritual union so real +and eternal that the minor differences of faith were swallowed up in the +great fact that in Christ Jesus all are one. + +Gradually a variety of missionary and evangelistic agencies grew up +about the conferences. In 1860 the little Home was opened at Barnet +which subsequently developed into the deaconess house at Mildmay Park. +The question of calling into more active exercise the energies of +educated Christian women, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, was +one that was attracting attention at the time in England. Mr. and Mrs. +Pennefather had long desired to do something in this direction, and +their desire took this practical form. In its beginning it had to battle +with all the "definite and indefinite objections" that could be advanced +against any attempt at organizing woman's work. But those days of latent +suspicion or more open antagonism are long past. The institution has +justified its right to be by doing a work that otherwise would have +remained undone. + +In 1864 Mr. Pennefather was called to St. Jude's, Mildmay Park, and the +philanthropic and religious undertakings which he had begun were +transferred to his new home. He took with him the "iron room" that had +been erected for the conferences at Barnet, and continued to use it for +the same purposes at Mildmay; while the missionary training-school and +home were accommodated in a house which he hired for the purpose. + +His new parish was in a part of London where poverty and want abounded. +There was no adequate provision for the education of the poor and +neglected children, so he erected a building where elementary +instruction could be given at a very low price. A soup-kitchen was +started at the iron room: clubs of various kinds were formed, and other +agencies were set at work, both for the temporal and spiritual welfare +of the people. The degraded and miserable neighborhood gradually +underwent a transformation, and the police testified that there was a +manifest restraint on the lawless locality. "To many of the waifs of +life no human hand was stretched in kindness until he came to the +district and taught them what Christianity was."[67] + +A small legacy coming to him, he bought a house with a large garden +attached, and made it a mission center for the needs of the infirm and +aged; while the ignorant and careless, who would not enter a church, +were often induced to attend meetings here. + +The training-school had been started at Barnet for the purpose of +training foreign missionaries; but Mr. Pennefather now saw that there +was as great a demand for home mission workers in the sorrowful and +benighted portions of the vast metropolis, so, after much deliberation +and consultation between himself and his wife, he decided to initiate +the ministry of Christian women as deaconesses. He hesitated about the +name to be given to the women whom he employed as Christian workers, but +no other was suggested conveying the same idea of service to Christ +among his suffering and needy ones, and, as the appellation had already +won respect through the good reports of the deaconess houses on the +Continent, he decided to adopt the same name. They continued to work in +his parish only until the terrible visitation of the cholera in 1866. +Then when men were swept into eternity by hundreds, and hundreds more +were in dire distress, the deaconesses were invited by the minister of +another parish to come to his assistance. In this way the bounds of the +work began to enlarge. A small hospital was added to the home and a +medical-school mission was begun. + +It now became necessary to build a large hall; the iron room was too +small for the conferences, the church too small for the congregation, +and the missions had outgrown the capacity of the mission room. When the +plan for a new building was made known money came in unsolicited from +various sources. The undertaking was pushed rapidly forward, and in +October, 1870, the hall was opened. It will seat 2,500 people, having a +platform at the west end, and a gallery running around the sides and +east end. + +Thanksgiving and prayer were built into the walls from the very +foundation; and before the basement rooms were cleared of rubbish, or +the floor laid, a prayer-meeting was held to ask for a blessing upon the +future undertakings of the mission. The basement was divided into five +rooms, to be used for night-schools and other agencies for the benefit +of the poor. + +Adjoining the hall, at the west end, was built the deaconess house. From +his home near by Mr. Pennefather had watched the completion of the work +with great interest. In one of his letters he says:[68] "Sometimes I can +scarcely believe that it is a reality, and not all a dream--the +Conference Hall, with its appendages, and the deaconess house actually +in existence. May the Holy Spirit fill the place, and may he make it a +center from whence the living waters shall flow forth." + +From a letter written to one of these deaconesses, we gain his opinion +as to the need of deaconesses, and what was his ideal of a Home.[69] +"The need for such an institution is great indeed. I do not suppose +there was ever a time in the history of Christianity in which the +openings for holy, disciplined, intelligent women to labor in God's +vineyard were so numerous as at present. The population in towns and +rural districts are waiting for the patient and enduring love that +dwells in the breast of a truly pious woman, to wake them up to thought +and feeling. O! if I had the women and had the means, how gladly would I +send out hundreds, two by two, to carry the river of truth into the +hamlets of our country, and the streets and lanes of our great cities. +Will you pray for the Home? Ask for women and for means. I want our Home +to be such a place of holy, peaceful memories that, when you leave it, +it may be among the brightest things that come to your mind in a distant +land, or in a different position; and each inmate can help to make it +what it should be." But Mr. Pennefather did not live to see the great +extension in usefulness and importance that the Deaconess Home was to +obtain in later years. He passed away from life April 28, 1873, leaving +to his wife, who had ever been his sympathetic and devoted helper, the +care of continuing the work he had begun. She is still the head of the +Mildmay Institutions, assisted by a resident superintendent, and aided +by the counsels of wise, experienced men, who form the board of +trustees. + +From the beginning of the erection of the new building every portion of +it was put to use. In one of the basement rooms is the invalid kitchen, +where, daily, puddings, jellies, and little delicacies are prepared and +sent out to sufferers in the neighborhood, who could not otherwise +obtain suitable nourishment. From eleven to two o'clock tickets are +brought in, which have been distributed by the sisters or by the +district visitors; and those who come to take the dinners, while waiting +their turn, have a kind word, or sympathetic inquiry about the sick one, +from the deaconess in charge. + +A flower mission occupies another room. Kind friends send here treasures +from the garden and green-house, field and wood, and children contribute +bouquets of wild flowers. A deaconess superintends the willing hands +that tie the bunches, each of which is adorned with a brightly colored +Scripture text. Ten hospitals and infirmaries were regularly visited +during 1888; and more than thirty-eight thousand bunches of flowers were +distributed, each accompanied by an appropriate text. + +Near at hand is the Dorcas room, where deaconesses are kept busy in +cutting out clothing and superintending the sewing classes. During the +winter of 1887 thirty widows attended this class three times a week, +glad to earn a sixpence by needlework done in a warm, lighted room, +while a deaconess entertained them by reading aloud. A large amount of +sewing is given out from the same room, and the garments that are made +are often sold to the poor at a low price. A most impressive scene is +witnessed during the winter months, when, on three evenings of the week, +all the basement rooms are crowded with the men's night-school, which +has, it is believed, no rival in England. The ordinary number of names +on the books exceeds twelve hundred. There are forty-nine classes, all +taught by ladies, the majority of them being deaconesses. The subjects +range from the elementary to the higher branches of general and +practical knowledge, including arithmetic, geography, geometry, freehand +drawing, and short-hand. The Bible is read in the classes on Monday and +Friday, and a scriptural address is given by some gentleman on +Wednesday. The school always closes with prayer and singing. The men +may purchase coffee and bread and butter before leaving, and of this +they largely avail themselves. A lending library is also attached to the +school. The highest attendance during last session was five hundred and +eighty-one, the lowest two hundred and eighty-seven. + +The influence of this school is very great, and many pass on from it to +the men's Bible-class, which is held on Sunday afternoons in the largest +basement room.[70] + +A servants' registry is attached to the deaconess house, and through its +means about four hundred servants are annually provided with places. + +Nearly fifty deaconesses make their home at this central house, many of +them having work in the different parts of the city, perhaps at remote +distances, but returning at night to the home-like surroundings and +purer air of the central house. The large sitting-room, the common +living-room of the deaconesses, is a charming place. It is of great +size, but made cheerful and attractive by pictures, flowers, and bright +and tasteful decorations that are restful to the eyes. Both Mr. and Mrs. +Pennefather made it a principle of action to have the home life +cheerful, pleasant, and attractive, so that when the sisters come in +toward evening, tired physically, and mentally depressed and exhausted +by the long strain of hearing tales of misery, and seeing sights of +wretchedness and squalor the day through, they could be cheered not only +by the words of sympathy and love of their associates, but by the +silent, restful influences of their surroundings. + +As I looked around the great room with deep-set windows, brightened by +flowers, and still more by the happy faces of the deaconesses, some of +whom were young girls with the charms of happy girlhood set off by the +plain, black dress and wide white collar of the deaconess garb, I could +but think the founders wise in arranging such pleasant, home-like +surroundings for their workers. + +From the windows you look down into a beautiful garden, a rare luxury +for a London dwelling. This garden was among the later accessions of Mr. +Pennefather, being purchased by him shortly before his death. A train of +circumstances led to its possession which he regarded as markedly +providential; and the delightful uses to which "that blessed garden," as +it has been called, has since been put, seem to justify the importance +he attached to securing it. During the conference times great tents are +reared here for the refreshments which the weary body needs. A fine old +mulberry tree extends its branches, and under its ample shade meetings +of one kind or another are held at all hours of the day. The lawn, with +its quiet, shady walks, furnished with comfortable garden seats, +provides a meeting place for friends, where, in the intervals between +the services, those who perhaps never see each other during any of the +other fifty-one weeks of the year may walk or sit together. "Here in +more ordinary times may be seen the children of the Orphanage (where +thirty-six girls form a happy, busy family) playing together, or the +deaconesses in their becoming little white caps, who have run out for a +breath of air. Here, too, during the summer, a succession of tea-parties +is held for the different classes which have been reached by the +deaconesses in the more densely populated parts of London, to whom the +garden is a very paradise."[71] + +Before leaving the Central Deaconess Home I must speak of one branch of +work--the artistic illustration of Scripture texts--because it so +illustrates the happy freedom and wisdom of the Mildmay methods, which +seek to develop the strength of each sister in the line of her special +aptitudes. Two of the deaconesses have marked ability as artists, and +they devote their time to illuminating texts and adorning Christmas and +Easter cards with rare and exquisite designs. From the sale of these +illuminations over five thousand dollars were realized last year for the +benefit of the institution. + +The Conference Hall, too, should have a further word of recommendation +for the truly catholic spirit in which it serves the interests of a +myriad of good causes. Besides the crowded meetings of the conference +there are held Sunday services throughout the year. The hospitality of +its rooms is readily granted to every good cause with which the mission +has sympathy. During 1887 "temperance society meetings, railway men and +their wives, Moravian missions, Pastor Bost's mission at La Force, the +MacAll Paris missions, the Sunday closing movement, young men's and +young women's Christian associations, a Christian police association, +the Children's Special Service mission, the Christmas Letter mission, +Bible readings for German residents, and various other foreign and home +missions have all in turn been advocated here."[72] + +The larger number of the deaconesses at the central house, as well as +the twenty-five at the branch house in South London, are employed in +twenty-one London parishes, where their work has been sought by the +clergymen; they go to all, undertaking every kind of labor that can +give them access to the hearts and homes of the people. While +co-operating with the clergyman in charge of a parish their work is +superintended from the Deaconess Home. They visit from house to house +among the sick and poor, hold mothers' meetings, teach night-schools, +hold Bible-classes separately for men, women, and children; hold special +classes for working women and girls who are kept busily employed during +the day, and during the winter months have a weekly average of more than +nine thousand attendants on their services. They are solving the problem +of "how to save the masses" by resolving the masses into individuals, +and then influencing these individuals by the power of personal effort +and love. + +But a few steps from Conference Hall is the Nursing Home, where about +one hundred "nurse sisters," nurses, and probationers make their home in +the intervals between their duties, and are presided over by a lady +superintendent of their own. Adjoining is the Cottage Hospital, a +beautiful building, the gift of a lady in memory of her son. The walls +have been painted and decorated throughout by some ladies who delight in +using their skill to make beautiful the homes of the sick. + +A large hospital and medical mission also exist in Bethnal Green, a +densely populated part of London that in some portions can vie with the +worst slums of the city. It was so necessary to provide better +accommodations for nursing the sufferers than could be found in their +poor homes that a warehouse was fitted up with beds and transformed into +a small hospital. In 1887 four hundred and thirteen patients were +received at the hospital, and in the dispensary for outside patients +sixteen thousand four hundred and eighteen visits were paid during the +year, nearly two thirds of which number were to patients in their own +houses. There is no place in which a hospital could be more sorely +needed than in this destitute part of London, and perhaps no place where +it could be more appreciated. "I had no idea," said a man of the better +class who was brought in, "of there being such a place as this; you give +as much attention to the poorest man you get out of the street as could +be given to a prince."[73] + +Every Christmas some kind of an entertainment is arranged for the +hospital patients, and, through the gift of friends, articles of warm +clothing are distributed to protect against the winter's cold. + +A variety of mission work is carried on in connection with Bethnal +Green. There is a Men's Institute, open every evening except Sunday and +Monday, in connection with which is a savings' bank that is well +patronized. There is a Lads' Institute, where the deaconesses have +classes and meet the boys in a friendly way; a men's lodging-house, +where a comfortable bed and shelter can be had for eight cents a night. +The latter is an enterprise which could be imitated with profit in all +our large American cities, where it is very difficult for the homeless +and poverty-stricken to obtain a decent lodging, or to find any place, +in fact, where liquor is not sold. There are also evangelistic services +in the mission here, Sunday-schools, Bible-classes, temperance meetings, +a soup kitchen, and a coffee bar, where, during Christmas week, between +four and five hundred men and boys were given light refreshments, and at +the same time some idea of the kindliness and good-will that are +associated with this happy season of the year. + +There are also two convalescent homes, one at Barnet and one at +Brighton. The home at Brighton is especially designed for the poor +patients of the East End mission. The report for the year ending +December 31, 1887, says that five hundred and fifty men, women, and +children enjoyed its benefits for a fortnight or longer.[74] + +Mildmay nurse deaconesses have also charge of the Doncaster General +Infirmary, the Nurses' Institute at Malta, and the Medical Mission +Hospital at Jaffa, where two hundred and nineteen patients were received +the last year, of whom one hundred and seventy-five were Moslems. + +There also exists under the supervision of Mildmay workers a railway +mission that was begun in 1880 for men on duty at two of the London +stations. An organized mission has sprung up from this small beginning +that has now extended over three great lines of railroads which employ +thousands of men. + +The long list of labors given do not exhaust the efforts of Mildmay +workers, for, besides special teas for policemen and postmen, and the +mission room and day-school at Ball's Pond, there is also an educational +branch that is meeting the demand for higher educational advantages for +women, under distinctly religious influences, by the Clapton House +School. + +The questions involuntarily present themselves, when reading the +undertakings just enumerated, that involve not only faithfulness and +devotion in service, but disciplined, practiced faculties, "What class +of women are these by whom so much has been accomplished? And what is +the training that has made them so effective?" It is difficult to +answer the first question. The deaconesses are of all classes, many of +them being ladies who devote their time, talent, and means to forward +the cause. There are a good many daughters of clergymen, who are +carrying out the associations of their life at home. Just how many are +self-supporting and just how many are maintained by the Institution are +facts that are never known; as Mrs. Pennefather says in a letter of +February 11, 1889, "There are certain points we deal with as strictly +private. While every probationer pays four guineas for her first month, +the after monetary arrangements are never known except to myself and the +resident lady superintendent." + + + NOTE.--There is a further department at Mildmay that has never been + named, but is certainly an important and busy one; it might be + called the "Department of Inquiry," for certainly the personal + visits and letters received, inquiring into the details of the + institution, must be very large. My obligations to Mrs. Pennefather + are great, who, both by letter and printed matter, has placed a + great number of facts at my disposal, of which I have availed myself + freely in writing this sketch. Mrs. Pennefather's words, "we are + glad when we can help any Christian work with the experience God has + permitted us to gather," echo the words of the great apostle, "Let + him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teacheth in + all good things." I remember, too, the gracious patience with which, + during one of the crowded days of the last conference, Miss + Coventry, the superintendent, spent a long hour with us, answering + fully and minutely the many questions which we put when trying to + supplement our want of knowledge by her long experience. Indeed, the + spirit of Mildmay impressed me as generous and helpful; as has been + said, "Over the whole house rules the spirit of love, devotion, and + prayer."* + + * "Deaconess Work in England," _The Churchman_, May 12, 1888. + + +The second question is more easy of response. There is a probation +house, where ladies that present themselves as candidates are received +for a month, and are given work in teaching orphan children, or go out +to the city missions and the night-schools under the care of a +deaconess. If the probation has proved satisfactory the candidate enters +the training-school called "the Willows," a mile or two from the Central +House, a pleasant home which about three years ago came into the +possession of the institution and the inmates of the school, formerly +accommodated in five small houses, are now gathered, at slightly greater +expense, under one roof in the larger, pleasanter home. The following +extracts, taken from a little circular called "A Missionary +Training-school," will give us a good idea of the life of the embryo +deaconesses, and the instruction, practical and theoretical, that they +receive. "The house, which lies a little back from the road, is entered +through a conservatory passage, and on the other side of the spacious +hall, with its illuminated motto, 'Peace be to this house,' above the +fireplace, are the lady superintendent's sitting-room and the large +dining-room, where, on the day when I visited 'the Willows,' about +thirty of us sat down to dinner. Several others were absent in +connection with their medical studies. Both these rooms open on a +terrace, and beyond stretches a garden which, even in lifeless +winter-time, looked inviting, and, in its spring beauty and summer +loveliness, must be in itself a training for the young natures which are +learning in the slums of Bethnal Green and Hoxton their hard +acquaintance with sin and sorrow. Perhaps in these days of strain and +toil too little has been thought of the need of young hearts for some +gentle relief from the first shock of meeting with the evil with which +older workers have a mournful familiarity." + +The inmates of the Training-school are not deaconesses alone. The school +was started to prepare workers for the foreign field, but the crying +need of the vast metropolis turned attention to the home field. The +Church of England Zenana Society sends its candidates to Mrs. +Pennefather for training, and she is glad to accept them, believing that +a variety of companionship is needed by those who, in zeal for their +personal work, might lose the broad sympathy for all kinds of Christian +labor, which is an invaluable cultivation for wise and useful laborers. + +The several classes who pass through the course of training may be +designated as follows: + +a.) Those who pass on to the deaconess house. + +b.) Candidates for (1) the Church of England Zenana Society; (2) the +Church Missionary Society. + +c.) Those who receive medical training for working among the women and +children of India. + +d.) Those who are as yet unconnected with any society. + +e.) When vacancies occur some few are received who merely return to home +or parish work, but who are greatly benefitted by training and +experience. + +"The general routine of life seems to be as follows: Prayers at eight +o'clock, then breakfast, followed by a certain amount of domestic duty +which falls to the lot of each. For it is not forgotten that these years +of training are not for the sake of home life, but as preparation for +the self-denials of missionary life. Speaking broadly, the mornings seem +to be chiefly devoted to classes; afternoons to out of door and district +work; and thus theory and practice pleasantly relieve and support each +other." + +There are regular Bible-classes held by different clergymen, and once a +fortnight there are lectures on the history of missionary work. There +are classes in Hindustani, drawing, and singing, and for those whose +education is defective, elementary classes in arithmetic, geometry, and +short-hand. The probationers are also given training in the duties of +the store-room, and the order and method that they are taught in caring +for the minutest details must certainly form valuable habits in all +those who have any desire to profit by the instruction they receive. + +For those who are destined for medical work among the women of India +there is a special course of medical training, both theoretical and +practical. + +The age requirement is not so strictly maintained at Mildmay as at many +other deaconess houses, but, as a rule, ladies from about twenty to +thirty years of age are preferred as students in the training-school. +The sum of three hundred dollars is charged for the year's expenses at +the training-school, medical students paying one hundred dollars +additional. + +Our study of the Mildmay Institutions has been somewhat extensive. As +was said at the beginning of the chapter, the great freedom and +simplicity of the Mildmay methods, as well as the happy faculty that its +directors possess of utilizing all varieties of individual talent, make +this deaconess establishment one that is full of valuable suggestions to +the similar institutions that are now arising in American Methodism. No +working force is wasted; if a deaconess possess a special talent, she is +given a field in which to exercise it; and if exceptional conditions +arise workers are found ready to meet them. This training provides +well-equipped missionaries for the foreign field, and equally +well-prepared missionaries for the great field of the present hour--the +home mission work in the crowded wards of great cities. + +The annual expenses of the Mildmay Institutions vary from one hundred +and ten thousand to one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Sixty +thousand dollars are received in voluntary contributions, and the +remaining sum is generally obtained from friends who are immediately +concerned in the work. + +It is certainly a marvelous tribute to Christian faith, although it is +never heralded as such, that an establishment of the extent and +magnitude of Mildmay has been maintained for years with no permanent +endowment to fall back upon, and that annually the renewed self-denial +of constant friends has to supply the large amount of money needed to +meet the entire expenses. Besides those outward and visible services +which it renders "for the love of Christ, and in his name" Mildmay +furnishes a constant testimony to the fidelity of the Christian faith in +the hearts of many believers. + + + [65] _Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather_, p. 279. + [66] _Ibid._, p. 305. + [67] _Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather_, p. 435. + [68] _Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather_, p. 471. + [69] _Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather_, p. 471. + [70] _Mildmay Deaconesses and their Work_, p. 7. + [71] _Mildmay Deaconesses and their Work_, p. 6. + [72] _A Retrospect of Mildmay Work During the Year 1887._ + [73] _Mildmay Deaconesses and their Work_, p. 13. + [74] _A Light in a Dark Place_, p. 21. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +DEACONESSES IN SCOTLAND. + + +When Fliedner went on his second tour to England he extended his journey +to Scotland, and ventured to Edinburgh at a time when the cholera was +sweeping with fearful ravages through the city in order to become +acquainted with Dr. Chalmers. The great Scotch divine and his good +deeds, that were connected with all kinds of charitable endeavor, moved +the German pastor to admiration and stirred him to holy emulation. On +the other hand, that Chalmers was profoundly touched by the work that +Fliedner had accomplished in Germany there can be no doubt; we have his +own words to testify to the importance he attached to the diaconate of +women. In his lectures on Romans, he says: "Here, too, we are presented +with a most useful indication, the employment of female agency, under +the eye and with the sanction of an apostle, in the business of the +Church. It is well to have inspired authority for a practice too little +known, and too little preached on in modern times. Phebe belonged to +the order of deaconesses, in which capacity she had been the helper of +many, including Paul himself. In what respect she served them is not +particularly specified. Like the women in the gospels who waited on our +Saviour, she may have ministered to them of her substance, though there +can be little doubt that, as the holder of an official station in the +Church, she ministered to them by her services also." It is but +recently, however, that deaconesses have become incorporated into the +religious life of Scotland, and, so far, they do not exist in connection +with the Free Church, of which Chalmers was the able and heroic leader, +but only in connection with the national Church--the old historic Church +of Scotland. Within this Church the question has assumed the form, not +alone of the revival of the apostolic order of deaconesses, but also of +the organization of all the manifold activities of women within the +Church into one whole, which is put under the authority and direction of +the officers of the Church. + +Isolated attempts in this direction had previously been made, but in +1885 the first definite steps were taken when the Committee on Christian +Life and Work, of which Dr. Charteris was the Convener, presented to the +General Assembly a report on "The need of an organization of women's +work in the Church," part of which is as follows: "The organization of +women's work in the Church has become a subject of pressing interest. +The Assembly has already sanctioned and regulated the organization of +women's work in collecting for foreign missions, and in sending out and +superintending missionaries. The great and growing strength of the +movement thus recognized is one of the most gratifying things in our +mission; ... but of still older date, and not less powerful, is the part +taken by women in the home work of the parish church. Lady visitors are +carrying messages of divine truth and of human sympathy into the +dwellings of the poor both in town and country. Many have been trained +as nurses that they may be skilled ministrants to the suffering and +sick; and there can be little doubt that the greater part of the actual +personal help which ministers receive in parishes is from the women of +the congregations. But those who have done most of the good work are +most instant in asking from the Church some means of doing still more. +From ministers and from their female helpers have come many requests to +the committee for some provision for training; some recognition and +organization of those who are trained.... In the Church of England are +many homes for nurses and deaconesses; training institutions for female +mission work of every kind; and the rapidity with which they are +multiplying proves of itself how much they are needed; also +non-conformist institutions of the kind, and some separate from all +Churches. Your committee believe that the time has fully come for our +Church's taking steps to supply her own wants in this important +department of mission work."[75] + +The General Assembly then directed the committee to inquire into the +subject of women's work in the Church, and to bring up a definite report +to the next assembly. The committee accepted the task, sent out requests +to every parish for suggestions as to the forms of Christian work to be +carried on by women, and the best means of making preparation for their +special training, and prepared themselves by personal inspection of the +leading institutions for training women workers in England to be able to +answer intelligently the same questions. A scheme was reported in 1886 +which should incorporate all existing parish organizations, such as +Sabbath-school teachers' and women's societies of all kinds, and should +aim at increasing their number and working power. In 1887 regulations +were perfected for working this scheme, and the approval of this by the +Assembly of 1887 made the new plan a part of the organized work of the +Church. + +The comprehensive character of the new departure in the Church of +Scotland is plainly seen from a view of the organization as it now +exists. The three grades into which the Christian women workers are +divided embrace every kind of work done in connection with the Church. +The first grade is general in its character, and forms an association +called the Women's Guild. In each parish the members of Bible-classes, +of Young Women's Congregational Associations, of mission working +parties, of Dorcas societies, as well as tract distributers, +Sabbath-school teachers, members of the Church choir, and any who are +engaged in the service of Christ in the Church are all to be accepted as +members of the guild. The next higher grade is the Women Workers' Guild, +for which a certain age is required, and an experience of at least three +years, with the approval of the kirk session which enrolls them. In +connection with this guild are associates, who have a similar relation +to the members of the Women Workers' Guild that the associates have to +deaconesses in the English deaconess houses. They are not pledged to +regular or constant service, but engage to do some work or contribute +some money every year. They can go to the deaconess house, put on the +garb of the deaconess while there, and as long as they remain can assume +the responsibilities and enjoy the privileges belonging to deaconesses. +The third higher grade is that of the deaconesses. Any one desiring to +become a deaconess "must purpose to devote herself, so long as she shall +occupy the position of a deaconess, especially to Christian work in +connection with the Church, as the chief object of her life."[76] +Provision was also made for a training-school and home where deaconesses +could be prepared for their duties. + +There are a great many ladies who for a long time have been engaged in +doing the practical work of a deaconess without being clothed in the +garb, or invested with the office. The Church of Scotland recognized +these workers by providing two classes of deaconesses, who should be +equal in position, but have different spheres of activity. Those who for +seven years had been known as active workers, and who have given their +lives largely to Christian service, are accepted as deaconesses of the +first class, and are free to work wherever they find themselves most +useful within the limits of the Church. The second class embraces those +who shall have received training in the deaconess institution, or have +been in connection with it for at least two years. + +When the measure was finally passed by the General Assembly there was no +delay in carrying into execution the details indicated by the plan of +work. The Deaconess Institution and Training Home was at once started. +It was located at Edinburgh, as the most central and convenient place +for the institution, and as furnishing the most available advantages for +the instruction and training of the deaconesses. From here as a center +the work is expected to penetrate into every part of Scotland by means +of the trained workers whose services will be available for all parts of +the country when desired by the ministers and kirk sessions. With true +Scotch prudence and wisdom it was arranged that the lady who was chosen +to be the superintendent should fit herself thoroughly for the duties of +her responsible place by becoming familiar with the workings of similar +institutions in England. She was accordingly given six months' leave of +absence, which she spent among the great London Homes, and only assumed +the duties of her position May 1, 1888. Meanwhile the Home had opened +under the temporary care of a lady who had been a worker in Mrs. +Meredith's Prison Mission, and for six years a Mildmay deaconess. It had +from the beginning the warm co-operation of sympathizing, influential +friends. Regular courses of lectures were arranged on subjects connected +with Christian work, and as similar courses will be demanded of like +institutions in America it may be interesting to give the syllabus in +full: + + + SYLLABUS OF LECTURES. + (On Tuesdays at 12.) + + 1. B.--Professor Charteris. Four Lectures. + "How to Begin a Mission." + + Nov. 29.--1. Whom to visit, and why. The ills we know of, bodily, + spiritual, social; and seek to lessen. + Dec. 6.--2. How to induce the people who belong to no church--perhaps + care for none--to come in. + Dec. 13.--3. What to do with the children; (a) to attract, (b) to + influence them. + Dec. 20.--4. What agencies besides Sunday services prove best. + + 2. C.--Dr. P. A. Young. Six Lectures. + "Medical Hygiene for the Use of Visitors." + + Jan. 3.--1. Object and scope of the course of lectures; short sketch + of the structure and functions of the human body, including a + brief description of the functions of digestion, absorption, + circulation, respiration, excretion, secretion, and enervation. + Jan. 10.--2. Fractures, how to recognize and treat them temporarily; + bleeding, and how to treat it; the use of the triangular bandage. + Jan. 17.--3. Treatment of fainting, choking, burns and scalds, bites + from animals, bruises and tears from machinery, convulsions, + sunstroke, persons found insensible, suspected poisoning and + frostbite; how to lift and carry an injured person. + Jan. 24.--4. Sick-room, its selection, preparation, cleaning, warming, + ventilation, and furnishing, bed and bedding, infection and + disinfection. + Jan. 31.--5. Washing and dressing patients, bed-making, changing + sheets, lifting helpless patients, food administration, medicines + and stimulants, what to observe regarding a sick person. + Feb. 7.--6. Taking temperature, baths, bedsores, nursing sick + children, application of local remedies, poultices, fomentations, + blisters, etc.; management of convalescents. + + 3. D.--Rev. George Wilson. Four Lectures. + "Difficulties Encountered by District Visitors." + + Feb. 14.--1. Difficulties proceeding from indifference. + Feb. 21.--2. Difficulties proceeding from ignorance. + Feb. 28.--3. Difficulties proceeding from adversity. + Mar. 6.--4. Difficulties proceeding from anxiety. + Note.--Questions invited from the ladies. + + 4. E.--Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod. Four Lectures. + "Some Qualifications of a Church Worker, especially among the Poor." + + March 13.--1. Motives and aims. + March 20.--2. Difficulties and hindrances, how to overcome them. + March 27.--3. Conditions of success. + April 3.--4. Helps, agencies, etc. + + 5. F.--Rev. John McMurtrie. Two Lectures. + "History and Methods of Missions to the Heathen." + + April 10.--1. History of missions. + April 17.--2. Methods of missions. + + +Another wise provision in this Scotch home is the arrangement by which +those who do not wish to become deaconesses, but who want to become +competent Christian workers in their own homes, can come here and spend +some months in receiving training and instruction in various methods of +Christian work. There is no department in life in which many blunders +and much loss of time and usefulness cannot be prevented by making use +of the experience of others who have previously overcome the +difficulties to be encountered. In other words, we need to obtain all +the preparation and discipline we can possibly have in order to do our +work well; and especially is this true of Christian work, which demands +the highest service that the heart and soul of humanity can give. Many +individuals will come to the home to be trained and fitted to work in +their own homes, and will start new lines of Christian activity that +will win the sympathies and efforts of many who are eager to be employed +in good works, if only they can have competent direction. + +A pamphlet entitled _The Deaconess Institution and Training Home_ says: +"Are there not many parts all over Scotland--mines, quarries, +etc.--where the population is poor and hard-working? Would it not in +such places be an advantage both to minister and people to have a +Christian lady, trained, experienced, and devoted, to live and work +among them? Or, which would be possible in every parish, would it not be +a great advantage that in case of need--in a mining accident, an +outbreak of sickness--a trained Christian nurse should be available +during the emergency?" + +The General Assembly provided that deaconesses should be solemnly +inducted into their office at a religious service in church. It also +provided "that along with the application for the admission of any +person to the office of a deaconess there shall be submitted a +certificate from a committee of the General Assembly intrusted with that +duty stating that the candidate is qualified in respect of education, +and that she has had seven years' experience in Christian work, or two +years' training in the Deaconess Institution and Training Home." Also, +"Before granting the application, the kirk session shall intimate to the +presbytery their intention of doing so, unless objection be offered by +the presbytery at its first meeting thereafter." On Sunday, December 9, +1888, the first deaconess was set apart to her duties. The kirk session +was already in possession of the necessary certificates testifying to +her "character, education, experience, devotedness, and power to serve +and co-operate with others." Due intimation had been made to the +presbytery. The questions were put that were appointed by the General +Assembly: + +"Do you desire to be set apart as a deaconess, and as such to serve the +Lord Jesus Christ in the Church, which is his body? + +"Do you promise, as a deaconess of the Church of Scotland, to work in +connection with that Church, subject to its courts, and in particular to +the kirk session of the parish in which you work? + +"Do you humbly engage, in the strength and grace of the Lord Jesus +Christ, our Lord and Master, faithfully and prayerfully to discharge the +duties of this office?" + +The lady who, by answering the above questions, received the sanction of +the Church as one of its appointed officers was Lady Grisell Baillie, of +Dryburgh Abbey. She writes to the author of this book: "I count it a +great honor to be permitted to serve in the Church of my fathers, and I +pray that I may be enabled faithfully and prayerfully to fulfill the +duties to which I am called, and that it maybe for the glory of our God +and Saviour that I am permitted to work in his vineyard." + +Miss Davidson, who was temporary superintendent of the home, but who is +now engaged in organizing branches of the Women's Guild throughout +Scotland, and Miss Alice Maud Maxwell, the present superintendent of the +home, have also been set apart to the same office. As has been said, +"Each represents an old Scottish family, whose members have been +distinguished for Christian and philanthropic labors;" and "each +represents a different type of deaconess work." Lady Grisell Baillie is +engaged in gentle ministrations among the people of her own home. Miss +Davidson is at the service of every minister who desires aid in +organizing women's work in his parish. And Miss Maxwell is at the +training-home, leading a busy life in directing the class labors and +missionary activities that center around it and in impressing her life +and spirit upon a band of workers who are to further Christ's cause both +at home and in the mission field. + +The mention of any facts that can bring before us the varied character +that the deaconess work can assume is valuable. For to be truly useful, +this cause needs to provide a place for women of very unlike qualities, +and also to allow a certain degree of freedom which will insure the +individuality of each worker. + +The action of the Church of Scotland has had its influence upon the +Reformed Churches throughout the world holding the presbyterial system. +At the session of the London Council of the Alliance of Reformed and +Presbyterian Churches during the summer of 1888, Dr. Charteris presented +a report embracing many of the features of the elaborate scheme which +he had previously devised for the Church of Scotland. And the Council, +in receiving the report, not only approved it, but "commended the +details of the scheme stated in the report to the consideration of the +churches represented in the Alliance." We may regard the Presbyterian +churches of Great Britain, therefore, as committed, not only to the +indorsement of deaconesses as officers in the service of the Church, but +to the organization of the whole work of women in the churches, under +ecclesiastical authority and direction. + +There is one feature of the deaconess cause as it has been developed in +the Church of Scotland that is of especial interest to the Methodists of +America. Most of the great deaconess houses of England have sprung from +the personal faith and works of earnest-souled individuals. Mildmay, for +example, is a living testimony to the faithfulness and energy of the +Rev. Mr. Pennefather and those associated with him. Within the Church of +England the recognition accorded deaconesses is a partial one, resting +on the principles and rules signed by the archbishops and eighteen +bishops, and suggested for adoption in 1871. But as yet the English +Church has not formally accepted this utterance, and made it +authoritative. The German deaconess houses, while receiving the +practical indorsement of the State Church of Germany, are not in any +way officially connected with it. Even Kaiserswerth itself is solely +responsible to those who contribute to its support for a right use of +the means placed at its command. The same fact applies to the Paris +deaconess houses. They are all detached efforts, not parts of a general +system. But the Scotch deaconesses are responsible to a church, and a +church is responsible for their work. The Church of Scotland is, +therefore, justified in its claim when it says that the adoption of the +scheme of the organization of women's work by the assembly of 1888, "is +the first attempt since the Reformation to make the organization of +women's work a branch of the general organization of the Church, under +the control of her several judicatories."[77] The second attempt was +made, which was the first also for any Church in America, when, May 18, +1888, the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States instituted the +office of deaconess, and made it an inherent part of the Church economy, +under the direction and control of the Annual Conferences. + + + [75] _Organization of Women's Work in the Church of Scotland._ + Notes by A. H. Charteris, D.D.; p. 4. + [76] _Report of Committee on Christian Life and Work_, 1888, p. 36. + [77] Nearly all of the facts, both printed and personal, concerning + the deaconess cause in Scotland have been furnished the writer + through the kindness of Lady Grisell Baillie, Dryburgh Abbey, + Scotland. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE DEACONESS CAUSE IN AMERICA. + + +It was no part of the plan of this book, when first projected, to treat +of the deaconess cause as it is developing within the United States of +America, but gradually, through the kindness of many friends belonging +to different denominations, a number of facts have been obtained which +bear directly upon the question of how the example of European deaconess +houses has influenced and is influencing the Protestant Churches of +America; and it seems unwise to omit them from the consideration of the +subject. + +Naturally the German Lutherans, who were well acquainted with the +deaconess work in their native land, were the first to try to introduce +it among their churches. In the yearly report sent out from +Kaiserswerth, January 1, 1847, Fliedner mentions that an urgent appeal +had been made to him to send deaconesses to an important city in the +United States, there to have the oversight of a hospital, and to found a +mother-house for the training of deaconesses. In the report for the +following year Fliedner again refers to the call from America, and +states his intention to extend his travels to the New World, and to take +with him sisters who shall aid in founding a mother-house. In the summer +of 1849 he was enabled to carry out his intention, and July 14, 1849, +accompanied by four deaconesses, he reached Pittsburg, Pa., where Rev. +Dr. W. A. Passavant, who had written so many urgent appeals for his aid, +was awaiting him. The building had already been secured for a hospital +and deaconess home, and, July 17, was solemnly dedicated at a service +where Fliedner delivered the principal address, and a large audience +testified to their interest. + +Before his return to Europe Fliedner visited the New York Synod, and, in +an English discourse, described the character and aims of Kaiserswerth, +and commended the newly founded institution at Pittsburg to the sympathy +and aid of the German Lutheran Church in America. No further results +were reached, as the synod contented itself with resolving that "this +Ministerium awaits with deep interest the result of the work made in +behalf of the institution of Protestant deaconesses at Pittsburg."[78] + +The institution is occasionally heard of afterward in the proceedings +of the Pittsburg Synod, and in the paper, _The Missionary_, published +under the auspices of the same Church. Urgent appeals were also sent out +for devoted Christian women to come to the aid of the sisters and to +join their numbers; but although the hospital, commended by their +skillful and able ministrations as nurses, had the full approval of the +public, there were few, if any, who came to join them, and they were +unduly burdened by a task too great for their small number. + +In 1854 Dr. Passavant resigned his pastoral charge, and devoted his +entire time to the furtherance of the cause, but, up to the present, it +has not attained the complete organization and wide extension that its +friends in the German Lutheran Church have desired. + +The institutions which owe their existence to Dr. Passavant's efforts +are the infirmary at Pittsburg; the hospital and deaconess home in +Milwaukee; the hospital in Jacksonville, Ill.; the orphanages for girls +in Rochester and Mount Vernon, N. Y., and one for boys in Pennsylvania. + +There is, at the present time, only one of the original Kaiserswerth +sisters left, and that is Sister Elizabeth, the head deaconess at +Rochester. Dr. Passavant still continues to labor at forming a complete +organization on the basis of the Kaiserswerth system, and, to quote the +words of Dr. A. Spaeth, "As he succeeded forty years ago in bringing the +first sisters over from Kaiserswerth to Pittsburg, I have no doubt that +now, when the Church is at last awakening to the importance of this +work, he will succeed in the completion of his undertaking." + +A more recent development of the deaconess work in the German Lutheran +Church has arisen in connection with the German hospital in +Philadelphia. The hospital was well equipped for its work, but there was +much dissatisfaction with the nursing, which was inefficient and +unskillful. In the fall of 1882 the hospital authorities turned for +advice and co-operation to Dr. W. J. Mann, Dr. A. Spaeth, and other +clergymen of the denomination in Philadelphia. It was determined to +secure German deaconesses as nurses. Several attempts were made to +induce Kaiserswerth, or some other large mother-house in Germany, to +give up a few sisters to the hospital, but on all sides the applications +were refused. The deaconesses were too greatly needed in the Old World +to be spared for work in the New. At length, through the unremitting +efforts of Consul Meyer, and of John D. Lankenau, president of the board +of managers, a small independent community of sisters under the +direction of Marie Krueger, who had herself been trained in +Kaiserswerth, acceded to the proposal, and the head-deaconess, with six +sisters, arrived in Philadelphia June 19, 1884. They left the field of +their self-denying work in the hospital and poor-house at Iserlohn, in +Westphalia, sadly to the regret of the authorities and citizens of the +place, but to the hospital at Philadelphia they gave invaluable aid. +From the first their good services met with appreciation. The efficiency +of the hospital service was greatly increased; and from physicians and +hospital authorities there was only one testimony, and that a most +favorable one, to the value of deaconesses as trained nurses. Mr. +Lankenau, who has ever been the wise and munificent patron of the +institution, determined to insure a succession of these admirable nurses +for the service of the hospital, and, at an expense of over five hundred +thousand dollars, he built an edifice of palace-like proportions, and +made over this munificent gift to the hospital corporation. It was +accepted by them January 10, 1887. The western wing of the building is +used as a home for aged men and women; the eastern wing is a residence +and training-school for the deaconesses, the chapel uniting the two, and +the whole being known as the Mary J. Drexel Home and Philadelphia +Mother-house of Deaconesses. + +A visit to the Home convinced me that the regulations of the house, the +work of the sisters, and the devotion to duty that characterize the +mother-houses in Germany rule also in this home in the New World. The +imposing entrance hall with the great stair-way, the floor and stairs of +white marble, the wide halls and spacious reception-rooms and offices +seemed at first almost incongruous surroundings for the modest active +deaconesses, some of whom were busy in the hospital wards, others +hanging clothes on the line, and others occupied in duties within the +building. But place and environments are only incidental matters; the +spirit within is the determining quality; and a conversation with the +_Oberin_ (head deaconess) and the rector left me with the persuasion +that the spirit of earnest devotion to God and humanity is the +main-spring of duty in this house. + +The arrangement of the rooms for the sisters is similar to that at +Kaiserswerth; each consecrated sister has a small apartment simply +furnished for her own use. The older probationers are divided two and +three in a room. Those who have recently entered are placed in two large +rooms, but here every one has her own four walls--even if they are only +made by linen curtains. When Elizabeth Fry first visited Kaiserswerth, +among the arrangements that she at once recognized and commended was +that by which each deaconess was given the privacy of her own apartment. +In the deaconess houses that are so rapidly springing up in different +parts of the United States this provision ought to be guarded with care, +for a life that is so constantly drawn out in ministrations to others +should have some moments of absolute privacy upon which no one can +intrude. + +There are at present thirty-two deaconesses at the Philadelphia +Mother-house, twenty of whom are probationers. The house was admitted to +the Kaiserswerth Association, and will henceforth be represented at the +Conferences. The direction is vested in a rector and head deaconess, +neither of whom can be removed except on just cause of complaint. The +distinctive dress is black, with blue or white aprons, white caps and +collars. There is one addition to their garb which Fliedner would have +looked upon with disfavor, and that is a cross--worn by the sisters from +the time they are fully accepted as deaconesses. + +The first consecration took place in the beautiful chapel of the Home, +January 13, 1889, when three deaconesses were accepted as members of the +order. + +For those who desire to form a good conception of the deaconess +institutions as they are conducted in Germany, a visit to the +Philadelphia Mother-house of Deaconesses will be fruitful of valuable +suggestions.[79] + +In July, 1887, a Swedish Lutheran pastor in Omaha sent a probationer to +Philadelphia to be trained as a sister for a deaconess house to be +established in that central city of the United States. In 1888 four +others joined her, and the building of a hospital and deaconess home is +now progressing by the generous support of all classes of +philanthropists in Omaha. A deaconess home has also recently been +founded by Norwegian Lutherans in South Brooklyn, L. I. + +In the German Reformed Church a layman endeavored in 1866 to arouse +interest in the deaconess office. The Hon. J. Dixon Roman, of +Hagerstown, Md., at Christmas gave five thousand dollars to the +congregation, and with it sent a proposition to the consistory that +three ladies of the congregation should be chosen and ordained to the +order of deaconesses, with absolute control of the income of said fund +for the purposes and duties as practiced in the early days of the +Church.[80] This, and the action of the Lebanon Classis in 1867, +requesting the synod "to take into consideration the propriety of +restoring the apostolic society of deaconesses," seem to have been the +only steps taken by those connected with this denomination. + +In the Protestant Episcopal Church of America the bishop of Maryland +first instituted an order of deaconesses in connection with St. Andrew's +Parish, Baltimore, Md. Two ladies gave themselves to ministering to the +poor, and, with the sanction and approval of the bishop, a house was +obtained and given the name of St. Andrew's Infirmary. In 1873 there +were four resident deaconesses and four associates.[81] An early report +of the infirmary says: "The deaconesses look to no organization of +persons to furnish the pecuniary aid required by the demands of their +position. Their first efforts have been for the destitute and sick. At +the home they minister daily to the suffering and destitute sick +wherever found; some requiring only temporary medical aid and nursing; +others, whom God has chastened with more continuous suffering, +requiring, in their penury, constant care and continual ministration." +There is also under their charge a church school for vagrant children, +and one also for the children of those comfortably situated in life. + +The "Forms for Setting Apart Deaconesses," the "Rules for +Self-Examination," and the "Rules of Discipline" in the order of +deaconesses in Maryland are largely patterned after the Kaiserswerth +rules. In truth, the general questions for self-examination in regard to +external duties, spiritual duties to the sick, the conduct of the +deaconesses or sisters to those whom they meet, and the means for +improving in the duties of the office are in many cases selected, and +but slightly altered, from the series prepared by Pastor Fliedner.[82] +The influence of the devout German pastor is indelibly stamped upon the +deaconess cause in whatever denomination it has developed during the +nineteenth century. + +In 1864 the deaconesses of the Diocese of Alabama were organized by +Bishop Wilmer. Under the supervision of the bishop the three deaconesses +with whom the order originated were associated in taking charge of an +orphanage and boarding-school for girls. In 1873 there were five +deaconesses, one probationer, and two resident associates.[83] + +In the Church Home all of the work is done by the inmates. As in the +foreign Homes, the deaconesses are provided with food and raiment, and +during sickness or old age they are cared for at the expense of the +order. They are forbidden to receive fee or compensation for their +services. Any remuneration that is made is paid to the order. In one +feature, however, the deaconesses of Alabama differ from either their +German or English sisters, and that is in the care of their individual +means. The "Constitution and Rules" says: "The private funds of +deaconesses shall not be expended without the approval of the chief +deaconess or the bishop."[84] This usage prevails in sisterhoods, but, +outside of this instance, so far as the author has been able to learn is +not known in deaconess institutions. + +The rules for the associates in connection with the order are given +somewhat at length, from which the following are taken. After defining +an associate as a Christian woman desiring to aid the work of the +deaconesses, and admonishing her that, although not bound by the rules +of the Community, yet she must be careful to lead such a life as is +becoming one associated in a work of religion and charity, she is +requested "to state what kind of work she will undertake, under the +direction of the chief deaconess, and to report the result to her at +such intervals as may be agreed upon." The following modes of assistance +are suggested as most useful; namely, "to provide and make clothing for +the poor; to collect alms; to procure work, or promote its sale; to +teach in the school; to assist in music or other classes; to relieve the +destitute; to minister to the sick; to visit and instruct the ignorant; +to attend the funeral arrangements for the poor; and to take charge of +or assist in the decoration of the church." + +The feature of the union of the associates with the deaconesses is one +whose importance can scarcely be exaggerated. There are many who would +be able to serve for a short time in this relation whose valuable aid +would be entirely lost if none but deaconesses who give all their time +and strength could work in the order. + +In the Diocese of Long Island Bishop Littlejohn instituted an +association of deaconesses by publicly admitting six women to the office +of deaconess in St. Mary's Church, Brooklyn, February 11, 1872. The +association has not continued in the form in which it originated, but +has now changed into the Sisterhood of St. John the Evangelist. Still +this sisterhood retains many of the distinctive deaconess features. A +sister may, for instance, withdraw from the sisterhood for proper +cause. She labors without remuneration, and the sisters live together in +a home, or singly, as they may please, in any place where their work is +located. + +In the Diocese of Western New York there are five deaconesses, with +their associates and helpers, under the direction of the bishop of the +diocese. + +In America, however, as in England, within the Episcopal Church +sisterhoods are more influential and more rapid in their growth than are +deaconess institutions. In a list of the sisterhoods of the Episcopal +Church in America, given in the monthly magazine devoted to women's work +in the Church,[85] fourteen sisterhoods are named, one religious order +of widows, and two orders of deaconesses, one of which is that which is +now changed into the Sisterhood of St. John the Evangelist. + +In 1871 the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church +discussed at some length the relation of women's work to the Church, and +there resulted increased interest in the subject of sisterhoods and +deaconess institutions. An effort has been made to obtain for the order +of deaconesses a wider recognition than it now enjoys, as it simply has +the support of the bishop within whose diocese the deaconesses are at +work. To this end, in the General Convention of 1880, a canon was +presented to the House of Bishops, and accepted by a large vote. But it +reached the Lower House too late for consideration, and no further +action has been taken since that time. + +In the Presbyterian Church of America the question of the revival of the +office of deaconess has already claimed some attention. The late Dr. +A. T. McGill for many successive years earnestly recommended the revival +of the office to the members of his classes in the theological seminary +at Princeton; and his views, matured by years of reflection, were given +for publication in an article published in the _Presbyterian Review_, +1880. + +In the Minutes of the General Assembly for 1884, page 114, and of 1888, +page 640, we find an overture asking if the education of deaconesses is +consistent with Presbyterian polity, and, if so, should they be +ordained, answered in the negative in the following words: "_The Form of +Government_ declares that in all cases the persons elected [deacons] +must be male members. (Chap. 13. 2.) In all ages of the Church godly +women have been appointed to aid the officers of the Church in their +labors, especially for the relief of the poor and the infirm. They +rendered important service in the Apostolic Church, but they do not +appear to have occupied a separate office, to have been elected by the +people, to have been ordained or installed. There is nothing in our +constitution, in the practice of our Church, or in any present +emergency, to justify the creation of a new office." The next year an +explanation of this action, which so obviously contradicts the facts of +history, was asked, but the committee declined to say any thing more. + +The Southern Presbyterian Church has proceeded further, and in the +direction of the female diaconate, as it is characterized in its main +features wherever it has existed, when it declares in its _Book of +Church Order_, adopted in 1879, that "where it shall appear needful, the +church session may select and appoint godly women for the care of the +sick, of prisoners, of poor widows and orphans, and, in general, in the +relief of the sick."[86] + +In isolated Presbyterian congregations deaconesses have already obtained +recognition. At the Pan-Presbyterian Council, held in Philadelphia in +1880, Fritz Fliedner, the son of Dr. Theodor Fliedner, was present as a +member, and through the influence of his words the Corinthian Avenue +Presbyterian Church set apart five deaconesses, whose duty it should be +to care for the poor and sick belonging to the congregation. + +"More recently the Third Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles, Cal., +empowered its three deacons to choose three women from the congregation +to co-operate with them in their work, granting them seats and votes in +the board's monthly meeting."[87] + +The very interesting article from which the quotation has just been made +seems to think the term "deaconess" a misnomer for the Kaiserswerth +deaconess, as she belongs to a community, whereas the deaconess of the +early Church was attached to a congregation and belonged to a single +church as an officer; but it may well be questioned whether the class of +duties assigned to the deaconess of the early Church and of modern times +alike, that is, the nursing of the sick, the care of the infirm in body +and mind, the succoring of the unfortunate, and the education of +children, are not the main characteristics of the office of a deaconess, +while the fact of her connection with a number of like-minded women in +community life is merely an external feature of the office as it has +developed in the nineteenth century. Whatever form the question may +assume, with the Presbyterian churches of Scotland and England so far +committed to the adoption of the office of the deaconess as an effective +part of the organization of the Church, it seems inevitable that the +Presbyterian Church of America will have to meet this question in the +near future. + +The Methodist Episcopal Church of America, although occupying itself +with the question of the diaconate of women later than any of the +denominations previously mentioned, by its acceptance of the office and +by making it an inherent part of its ecclesiastical organization has +taken a higher ground than any Protestant body, with the exception of +the Church of Scotland. The Methodist Episcopal Church has ever offered +a freer scope for the activities of its women members than any other +body of Christians save the Quakers, who are still the leaders in this +respect; but it may be questioned if any furnishes a larger number who +are actively engaged in promoting philanthropic and religious measures. + +The honor of practically beginning the deaconess work in connection with +the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States belongs to Mrs. Lucy +Rider Meyer, of the Chicago Training-school, who, during the summer +months of 1887, aided by eight earnest Christian women, worked among the +poor, the sick, and the needy of that great city without any reward of +man's giving. In the autumn the Home opened in a few hired rooms, and +Miss Thoburn came to be its first superintendent. The story of the +growth of the work, the securing of a permanent home, and the +enlargement of its resources is a most interesting one.[88] + +The Rock River Conference, within whose boundaries the Chicago Home is +situated, had from the beginning an earnest sympathy and confidence in +the work as it was developing in its midst. A memorial was prepared, and +was presented to the General Conference in May, 1888, by the Rock River +Conference, through its Conference delegates, asking for Church +legislation with reference to deaconesses. At the same time the Bengal +Annual Conference, through Dr. J. M. Thoburn, also presented a memorial +asking for the institution of an order of deaconesses who should have +authority to administer the sacrament to the women of India. Our +missionaries in India have long felt the need of some way of ministering +to the converted women who are closely secluded in zenana life, and who, +though sick and dying, are precluded by the customs of the country from +any religious service of comfort or consolation that male missionaries +can render. If it had been possible for our women missionaries to +administer the sacrament many Indian women could have been received into +the Church. All of the papers and memorials on this subject were put +into the hands of a committee, of which Dr. J. M. Thoburn (afterward +made missionary bishop to India and Malaysia) was chairman; and the +report of the committee was as follows: + + + "THE NEW OFFICE OF DEACONESSES IN THE + METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. + + "For some years past our people in Germany have employed this class + of workers with the most blessed results, and we rejoice to learn + that a successful beginning has recently been made in the same + direction in this country. A home for deaconesses has been + established in Chicago, and others of a similar character are + proposed in other cities. There are also a goodly number of similar + workers in various places; women who are deaconesses in all but + name, and whose number might be largely increased if a systematic + effort were made to accomplish this result. Your committee believes + that God is in this movement, and that the Church should recognize + the fact and provide some simple plan for formally connecting the + work of these excellent women with the Church and directing their + labors to the best possible results. They therefore recommend the + insertion of the following paragraphs in the Discipline, immediately + after ¶ 198, relating to exhorters: + + + "DEACONESSES. + + "1. The duties of the deaconesses are to minister to the poor, visit + the sick, pray with the dying, care for the orphan, seek the + wandering, comfort the sorrowing, save the sinning, and, + relinquishing wholly all other pursuits, devote themselves in a + general way to such forms of Christian labor as may be suited to + their abilities. + + "2. No vow shall be exacted from any deaconess, and any one of their + number shall be at liberty to relinquish her position as a deaconess + at any time. + + "3. In every Annual Conference within which deaconesses may be + employed, a Conference board of nine members, at least three of whom + shall be women, shall be appointed by the Conference to exercise a + general control of the interests of this form of work. + + "4. This board shall be empowered to issue certificates to duly + qualified persons, authorizing them to perform the duties of + deaconesses in connection with the Church, provided that no person + shall receive such certificate until she shall have served a + probation of two years of continuous service, and shall be over + twenty-five years of age. + + "5. No person shall be licensed by the board of deaconesses except + on the recommendation of a Quarterly Conference, and said board of + deaconesses shall be appointed by the Annual Conference for such + term of service as the Annual Conference shall decide, and said + board shall report both the names and work of such deaconesses + annually, and the approval of the Annual Conference shall be + necessary for the continuance of any deaconess in her work. + + "6. When working singly each deaconess shall be under the direction + of the pastor of the church with which she is connected. When + associated together in a home all the members of the home shall be + subordinate to and directed by the superintendent placed in charge. + + "J. M. THOBURN, _Chairman_. + "A. B. LEONARD, _Secretary_." + + +The adoption of this report made its contents a portion of the organic +law of the Church. + +It is doubtful if there was any measure taken at the General Conference +of 1888 that will be more far-reaching in its results than that which +instituted the office of deaconess. The full and complete recognition +accorded by the highest authority of the Church commended it to the +people, who showed a remarkable readiness to accept the provisions. +Nearly simultaneously, at important points distinct from each other, +steps were taken to establish deaconess homes, and to provide lectures +and practical training to educate deaconesses for their work. + +The terms of the law in which the Conference action was expressed were +not closely defined. It was felt that in establishing a new office for a +great Church there must be room for a wide interpretation, to meet the +various exigencies that will arise. It is true, also, that there can be +no final interpretation until there shall be a basis of experience wide +enough and varied enough to furnish facts that will justify us in +forming conclusions from them. Still it was thought by those who were +practically engaged in the work that there should be a common agreement +on certain practical points: What was to be the training that the +deaconesses were to receive during the two years of "continuous +service?" What was to be their distinctive garb? What was to be the +relation of the deaconess homes, that were arising, to the Conference +board appointed by the Annual Conference? To discuss these and other +questions a Conference was held in Chicago, December 20 and 21, 1888, of +those who were actively engaged in the work. The outcome of the +deliberations was the "Plan for Securing Uniformity in the Deaconess +Movement." Regulations were suggested concerning homes and their +connection with the Conference boards, conditions of admission were +agreed upon, and a Course of Study and Plan for Training +recommended.[89] Of course the recommendations set forth in the "Plan" +are not obligatory, but there has been remarkable unanimity so far in +accepting them. + +In addition to the Chicago Deaconess Home, and the branch in New +Orleans, there is the Elizabeth Gamble House in Cincinnati, of which +Miss Thoburn is superintendent; the Home in New York city, instituted by +the Board of the Church Extension and Missionary Society, under the +superintendence of Miss Layton; the home in Detroit, under the auspices +of the Home Missionary Society; and homes under way or projected in +Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Minneapolis; while individually deaconesses +are employed in Kansas City, Jersey City, Troy, and Albany. It is also +well to add that since his return to India, Bishop Thoburn has opened a +deaconess house in Calcutta, with four American ladies as deaconesses, +while at Muttra a second home has been opened, of which Miss Sparkes, so +long connected with our mission work in India, is superintendent. + +Pastor Fliedner thought it strange that in the New World where there is +such ceaseless activity in good works, the deaconess cause should make +such slow progress; but the season of sowing had to precede that of +reaping, and it seems now as though the fullness of time had arrived for +the incorporation into the agencies of the churches of America of the +priceless activities of Christian deaconesses. + + + [78] _Phoebe die Diakonissen_, Dr. A. Spaeth, p. 31. + [79] For facts concerning the Philadelphia Mother-house of + Deaconesses, and other important assistance rendered me, I desire + to express acknowledgements to Dr. W. J. Mann, Dr. A. Spaeth, and + Rev. A. Cordes, the rector of the house. + [80] McClintock and Strong's _Cyclopedia_, vol. ii, art. + "Deaconesses." + [81] _Sisterhoods and Deaconesses_, Rev. H. C. Potter, D.D.. 1873, + p. 118. + [82] _Sisterhoods and Deaconesses_, p. 105. + [83] _Ibid._, p. 181. + [84] Constitution and Rules for the Order of Deaconesses of Alabama, + Art. vi. + [85] _Church Work_, May, 1888. + [86] For this and other suggestions regarding the deaconess question + in the Presbyterian Church, I am greatly indebted to the kindness + of Dr. Hastings, President of the Union Theological Seminary. + [87] _Presbyterian Review_, April, 1889, art. "Presbyterian + Deaconesses." + [88] Mrs. Meyer's book on _Deaconesses_, containing also the story of + the Chicago Training-school and Deaconess Home, gives the best + description to be obtained of the rise of the work in Chicago. + [89] A more extended and elaborate course of study has been prepared + by the Rev. Alfred A. Wright, D.D., Cambridge, Mass. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE MEANS OF TRAINING AND THE FIELD OF WORK +FOR DEACONESSES IN AMERICA. + + +The deaconesses of the early Church differed from those of modern times, +as we have seen, in being directly responsible to a church society, and +in belonging to a church congregation in numbers of two or more. Modern +life shows a strong tendency to organization. Wherever there are workers +in a common cause they are banded together in societies and +associations. It was in accordance with the spirit of the age in which +he lived that Fliedner united his workers in the Rhenish-Westphalian +Deaconess Society, in 1836. It was a happy inspiration--shall we not say +a _providential_ one?--that furnished a convenient organization for the +office under present conditions. The mother-houses in Germany offered +good working-models, and their practical advantages were so obvious that +in whatever Protestant denomination the diaconate of women has revived, +it has been in connection with these homes. There is no place where the +training of a deaconess in all its aspects can be so well obtained as in +the deaconess home and training-school, which is our synonym for the +German mother-house. + +Besides the advantages of a permanent home, under careful supervision, +to which the probationers and deaconesses have access, in such a home +care is taken to train the deaconesses in the doctrines of the Church, +and there is an atmosphere favorable to the virtues of faith and +devotion that the work demands. The deaconesses are never allowed to +forget that they serve in a threefold capacity: "Servants of the Lord +Jesus; servants of the sick and poor, 'for Jesus' sake;' servants one to +another." The motto of the indomitable little republic of Switzerland, +"All for each and each for all," might well be accepted as that +characteristically belonging to them. + +Then, too, there is a tradition of service in such a home. One deaconess +learns from another. The physician is at hand to give his suggestions +and medical instruction, and the lectures on Church history, on the +history of missions, and on methods of evangelization make the home a +center of information on all questions that affect the usefulness of the +office. There is no other one place in which to obtain the practical and +theoretical instruction that is needed for the education of a deaconess +well equipped for her work. + +Furthermore, the deaconess home offers a wide and varied field for those +possessing different gifts. None can be so highly educated and +cultivated that places cannot be found to utilize their talents to good +advantage; while those who are sadly lacking in the education of the +schools can, by talent, untiring industry, and energy make up for +defects in early training. + +The field of work of the deaconess in modern times is a large one. It +would be easier to define what it is not than what it is. In orphanages, +in asylums for fallen women, in women's prisons, in reform schools, in +Sunday-schools, infant schools, and higher schools, in classes among +working-girls and servants, in industrial homes, in asylums for the +blind and deaf and dumb, in hospitals of various kinds, and in churches, +working under the direction of the pastor--in all of these relations and +many others we find deaconesses in Germany, France, England, and other +European countries. + +The service in hospitals seems especially incumbent upon Christian +women, and in the early history of these institutions we find +deaconesses mentioned in connection with them. + +Before the birth of Christ hospitals were unknown. It is true that in +Rome and Athens a certain provision was made for the poor, and largesses +were given them from time to time. But this was done from motives of +political expediency, and not from sympathy or commiseration with their +ills. But as soon as the early Christians were free to practice their +religion openly, hospitals arose in all the great cities. In the latter +half of the fourth century the distinguished Christian teacher, Ephrem +the Syrian, in Edessa, placed rows of beds for the sick and starving. +His contemporary, Basil, the great bishop of Caesarea, founded a number +of institutions for strangers, the poor, and the sick, caring especially +for the lepers.[90] Little houses were built closely together, but so +that the patients could be separated one from another, and cared for +separately. Even at that early date the hospitals were arranged into +divisions for either sex, as they are at the present time. To use a +modern phrase, the wards of the men patients were placed under the +charge of a deacon while the deaconesses ministered to the sick of their +own sex, according as their services were required. "It was a rule for +the deacons and deaconesses to seek for the unfortunate day by day, and +to inform the bishops, who in turn, accompanied by a priest, visited +the sick and needy of all classes."[91] + +In the Middle Ages there were orders of Hospitallers, consisting of +laymen, monks, and knights, who devoted themselves entirely to the care +of the sick. Under their influence great and splendid hospitals were +built, of which the old Hotel Dieu in Paris was a conspicuous example. +The Hospital of the Holy Ghost in Rome, and the service of the same +order, originated like hospitals all over Europe. In late years, with +the development of medical and surgical art, hospital arrangements have +arrived at a degree of perfection never before known; and the care of +the sick, as it has been studied and practiced by Protestant deaconesses +and Catholic Sisters of Mercy, has also greatly improved. + +The state to which the hospitals had degenerated in Fliedner's time, and +the need of experienced nurses who should be actuated by the highest +Christian motives, were among the strong reasons he advanced for +providing the Church with deaconesses as helpers. Here are his +words:[92] "The poor sick people lay heavily on my mind. How often had +I seen them neglected, their bodily wants miserably provided for, their +spiritual needs quite forgotten, withering away in their often unhealthy +rooms like leaves in autumn; for how many cities, even those having +large populations, were without hospitals! And I have seen many on my +travels in Holland, Brabant, England, and Scotland, as in our own +Germany; I often found the portals of glittering marble, but the nursing +and care were wretched. Physicians complained bitterly of the +drunkenness and immorality of the attendants, and what shall I say of +the spiritual care? In many hospitals preachers we're no longer found; +hospital chaplains yet more seldom. In the pious olden time these men +were always in such institutions, especially in the Netherlands, where +evangelical hospitals bore the beautiful name of "God's house," because +it was recognized that God especially visits the inmates of such houses, +to draw them to himself. Do not such wrongs cry to heaven? Is not our +Lord's reproachful word addressed to us, 'I was sick and in prison and +ye visited me not?' And shall not our Christian women be capable and +willing to undertake the care of the sick for Christ's sake?" It was by +such words, and similar ones, as in his famous appeal "Freiwillige vor" +(Volunteers to the front!) which he sent out from Wurtemberg to Basel +in 1842, that he aroused the Christian women of Germany to give +themselves to this service. By their aid he instituted a system of +nursing that has changed the aspect of every hospital ward in Germany; +and, through the training that Florence Nightingale enjoyed at +Kaiserswerth, the reform that was there instituted passed to England, +and has effected a transformation in the entire hospital system of +England. + +In Germany deaconesses are often trained to special duties that are +required in hospitals for certain diseases or certain classes of +patients, and they are becoming so skillful in their duties that the +present system of hospital nursing could not be continued without their +aid. + +The nursing care of deaconesses in insane asylums is especially +valuable. The large and well-ordered Insane Asylum for Female Patients +in Kaiserswerth, with its long lists of cases soundly cured, shows how +healthful and important is the quiet, constant influence of intelligent +Christian attendance upon those who are mentally unsound. + +The usefulness of deaconesses as care-takers in all kinds of hospitals +and homes for the aged, and asylums of every description, is so apparent +that it does not need to be dwelt upon. The _creche_, or day home, +where infants and young children can be sheltered and watched during the +day while their mothers are at work, is an institution that started in +Paris in 1834, through the efforts of M. Marbeau, one of the mayors of a +district of the city. This is now incorporated into the government +system of Paris, and the idea has spread to neighboring lands, so that +such homes are found in many of the cities in South Germany and +Switzerland. It is true that there are no nurses that can care for +children as the true mother, but where mothers have to be absent from +morning until night engaged at hard work, and the little ones are left +neglected at home, or in the care of other children who are themselves +young enough to need very nearly the same attention that is bestowed on +the infants; or where the mothers are such in name, but in reality are +failing in every quality which we attach to that sacred office; or where +the foundling hospital is the only alternative to which the real mother, +confronted by the necessity of earning bread for herself and child, can +turn--in such cases the _creche_ is a real benefaction whose existence +has enabled families to keep together, and children to be given a chance +in life who otherwise would have had small prospect of keeping soul and +body together. + +There is another institution, called the waiting-school, where children +from two to four years of age are received, whose parents both go daily +to work, and who would be left to wander about the streets unless this +place of refuge were opened to them. The _creche_, or day home, seeks +only to watch over the infants who are put in its care, or to amuse them +and keep them contented; the waiting-school goes further, and tries to +give the little ones some ideas of discipline and the elementary +beginnings of instruction. Fliedner, who was a lover of children, took +great interest in both these institutions, and in his school for +infant-school teachers prepared deaconesses especially for the duties +that are required in teachers of this class. The motherly heart, the +gift of story-telling and singing, a pleasant and unruffled demeanor, +the quiet but firm inculcation of order and obedience--these and other +qualities Fliedner sought to develop in instructors for these schools. + +The day homes have already been introduced into many places in the +United States, and often cover the field of both the _creche_ and +waiting-school, but there is a wide opportunity for the extension of +their usefulness; and whether in the future, when the demands upon +Christian deaconesses shall be much more multiplex than they are now, it +may be necessary to provide special training for Christian teachers in +America for such special work, time alone can decide. The question of +Christian education is one that has not yet been determined in its full +extent. In the year 1800 Mother Barat, of the Catholic Church, founded +the order of Sisters of the Sacred Heart, which is especially devoted to +the education of daughters belonging to the higher social ranks. At her +death it numbered three thousand five hundred members, and had over +seventy establishments, which are located in every civilized land. It +cannot be maintained that the education given in these schools is either +extensive or profound, but the influence of the order upon the women +whom it has reached has been both. Fliedner, at Kaiserswerth, went as +far as his age and environments would permit him to go. He provided +schools where teachers were prepared as instructors for all grades of +schools, from the most elementary up to the girls' high-schools; and no +other institution in Germany, with one or two exceptions, such as the +Victoria Institute at Berlin, yet offers positions to women teachers of +a higher grade than is afforded by these schools. But in other lands, +where the educational facilities for women are far beyond those that +Germany can offer at the present time, positions of higher importance +and wider influence are held by women; and it is an important question +for the future what class of women shall fill these places. If Fliedner +had had to meet the problem we can imagine he would have done so with +the boldness and energy that he showed in solving those that his times +and circumstances afforded him. He would, doubtless, have enlisted among +his deaconesses those whose talents gave him reason to provide them with +the widest training the schools can offer; and then he would have +endeavored to place them where they could do the most effective service +for Christ and his Church. It may be that in the future which opens +before the women of the Methodist Episcopal Church of America there will +be just such questions seeking and finding solution. + +Doubtless at the present time the deaconess who will answer to the +greatest number of immediate wants is the "parish-deaconess," or the +home mission deaconess, as we may call her. Her usefulness has been well +tested in the great cities of Germany, France, and England, as we have +seen. Perhaps nowhere is her work better appreciated than in London, the +greatest city of modern times. The tendency of this age of manufactures +and commerce is to attract laborers and workers from country homes, +where work has become less open to them through the increased use of +agricultural machines of all kinds, into cities, where factories, +shops, counting-rooms, and offices constantly afford openings. London +has felt the full force of this movement. In 1836 her population was +about equal to that of New York, including Brooklyn and Jersey City. Now +the great city contains 5,500,000 inhabitants. It is growing at the rate +of over 100,000 a year, nor is there any influence at work to stop its +growth. The same causes that produce it are constantly at work. The +great massing of the population together, with the unequaled increase in +the wealth of the people, make the contrast of riches and poverty +striking and obvious. The west of London, with its vast wealth, its +homes of refinement and elegance, and its appliances for the enjoyment +of art, science, and literature, is separated from the poverty, the +degradation, the misery, and the sorrow of the East End by a gulf as +great as that which separated Lazarus from Dives. It is difficult for +those who are at ease, whose lives, to use Wordsworth's felicitous +phrase, are made up "of cheerful yesterdays and confident +to-morrows"--it is difficult for such even faintly to apprehend the +dullness, the drudgery, and the hardships of those who, even at the best +estate, are obliged to live in such surroundings. The vast metropolis a +few years ago was for a short time shaken out of its lethargy by a +voice that would be heard, when _The Bitter Cry of Outcast London_ was +published. "Few who will read these pages have any conception of what +these pestilential human rookeries are, where tens of thousands are +crowded together amid horrors which call to mind what we have heard of +the middle passage of the slave-ship. To go into them you have to +penetrate courts reeking with poisonous malodorous gases arising from +accumulations of sewerage, refuse scattered in all directions, and often +flowing beneath your feet; courts, many of them, which the sun never +penetrates, which are never visited by a breath of fresh air. You have +to ascend rotten stair-cases, grope your way along dark and filthy +passages swarming with vermin. Then, if you are not driven back by the +intolerable stench, you may gain admittance into the dens in which these +thousands of beings herd together. Eight feet square! That is about the +average size of many of these rooms.... Where there are beds they are +simply heaps of dirty rags, shavings, or straw, but for the most part +the miserable beings find rest only upon the filthy boards.... There are +men and women who lie and die day by day in their wretched single room, +sharing all the family trouble, enduring the hunger and the cold, +without hope, without a single ray of comfort, until God curtains their +staring eyes with the merciful film of death."[93] + +Such are the places where the deaconesses of East London go in and out +from morn to eve, like angels of mercy, succoring the miserable and +unhappy, often rebuking vice, and encouraging with friendly words those +who are worn and discouraged in the battle of life. Here they nurse the +sick, hold mothers' meetings, start evening classes for working young +men, and gather the children of all ages in every kind of class that can +interest and instruct them. They are always ready to provide for +individual cases that they meet. If they find a friendless young +servant-girl who is out of work, they send her to the servants' home, +where, for very little payment, sometimes nothing at all, she can be +taken care of long enough to give her fresh courage and strength. Then +she is aided in seeking a situation, and so she is saved from the +innumerable temptations to vice and misery that are sure to assail her +if she stands alone. + +Many of these deaconesses are educated women, gladly devoting their +whole life and energies to the work, and who with "food and raiment" are +quite content. Nothing but a strong indomitable faith in God's love and +promises can stand the strain of such work. But if there is the faith +and love to deny self and dare all "for the love of Christ and in His +name," where can such rewards for labor be found? The dull streets +become filled with friends, sodden countenances brighten, the little +children come with loving faces and gladdened hearts, and the deaconess +is recognized as interpreting to the hearts of these weary, forlorn, +helpless people the love of God who, when He came upon earth, shared the +burdens that belonged to His humanity. He came as a Man of Sorrows and +acquainted with grief, and it was the "common people" that heard Him +gladly. The deaconess, in her distinctive dress, is becoming a +well-known figure in the east of London, and not only protected but +recommended by her garb, she visits the lowest parts of the city without +danger. Just such deaconesses are needed in the cities of America. The +cities of the United States are increasing as wonderfully as the great +cities of the Old World. With the surplus population of Europe pouring +in upon us by the hundreds of thousands annually our country is doubling +in numbers every twenty-five years; and the growth of the towns absorbs +a larger proportion of this multitude than does the country. The cities +attract the immigrants because there they find others of their own +nationality. In some cities there are whole foreign colonies where the +people speak a foreign tongue, read foreign newspapers, and have very +few interests in common with the people of the land in which they live. +They continue the same customs and the same habits of thought that +belonged to them in the Old World. Examples of such colonies are found +in the thirty thousand Poles in Buffalo, and the sixty thousand +Bohemians in Chicago. + +Then the cities offer attractions that are irresistible to the young men +and women from the country. Thousands leave quiet country homes every +year, and, with no certain prospects before them, cast themselves into +the busy life of the nearest great metropolis. In many places, +especially in New England, the villages number less, and farm land is +much less valuable than it was fifty years ago. It is this massing of +population that is causing us already to experience some of the evils +that are old problems in the great cities of Europe. There is the same +gulf between the rich and the poor, with the added element that the +great mass of the poor are composed of foreigners and their children. +And the difference in race is a hinderance to a common ground of +sympathy. A greater hinderance is the difference in religious faith. The +preponderating number of native Americans are Protestants, and their +thoughts and beliefs are permeated with the principles that their +fathers held so dear, and which they sacrificed home and country to +preserve. They hold a faith that is inseparably connected with free +institutions, personal liberty, and personal responsibility. But the +mass of foreigners that are in the great cities largely belong to the +working-class, and, with the large proportion of the poor who are the +wards of the city, are Roman Catholic in faith, a faith that has little +in sympathy with republican institutions, and which least prepares its +followers to exercise the duties of citizens of a republic. Keeping +these facts in mind, the statistics contained in the following extracts +are of telling force: "If the laboring class should contribute its due +proportion to the congregations, the churches, many of which are now +half empty, would not begin to hold the people. In 1880 there was in the +United States one evangelical organization to every 516 of the +population; in Boston, _counting churches of all kinds_, there was but +one to every 1,600 of the population; in Chicago, one to every 2,081; in +New York, one to every 2,468; in St. Louis, one to every 2,800." "The +worst of it is that, instead of improving, the condition of things has +been growing worse every year. While the prosperous classes are moving +away to the suburbs, and the laborers are being more densely massed +together in the heart of the city, the church accommodations, even if +fully used, are becoming more inadequate to the needs of the community. +Including religious organizations of all sorts, New York had in 1830 one +place of worship for every 1,853 of its inhabitants; in 1840, one for +every 1,840; in 1850, one for every 2,095; in 1860, one for every 2,344; +in 1870, one for every 2,004; in 1880, one for every 2,468; and the +religious history of Chicago is even more noteworthy in this respect: +Chicago had in 1840 one church for every 747 of its population; in 1851 +there was one for every 1,009; in 1862, one for every 1,301; in 1870, +one for 1,593; in 1880, one for 2,081; in 1885, one for 2,254. All the +large cities have districts which are destitute of church +accommodations, and have not seats in Sunday-school for more than one +tenth of their children."[94] + +Have we not as great need of deaconesses as any of the cities of the Old +World? Most of our pastors stand alone. They do not have the assistant +curates and pastors that are connected with large city churches in +Berlin and London. When the minister makes pastoral calls, and, entering +working-men's homes, finds sickness and scanty resources, he has no +deaconess to call to his aid with her cheerful words of encouragement +and her loving sympathy, that are better than money and medicine. It is +not charity alone that is wanted in such cases; it is the knowledge of +how to use proper means to make the sick one comfortable, how to lessen +the burden on the family that a small additional call for work and care +has so sadly taxed; how to enlighten the ignorance that is so common +without wounding the susceptibilities that are so human. For, to quote +the words of the Christ in the _Vision of Sir Launfal_: + + "Not what we give, but what we share, + For the gift without the giver is bare; + Who gives himself with his alms feeds three:-- + Himself, his hungry neighbor, and Me." + +It is for such ministrations that we need deaconesses in every +evangelical church of the United States; may the women that are ready to +"publish the tidings" be "a great host." + + + [90] _Der Diakonissenberuf nach seiner Vergangenheit und Gegenwart._ + Emil Wacker, Guetersloh, 1888, p. 196. + [91] McClintock and Strong's _Cyclopedia_, vol. iv, art. "Hospitals." + The editors give as authority for this statement, Augustine, _De + Civit. Dei_, i, xxii, c. 8. + [92] Theodor Fliedner, _Kurzer Abriss seines Lebens_. Kaiserswerth, + 1886, p. 60. + [93] _The Bitter Cry of Outcast London_, pp. 3-10. + [94] _Modern Cities_, by S. L. Loomis, New York, 1887, pp. 88, 89. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +OBJECTIONS MET AND SUGGESTIONS OFFERED. + + +"Success and glory are the children of hard work and God's favor," is +the inscription upon the tablet erected in Christ's Hospital, London, to +the memory of Sir Henry Maine. + +Upon these two elements depends the future of the deaconess cause in +America. We are assured of the one; will the other be forthcoming? Will +the individual members of the Church give this cause their hearty +support? Surely the facts that have been stated must have convinced the +judgment, but perhaps there are certain prejudices to be overcome. "I +fear that deaconesses too closely resemble Catholic nuns for Protestants +to accept them," says one. No; these helpful Christian women are +thoroughly Protestant. Deaconesses are no Catholic institution. Wherever +they have appeared they have been met by open antagonism from the +Catholic Church. Witness the calumnies with which the papers of that +capital have constantly assailed the deaconess home of Paris. + +There is good in the Catholic sisterhoods, but mingled with much that we +disapprove. The deaconess institutions have the good features, but have +avoided the ill. Much of the success of the Catholic Church in winning +the poor and in retaining its influence over the lowly is due to the +power exerted by the sisters who go about from house to house among the +poor, and are received as friends. + +There is a great army of Catholic sisters. It is calculated that there +are about 28,000 Sisters of Vincent de Paul, 22,000 Franciscan Sisters +caring for the sick, 6,000 Sisters of the Holy Cross, 5,000 Sisters of +Charles, making a total of about 60,000 sisters of various orders +belonging to the Catholic Church[95] who are occupied with works of +mercy. The sisters engaged in education are often well-trained and +accomplished. The order of Charles will not accept widows, orphans +without property, girls from asylums, or those that have served as +maids. As a rule, those that join it must make some contribution of +money to the order when they are received. This order is small, but one +of the most active and aggressive of any. The great number of the +sisters, however, are women of few advantages, taken from poor homes and +lives of toil. There is wisdom in this course, for a great deal of the +work to be done depends upon qualities that can be developed by +training, while the exceptional education and talents are employed in +the exceptional places. + +A contemplation of these facts just recorded causes us better to +understand the importance that the co-operation of women has for the +Catholic Church. It causes us, too, to appreciate better the opening +before the Protestant women of all evangelical churches, so wide, so +all-embracing that every variety of talent can find a place. + +Gifts of clothes or food or fuel are not so well appreciated as the +respectful hearing which clothes the teller with self-respect, the kind +word and loving sympathy that feed the heart, the inspiring consolations +of religious faith that animate and warm the soul, and such gifts women +of sympathetic Christian hearts can ever render. As has been well said, +"Shall the advantages of such a system be monopolized by those who have +so little else to offer?"[96] + +You may say, "I do not object to the deaconess and her work, but I do +object to her distinctive dress. I do not believe in a uniform of +charity." But let us consider the arguments that can be brought forward +in favor of it. It is a distinctive garb because its wearer is a +distinctive officer of the Church. Unless she were "set apart" by some +uniform immediately and widely recognized how could she have the +protection that is accorded her? Alike in every land where she is known, +as we have seen, the deaconess can venture into any part of the great +cities at any hour, and is invariably treated with respect. There is in +the heart of the rudest and most lawless some trace of chivalry which +recognizes the self-denying lives of these women. Then, in making her +visits, the deaconess finds her dress an introduction that opens doors +that would otherwise remain closed to her. It certainly is a convenient +and economical garb, that saves a great deal of time and money to the +wearer. + +Are not these advantages more than an offset to an ill-defined objection +to the dress because it has been associated with women who are alien to +our Protestant faith? This is a minor matter, however, and one that can +be adjusted at liking. + +You may say, "I do not like to think of a woman who is dear to me cut +off from the pleasures of home life, and devoted to a life-time of work +among those who, in many respects, must be repugnant to her tastes. It +does not seem so high and beautiful a life as that which makes home a +center, and carries on its activities from there." + +But there are many women debarred from the pleasures of home life by +God's direct providence to whom other duties and responsibilities have +been allotted. And then this work may not necessarily be for life. It is +true that when a Christian woman occupies the position of a deaconess +she must relinquish wholly all other pursuits so long as she holds this +office. Neither without grave and weighty reasons should she seek to +leave it. It is her calling. The period of probation has its uses, not +only in making the probationer familiar with the duties and tasks +demanded of her, but in giving her time to test the strength of her call +to service, that she may not, through enthusiasm, lightly assume the +duties of the office, nor as lightly throw them aside. + +But if a deaconess is called away to perform her duties as a sister or +daughter, or if she desires to marry, she is free to do so, after giving +due information to those with whom she is connected in work. Freedom and +liberty are in every phase of this office. + +As to the highest life for a woman, an archbishop of England well said +some years ago, "that whatever life God gives to any woman is the +highest life for that woman," and that "in becoming a deaconess a woman +devoting herself to this life must believe that it is the highest life +for her, and that in it she gives herself wholly to the Lord."[97] + +There should be no country like America for the favorable development of +the deaconess cause, because in no other have women such large freedom +of action, and, if we may believe our friends, they have improved it +well. A distinguished English historian has just given us what we are +fain to accept as words of just and discriminating praise. "In no other +country have women borne so conspicuous a part in the promotion of moral +and philanthropic causes.... Their services in dealing with charities +and reformatory institutions have been inestimable.... The nation, as a +whole, owes to the active benevolence of its women, and their zeal in +promoting social reforms, benefits which the customs of continental +Europe would scarcely have permitted women to confer.... Those who know +the work they have done and are doing in many a noble cause will admire +still more their energy, their courage, their devotion. No country seems +to owe more to its women than America does, nor to owe to them so much +of what is best in social institutions, and in the beliefs that govern +conduct."[98] + +Nor in any denomination should we expect women to be more ready to adopt +this work than in the Methodist Episcopal Church, because women members +have been accustomed to exercise nearly all the obligations and duties, +and many of the privileges, that are accorded the laity of the great +connection, and they are prepared to accept new duties in new relations. +This Church has over a million women enrolled as members, able to serve +it in every capacity, from the lady in her home dispensing gracious +Christian hospitality, to the one standing quite alone, who will +welcome, as a brevet of rank, this new call to service. There are many +such women ready to respond. Many, too, whose hearts have been left +desolate by bereavement, who will be glad to fill the empty hands and +vacant life by work for God and humanity. To such a woman the wide world +is her home; the dear ones of her family are the poor and sick and needy +who crave her aid. + +The beautiful Mildmay motto is: "They dwell with the King for his work." +There are thousands of women all over the land who are ready to become +"King's Daughters" in this additional sense of the word. The +possibility of what such women can accomplish in the furtherance of +God's kingdom upon earth has not begun to be fathomed. + +Think of a great city church, with the manifold interests clustering +around it, left to the care of a single pastor! He has not only the +preparation of his weekly sermons, the care of the social meetings of +the church, but a long line of other duties that are equally important +to maintain. He must perform pastoral duties, push forward aggressive +movements in behalf of the masses not touched by the church services, +and fulfill public duties in connection with great charities, +philanthropies, and moral reforms that he cannot neglect without injury. +If the efforts of such a pastor could be furthered by one, two, or more +deaconesses, as are many of the pastors of the London churches, how +greatly would the working force of such a Church be increased! + +It is true that we must develop the work in accordance with our American +ideas and institutions. Through the study of the methods that have been +adopted in European institutions, and the experience that has been there +won through long years of patient toil, we are prepared in a measure to +start where their work leaves off. But we shall find that our +circumstances require new adjustments, and that we shall have our own +problems to solve, so that eventually our work will assume a +distinctively American form. + +We have only to plant the seed and to give it favorable conditions for +growth. The outcome is not ours: "In the morning sow thy seed, and in +the evening withhold not thy hand." The results are with Him who giveth +the increase. + +The practical question may occur to some one who reads these pages, +"What shall I do to become a deaconess?" Write to the superintendent of +the nearest deaconess home, and ask for directions. It is best not to +multiply homes until we have a larger number of trained deaconesses that +are ready to take charge of them, and until the number of applicants +desiring to enter them is much greater than at present. + +Many churches that need the services of a deaconess will doubtless +select one of their number whose heart God has inclined to this service, +and will provide the means by which she can secure the necessary +training at a home and training-school. There are many devout Christian +women in every community who have for years been deaconesses in labors, +if not in title and prerogatives. It is very important for such women to +give their sympathies and fostering care to this new institution. If not +deaconesses by office, they can ally themselves as associates. The +associate is a real officer in many of the deaconess establishments in +London. Ladies who have great sympathy with the cause, and an earnest +desire to do what they can to advance it, give some portion of their +time, their labor, or their means to promote its interests. They will go +to the home and reside there for some weeks or months, being under the +direction of the superintendent and filling all the duties of a sister. +Or, if such duties are not practicable, they will work in behalf of the +home, often securing the aid of those whose assistance is most valuable. +In some places it is arranged that a woman who earns her bread by daily +toil shall be assigned to labor at her regular vocation, consecrating a +certain portion of her wages (perhaps one twenty-fourth) to the cause +with which she is allied. + +The Church has been accused of being too abstract, too ideal, too far +removed from the life of the people in its every-day aspects. It is well +for Church members to examine themselves, and the Church communities to +which they belong, to judge how much ground there is for such criticism. +None are so sharp-sighted as hostile critics, and from none can such +good lessons be learned. But this accusation is not a new one, and the +only effectual way to meet it is to point to what the Church has +accomplished. Over eighteen hundred years ago, when John the Baptist was +in danger of mistaking our Lord, he sent to him, saying: "Art thou he +that should come? or look we for another?" and the answer was: "Go your +way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the +blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the +dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached." + +Let us be prepared to make a similar answer to-day, and the Church need +fear no accusation of holding aloof from the needs of the daily life of +the people. + +"Christianity, as it stands in the Bible and in our creeds, will neither +be read nor understood by millions; Christianity as it is revealed in +the loving service of deaconesses will be recognized by the dullest +eyes."[99] + +We have reached a new departure in Methodism. The Church has added +another to its aggressive forces. How is it to be received? What welcome +will be given it? May pastors and people, one and all, be in that +attitude of spirit where we shall respond readily to the command: +"Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." + + + [95] _Die Diakonissenberuf nach seine Vergangenheit und gegenwart._ + Emil Wacker. Guetersloh, 1888, chap. vi. + [96] _Modern Cities._ S. L. Loomis, The Baker & Taylor Co., New York, + 1887, p. 192. + [97] _Deaconesses in the Church of England_, Griffith & Farran, 1880, + p. 31. + [98] _The American Commonwealth_, James Bryce. MacMillan & Co., 1889, + vol. ii, pp. 586, 589. + [99] _Phoebe die Diakonissen_, p. 8. + + + + +NOTE. + +YEARLY EXPENDITURES AT KAISERSWERTH. + + +While the book is in press the following interesting statistics are +received, which are deemed of sufficient importance to insert here. + +Receipts and expenditures of Kaiserswerth for the three years from 1885 +to 1888: + + Year. Receipts. Expenses. + + 1885-1886 333,476 m. 74 pf. 331,812 m. 12 pf. + 1886-1887 371,523 m. 46 pf. 370,626 m. 45 pf. + 1887-1888 337,508 m. 14 pf. 492,384 m. 21 pf. + +In the year 1887-1888, the excess of expenses over receipts was caused +by the construction of a new building, and special funds were +contributed which more than met the deficit. + +Rev. F. Fliedner, the son of Pastor Fliedner further writes: "This does +not include the expenses in the East and other foreign stations. In +truth, about six hundred thousand marks pass yearly through our +treasury." What an amount of good accomplished by the yearly expenditure +of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars! + + + + +INDEX. + + + Acts vi, 3, 13, 79. + Addlestone, 161. + Africa, Northern, 108. + Age requirements, 29, 187. + Alabama, 213. + America, 73, 107, 252. + AMERICA, THE DEACONESS CAUSE IN, 204: German Lutherans, 204; + W. A. Passavant, Pittsburg, 205; Mary J. Drexel Home and + Philadelphia Mother-house of Deaconesses, 208; Swedish + Lutherans, Omaha, 211; Norwegian Lutherans, Brooklyn, 211; + German Reformed, Hagerstown, 211; Protestant Episcopal + Church, Baltimore, 212; Alabama, 213; Long Island, 215; + Western New York, 216; Presbyterian Church, 217; Southern + Presbyterian Church, 218; Methodist Episcopal Church, Lucy + Rider Meyer, 220; Rock River Conference, Bengal Conference, + 221; General Conference action, 222; Conference, "Plan," + Homes, 226. + AMERICA, THE MEANS OF TRAINING AND THE FIELD OF WORK FOR + DEACONESSES IN, 228: threefold service, 229; hospitals, 230; + day-homes, 236; home-mission deaconesses, 238; London, 239; + cities, 242; parish deaconesses, 245. + Amprucla, a deaconess, 25. + Amsterdam, 43, 143. + Andrews, Edward G., 6. + _Andover Review_, 150. + Apostolic Constitutions, 19, 21, 24, 85. + _Armen und Kranken Freund_, 66. + "Associates," 193, 213-215, 256. + Asia Minor, 76, 108. + Austria, 104, 108. + Author's facilities, 4. + + Baillie, Lady Grisell, 200, 201, 203. + Ball's Pond, 182. + Balsamon, Professor, 31. + Baltimore, St. Andrew's, 212. + Baptism, 22, 32. + Barat, Mother, 237. + Barnet, 167, 181. + Bartholomew's prayer, 23. + Basil, of Caesarea, 231. + Beghards, The, 37. + Beguines, The, 35-37, 145. + Beirut, Syria, 76. + Belgium, 34, 37. + Belleville, France, 134. + Bengal Conference, 221. + Berlin, 72, 99, 102, 111, 113, 114, 237, 245. + Barnardo, Dr., 159. + Berne, Switzerland, 103. + Bertheau, Caroline, 72. + Bethany House, 72, 102. + Bethany Society, 110, 118. + Bethnal Green, 180, 185. + Bible-classes, 175, 186. + Bible stories, 65, 124. + Bible study, 84. + Birthdays, 64, 71. + Boarders in Home, 132. + Bohemian brethren, 40. + Bohemians, Chicago, 243. + Boston churches, 244. + Bremen, Germany, 110. + Brighton, England, 181. + Brooklyn, N. Y., 211, 215. + Brotherhood in Christ, 10, 11. + Brotherhood of the Common Life, 37. + Buffalo, Poles in, 243. + + Calcutta, India, 227. + Calvin, John, 42, 134. + Cambridge Platform, 144. + Catechumens, female, 21. + Celibacy. See Monks, Nuns. + Chalmers, Thomas, 57, 189. + Charitable institutions, 9, 54, 57. + Charite, La, 100. + Charlotte, Sister, 75. + Charteris, A. H., 190, 192, 201. + Chicago, Ill., 73, 243-245. + Chicago Training-school, 220, 221. + Children, 10, 64, 123. + Cholera, 48, 170. + Christ, 246. + Christianity, 257. + Christmas, 178, 180, 181. + Chrysostom, 25, 26. + Church of England, 149, 150, 157, 191. + Church of England Woman's Missionary Association, 163. + Church of England Zenana Society, 185. + Church of Scotland, 190, 193, 195, 201, 203. + Church of the Deaconesses, 31. + _Churchman, The_, 105, 155. + Cincinnati, O., 226. + Cities, 242, 243, 245. + Clapton House School, 182. + Classes of deaconesses, 186, 194. + Collecting money, 53, 54, 114. + Commune, 131. + Commune deaconess. See Parish deaconesses. + Compassion, Christian, 11, 13. + Conference, Chicago, 226. + Kaiserswerth, 86, 106, 152. + Mildmay, 167. + Conference Hall, 171, 178. + Consecration, 23, 29, 85, 140, 199, 210, 211, 217. + Contagious diseases, 84, 88, 170. + CONTINENT, OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS ON THE, 93: Strasburg, + Pastor Haerter, 93; Muelhausen, parish deaconesses, 95; + Berlin servants, 99; Bethany House, 102; Dettelsau, Berne, + Sophie Wurdemberger, 103; Saint Loup, Pastor Germond, 104; + Riehen, Zuerich, Gallneukirchen, 104; joint management, 106; + environment, 107; many deaconesses, more needed, 108. + Convalescent homes, 181. + Convalescents' home, 126. + Cordes, A., 211. + Constantinople, 25, 28, 31. + Cottage Hospital, 179. + Coventry, Miss, 183. + Creche, 125, 234, 236. + + Dalston, 146. + Damsels of Charity, 43. + Darmstadt, 146. + Daughter-houses, 71, 138. + Davidson, Miss, 200, 201. + Day homes, 235, 236. + "Deaconess," 149. + how become? 255. + Deaconess Institution and Training-home, 195, 198. + Deaconesses, numerous, 107. + world-wide demand, 108. + See "Associates," America, Consecration, Continent, + Diaconate, Early, England, Fliedner, German, Kaiserswerth, + Literature, Methodist Episcopal Church, Mildmay, + Objections, Paris, Scotland, Twelfth, etc. + Deacons appointed, 13. + De la Mark, Henry Robert, 44. + Denmark, 108. + Detroit, Mich., 226. + Devonshire Square, 146. + Devotions, 83, 118. + DIACONATE, THE, 9: brotherhood of all in Christ, 10; foreign + missions, 11; home missions, 12; diaconate, 13; female + diaconate, 14; meaning, 16; qualities, field, 17. + Diaconate, female, 13, 17, 20, 24, 30, 34, 45, 46, 189. + organic, 203. + Discipline, 127, 129. + Dispensary, 69, 75, 103, 180. + Disselhoff, J., 31, 41, 48, 76, 91, 108, 109. + Doellinger, 10. + Doncaster General Infirmary, 182. + Dorcas room, 174. + Dove, symbol, 91. + Dress, distinctive, 36, 82, 116, 155, 156, 210, 242, 249. + Du Camp, Maxime, 134. + Dumas, Mademoiselle, 135, 138. + Duesseldorf, 56. + Duesselthal, 56. + + Early Church, 231. + EARLY CHURCH, DEACONESSES IN THE, 18: Pliny's letter, 19; + apostolic constitutions, 19; deaconesses, widows, virgins, + 20; deaconess' duties, 21; prayer of ordination, 23; + greatest growth in Eastern Church, 24; Chrysostom, 25; + Olympias, 27; age, property, 29; in Western Church, 30; + decay, extinction, 32. + East London Deaconess Home, 152, 156. + Easter cards, 178. + Eastern Church, 24. + Eccl. xi, 6, 255. + Edinburgh, Scotland, 189. + Eilers, Frederick, 110, 115. + Elberfeld, 58, 71. + Elizabeth of Prussia, 101. + Endowment, 67. + England. See London. + ENGLAND, DEACONESSES IN, 142: Puritans, 142; Amsterdam, 143; + Plymouth colony, widows, 144; Southey, Protestants, 145; + Mrs. Fry, Fliedner, Florence Nightingale, 146; Agnes Jones, + 147; Ludlow, Stevenson, Howson, 148; "sister," "deaconess," + 149; Church of England, 150; outside institutions, 158; + Tottenham, 159; Prison Gate Mission, 161; London West + Central Mission, 163. See Mildmay. + Environment, 107. + Eppstein, 50. + Epidemic, 87. + Ephrem the Syrian, 231. + Europe. See Continent. + Expenses, 82, 187, 188, 258. + + Faith and works, 202, 230. + Fallen women, 112. + Farming, 69. + Faubourg Saint Antoine, 121, 132. + Feierabend Haus, 71. + Ferard, Elizabeth C., 152. + Flag at Kaiserswerth, 91. + FLIEDNER, THE RESTORER OF THE OFFICE OF DEACONESS, 46: + Kloenne, 46; Amalie Sieveking, 47; Count von der Recke, 49; + Theodor Fliedner, 50; Idstein, Giessen, Goettingen, 51; + Herborn, Cologne, Kaiserswerth, 52; collecting money, 53; + Elizabeth Fry, 55; Prison Society, Frederika Muenster, 56; + convict Minna, refuge, 57; Fraeulein Goebel, deaconesses, 59; + Rhenish Westphalian Deaconess Society, 60. + Fliedner, Theodor, 44, 50, 55, 56, 60, 61, 66, 68, 73, 74, + 90, 100, 102, 146, 155, 189, 205, 213, 232, 237, 238. + wife of, 56, 58, 62, 63, 65-67. + wife, second, 72. + Fliedner, Fritz, 218, 258. + Florence, Italy, 77. + Florentius, 38. + Flower mission, 173. + Foreign missions, 170. + France, 67. See Paris. + Frankfort, 72, 110, 111, 113. + Frederick William IV., 49, 69, 72, 102. + Free Church of Scotland, 190. + Friends, The, 220. + Fry, Elizabeth, 55, 57, 60, 103, 135, 146, 209. + Fry, Herbert, 146. + + Gal. vi, 6, 183. + vi, 10, 13. + Gallneukirchen, 104, 105. + Gamble, Elizabeth, 226. + Garden 57, 125, 176. + General Conference, 221. + action, 4, 222. + German hospital, 127, 146. + German Lutherans, 204, 205, 206, 207. + GERMAN METHODISM, DEACONESSES IN, 110: Bethany Society, 110; + reports, 111; fallen women, nurses, 112; Frankfort, Hamburg, + Berlin, 113; collection, 114; Saint Gall, Zuerich, 115; + Sister Myrtha, 116; "God's Fidelity," 117; regulations, + Bethany Society, 118; home training, 119. + German Reformed Church, 211. + Germany, 46, 118, 202, 235. + See Berlin. + Germond, Pastor, 104. + Giessen, University, 51. + Gobat, Dr., 74. + Goebel, 59. + Gottestreue, or God's Fidelity, 117. + Goettingen, University, 51. + Greece, 108. + Greek Church, 24. + Groot, Gerhard, 37, 38. + Guinness, Grattan, 160. + + Hachette & Co., 136. + Hadwig, Duchess, 115. + Hagerstown, Md., 211. + Hamburg, 111, 113. + Harley House, 160. + Haerter, Pastor, 93. + Hastings, President, 218. + Hausser, G., 110, 111. + Headship, twofold, 106. + Herborn, 52. + Herford, 41. + Herzog, 32. + Holland, 108. + Home, pleasures of, 250. + Home missionary. See Parish deaconess. + Home missions, 170. + Hospitals. 48, 62, 69, 71, 73-75, 83, 93, 100, 103, 115, + 125, 127, 146, 158, 170, 179, 180, 206, 207, 230, 232. + House-mother, 106. + House of correction, 127. + House of Evening Rest, 71. + Howson, J. D., 15, 27, 84, 148, 157. + Hoxton, 185. + Hughes, Mrs., 163. + Huguenots, 141. + Humanitarianism, 11. + Huss, John, 40. + + Idstein, gymnasium, 51. + Ignatius, 21, 29. + Infirmary, 206. + _Imitation of Christ_, 38. + Immigrants, 242. + India, 186, 187, 221, 227. + Inquiry, Department of, 183. + Insane, 68, 105, 234. + Introduction, 3. + Invalid kitchen, 173. + Iserlohn, Westphalia, 208. + Italy, 77, 78, 108, 232. + + Jacksonville, Ill., 73, 206. + Jaffa, 182. + Jerusalem, 74, 162. + John ii, 5, 257. + John the Baptist, 257. + Jones, Agnes, 147. + Jubilee anniversary, 91. + + Kaiserswerth, 52, 57, 147, 152, 203, 234. + yearly expenses, 258. + KAISERSWERTH, THE INSTITUTIONS AT, 61: deaconess home, + hospital, first deaconess, 63; normal-school for + infant-school teachers, 64; Bible stories, 65; Fliedner's + wife, 65; publishing house, _Kaiserswerth Almanac_, _The + Poor and Sick Friend_, finance, 66; orphan asylum, 67; + normal-school for female teachers, insane asylum, 68; farm, + 69; refuge, Salem, 70; House of Evening Rest, + daughter-houses, 71; Berlin, 72; Pittsburg, 73; Jerusalem, + 74; Beirut, Smyrna, 76; Salem in the Lebanon, 77. + KAISERSWERTH, THE REGULATIONS AT, AND THE DUTIES AND + SERVICES OF THE DEACONESSES, 79; service, 79; nurses, + teachers, visitors, 80; probation, 81; dress, expenses, 82; + duties, quiet half-hour, 83; union, obedience, 84; + consecration, 85; conferences, statistics, 86; emergencies, + 87; wars, 89; Fliedner's death, successors, 91. + _Kaiserswerth Almanac_, 86. + Katherine Home, 163. + Kempis, Thomas a, 38. + Kilburn Orphanage, 160. + King's Daughters, 253. + Kloenne, Johann Adolph Franz, 46, 54. + Krueger, Marie, 207. + + Lads' Institute, 181. + Lambert le Begue, 34. + Lankenau, John D., 207, 208. + Laseron, Dr. and Mrs., 157, 158. + Laundry, 161. + Layton, M. E., 226. + Lectures, syllabus of, 196. + Leonard, A. B., 224. + Library, lending, 175. + Life, the highest, 251. + Lightfoot, Bishop, 15. + Literature referred to, 10, 11, 12, 15, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, + 31, 33, 44, 47, 49, 55, 66, 68, 70, 76, 79, 110, 111, 120, + 134, 142, 144, 146, 148, 150-152, 155-157, 164, 167, 175, + 178, 181, 192, 194, 205, 212, 214, 216, 217, 221, 226, 232, + 241, 245, 253. + Littlejohn, Bishop, 215. + Liverpool work-house, 147. + London, 166, 238-241, 245, 256. + See Mildmay. + London Diocesan Deaconess Institution, 151. + London Bible-women's Mission, 160. + London West Central Mission, 163, 164. + Loomis, S. L., 245. + Los Angeles, Cal., 219. + "Lost Way, The," 100. + Love, Christian, 11, 13. + Lucian, 22. + Ludlow, John Malcolm, 20, 23, 37, 87, 148. + Luke x, 5, 184. + Luther, Martin, 40, 42. + + McClintock & Strong, 23, 232. + McGill, A. T., 217. + MacMaster, 11. + Makrina ordained, 29. + Maine, Henry, 247. + Malta, 182. + Mann, W. J., 207, 211. + Marbeau, M. 235. + Marthashof, 99, 102. + Mary J. Drexel Home and Philadelphia Mother-house of + Deaconesses, 87, 127, 210, 211. + Matt. xi, 3-5, 257. + Maxwell, Alice Maud, 200, 201. + Medical mission, 179. + Medical training, 186, 187. + Mennonites, 44, 54, 59. + Men's Bible-class, 175. + Men's Institute, 180. + Men's Night-school, 174. + Meredith, Mrs., 160, 162. + Methodism, German, 110. + Methodist Episcopal Church, 107, 203, 220, 253, 257. + Meyer, Consul, 207. + Meyer, Lucy Rider, 220, 221. + Middle Ages, 232. + Middleburg, 42. + Mildmay, 202, 253. + MILDMAY INSTITUTIONS, 166: William Pennefather, Barnet, + Conferences, 167; Mildmay Park, 168; missionary + training-school and home, 169; deaconesses, 170; conference + hall, deaconess house, 171; Pennefather's death, successor, + 173; invalid kitchen, flower mission, 173; Dorcas room, + men's night school, 174; lending library, men's Bible-class, + servants' registry, 175; sitting-room, 175; garden, 176; + orphanage, Scripture texts, 177; conference hall, parish + deaconesses, 178; nursery home, cottage hospital, medical + mission, 179; Bethnal Green, 180; convalescent homes, 181; + nurses, railway mission, 182; deaconesses of all classes, + 183; missionary training-school, 184; classes trained, 186; + expenses, 188. + Milwaukee, Wis., 73, 206. + Ministrae, 19. + Minna, convict, 57. + Minneapolis, Minn., 226. + Missionary training school, 169, 170, 184, 185, 186. + Missions, 11, 12. + Mohammedans, 75. + Monks, 32, 41, 136. + Monod, Sara, 120, 136, 138. + Monod, W., 120. + Moravians, 44, 45. + Morley, Samuel, 159. + Mother-houses, 64, 72, 74, 80, 86, 106. + Mothers, 235. + Mount Vernon, N. Y., 206. + Muelhausen, 95. + Muenster, Frederika, 56. + Muttra, India, 227. + Myrtha, Sister, 116. + + Neal, Daniel, 142. + Neander, 23, 24. + Nectarius, Bishop, 28. + Netherlands, 35, 37, 39, 42, 44. + Neudettelsau, 103. + New Orleans, La., 226. + New York, N. Y., 226, 244, 245. + Nicarete, deaconess, 25. + Night-school, 174. + Nightingale, Florence, 146-148, 234. + Normal school, 64, 66, 68. + _North American Review_, 12. + Norway, 108. + Norwegian Lutherans, 211. + Nuns, 32, 37, 41, 151, 247. + Nursery girls, 101. + Nursery home, 179. + Nurses, 68, 71, 80, 83, 89, 90, 93, 104, 112, 113, 127, 133, + 182, 191, 208. + Nursing sisters' institution, 146. + + OBJECTIONS MET AND SUGGESTIONS OFFERED, 247: hard work and + God's favor, 247; not nuns, 247; Roman Catholic sisters, + 248; distinctive dress, 249; cut off from home life, 250; + America favorable, 252; Methodist Episcopal Church + favorable, 253; how become deaconess? 255; "do it," 257. + Orleans, Synod of, 30. + Olympias, 26, 27. + Omaha, Neb., 211. + Ordination. See Consecration. + Origen, 30. + Orphanages, 67, 73, 75-77, 159, 177, 206. + "Outsiders," 164. + + Palestine, 76. + Paris, 232, 235. + PARIS, DEACONESSES IN, 120: Sara Monod, W. Monod, 120; + deaconess establishment, 121; reports, children, 123; + creche, hospital, 125; convalescents' home, 126; house of + correction, 127; moral results, 130; Commune investigation, + 131; wounded, boarders, 132; preparatory school, nurses, + 133; success, parish deaconesses, 134; prisons for women, + 135; Mademoiselle Dumas, 136; branches, 138; parish + deaconesses, 139; consecration, 140. + Paris, Matthew, 37. + Parish Deaconesses, 72, 80, 96, 103, 110, 134, 139, 191, + 238, 254. + Pascal, Jacqueline, 125. + Passavant, W. A., 73, 205, 206. + Passy, 126. + Pastors, 245, 254. + Pegran, Pasteur, 44. + Pentadia, 26. + Pennefather, William, 167, 173, 202. + wife of, 173. + 1 Pet. ii, 5, 40. + iii, 4, 155. + Pharmacy, 126. + Philadelphia, Pa., 87, 127, 207, 210, 218, 226. + Phoebe, 14, 22, 189, 205. + Pilgrim fathers, 143, 144. + Pittsburg, Pa., 73, 205. + Plan for securing uniformity, 226. + Plato, 10. + Pliny, letter, ministrae, 19. + Poles in Buffalo, 243, 244. + Poor Men of Lyons, 39. + _Poor and Sick Friend_, 66, 104, 152. + Portsmouth, 153. + Potter, H. C. 212. + Prayer, 23, 83, 84, 118. + Presbyterian Church, 202, 217. + _Presbyterian Review_, 217, 219. + Preparatory school, 133. + Princess Mary Village Home, 161. + Prison Gate Mission, 161. + Prisoners, 55-58, 60, 70, 112, 135, 160, 161. + Probation, 81, 118, 184, 187. + Procla, deaconess, 26. + Protestant Episcopal Church, 212. + Protestants, 48, 105, 145, 151. + Psa. lxviii, 11, 246. + Publishing House, 66, 136. + Pudentiana, deaconess, 30. + Puritans, 142, 144. + Pusey, Dr., 149. + + Railway mission, 182. + Recke, Count von der, 49. + Rector, 106. + Reformed Church, 42. + Regulations, 79, 118, 193, 213. + Reichardt, Gertrude, 63. + Rest, 70, 71, 117. + Rhenish-Westphalian Deaconess Society, 228. + Riehen, near Basel, 104. + Rochester, N. Y., 73, 206. + Rock River Conference, 221. + Roman, J. Dixon, 211. + Roman Catholic Church, 30, 34, 244, 248, 249. + Rom. xvi, 1, 14, 115, 189. + Rome, 30, 78, 232. + Rue de Bridaine, 139. + Rue de Reuilly, 120, 127, 132. + Russia, 108. + + Sabiniana, 25. + Sachsenhausen, 112. + St. Christopher's Church, 35. + St. Gaul, 112, 115. + St. Louis, Mo., 226. + St. Loup, 104. + St. Marie, 134. + Salem, 70, 77, 117. + Salisbury Home, 153. + Salle d'Asile, 123. + Savings Bank, 181. + Schaefer, Theodor, 22, 27, 39, 42, 49, 95, 99, 146. + Schaff, Philip, 23, 24, 30. + Scheffel, 115. + SCOTLAND, DEACONESSES IN, 189: Church of Scotland, A. H. + Charteris's report, 190; three grades of women workers, 193; + Deaconess Institution and Training-home, 195; syllabus of + lectures, 196; consecration, seven years' experience or two + years' training, 199; Presbyterian Churches of Great + Britain, 202; office of deaconess made organic, 203. + Scripture texts, illustration of, 177. + Servants, 85, 99, 101, 102. + Servants Home, 241. + Servants' Registry, 175. + Service, threefold, 79, 229. + Shanghai, 109. + Sieveking, Amalie, 47. + Singing, 84, 85. + "Sister," 149, 165. + Sisterhoods, 47, 150, 157, 212, 215, 216, 248. + Sisters of Charity, 93, 136, 145. + Sisters of the Common Life, 37, 39. + Sisters of the People, 163, 164. + Sisters of the Sacred Heart, 237. + Smyrna, 76. + Soup Kitchen, 169. + Southern Presbyterian Church, 218. + Southey, 145, 146. + Spaeth, A., 205, 207, 211. + Spain, 108. + Sparkes, Miss, 227. + Sparta, 10. + Spee, Count, 58. + Spee, Countess, 59. + Statistics, 86, 87. + Stevenson. Dr., 148. + "Stille halbe Stunde," 84. + Strasburg, 93. + Success and glory, 247. + Superintendent, 72, 195. + Support. See Expenses. + Sweden, 108. + Swedish Lutherans, 211. + Switzerland, 104, 112, 235. + Syllabus of Lectures, 196. + Syria, 76. + + Talitha Cumi, 75. + Teachers, 68, 76, 80. + See Normal. + Theodosius, Emperor, 28. + Thoburn, Isabella, 226. + Thoburn, J. M., 5, 221, 222, 224, 227. + 1 Tim. iii, 8, 17. + iii, 8, 9, 79. + iii, 11, 15. + v, 9, 16. + Tit. ii, 3, 16. + Tottenham, 159. + Training-school, 62, 70, 229. + Turkey, 108. + TWELFTH TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURIES, DEACONESSES FROM THE, + 34; Belgium, Lambert le Begue, 34; Beguines, 35; Sisters + and Brothers of the Common Life, Gerhard Groot, 37; Thomas a + Kempis, 38; Waldenses, 39; Bohemians, Huss, 40; Luther, 40; + Calvin, 42; Netherlands, 42; Damsels of Charity, 43; + Mennonites, Moravians, 44; Zinzendorf, 45. + + Uniformity, Plan, 226. + United States. See America. + + Valette, Pastor, 130, 139. + Vermeil, Pastor, 100, 139. + Vienna, 104. + Virgins, 20, 21, 25. + Von Stein, 48. + + Wacker, Emil, 21, 40, 66, 231, 248. + Waiting-school, 235, 236. + Wakefield, Bishop of, 157. + Waldenses, 39. + Wars, nurses in, 89. + Weiss, G., 110. + Wesel, 42. + Western Church, 30. + Western New York, 216. + Widows, 16, 20, 21, 144. + Williams, Miss, 104. + "Willows, The," 184. + Wilmer, Bishop, 213. + Winckworth, C., 102. + Women, Old Testament, 24. + Apostolic times, 13, 16. + Early Church, 20. + Methodist, 6. + Women's Guild, 193, 200. + Women Workers' Guild, 193. + Wordsworth, 15, 239. + Work, hard, 247. + Wounded, 89, 131. + Wurdemberger, Sophie, 103. + Wurtemberg, 110. + Work-house, 72, 147. + + Young, Alexander, 144. + + Zinzendorf, Count, 45. + Zuerich, 104, 112, 115, 116. + + + + + +------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | + | Transcriber's notes: Obvious spelling/typographical and | + | punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison | + | with other occurrences within the text and consultation of | + | external sources. | + | | + | The original book was published by HUNT & EATON at New York, and | + | by CRANSTON & STOWE at Cincinnati. The copyright date was 1889. | + | | + | Occasional discrepancies between index and text (for example, | + | "Harter" in the index but "Haerter" in the text) have been | + | corrected to match the text. | + | | + | Some inconsistent mid-line hyphenations have been retained: | + | "bedside" and "bed-side" occur once each | + | "housework" and "house-work" occur once each | + | "workhouse[s]" occurs twice and "work-house" occurs three times | + | | + +------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Deaconesses in Europe, by Jane M. Bancroft + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEACONESSES IN EUROPE *** + +***** This file should be named 20747.txt or 20747.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/7/4/20747/ + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, David Wilson, Bill Tozier and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |