The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-05-14 00:00:00

AN EVANGELICAL SISTERHOOD.
(From the Daily Ne

A new Society has risen up which calls for inquiry and—if
its erinciples and practice are as sound as they seem—for
imitation. It coneists of nuns without vows; Sisters of
Mercy who have neither crucifix, rosary, tier conventual
garb; female Protestants who make nursing the sick and
soottiug the dying the business of their lives, and who work
without fee or hope of temporal reward. But tne " Sean-
gelical Protestant Deaconenes Institute and Training Iles-
pilaf" is a tiile to which eeceetion mast be taken There is
too much oi it, audit has a cumbrous anal misleading sound.
It is well enough to say with the directors of the society that
" Cesconese only means servant, and that such servants of
the church existed in the times of the Apostles, and after-
wards during the first centuries of the Christian era. It
may be conceded, too, that those defending this title are
gist its their protest, that "it sounds Roman Catholic-like
,Is an unworthy form of opposition. lint more practical ob-
jection& exist. !he experiment, though well-tried and proved
on Germany, anti in those parts of the Continent to which
oGrmanv has sent members of her Protestant sisterhood, is
ti England, and the mere phrase desconees may I rove a
stumbling block on the threshold to many worthy people,
who would he otherwise willing to give lithe substantial aid
It deserves. There is much in a name, and this clumsy con-
junction of polysyllables is both redundant and obscure. Nor
can we compliment the authorities of the association upon
their mode of explaining its objects and advantages to the
outer world. The acting director of the Hospital awl In-
stitute, whose single-minded entlmeiaarn is beyond praise,
I. a German physician, but his eight co-trustees are English-
men, as are his fellow-members of the council. We put it
to these geutlemen whether they ought not among
them, and vs a mattoe detv, to nee that a report
issued under the authority of tea names fulfils its
purm se more thoroughly than the production before
us. We say nothing of errors in spelling, of sentences
innoeent of grammar, or of such unaccountable complexities
as "the object proposed has the appearance that it might
lead Its." Oob grievance is, that great opportunity for us -
fulness is thrown away, and that by suppressing or ignoring
such intensely interesting narratives aml stetements as we
heard on Saturday neither the Sisterhood nor its objects have
fair play. Let the report he re-edited and amplified, and let
a wide publicity be given to the history, the working, and the
benefits of this most interesting institution, and good must
follow. Meanwhile, we will do our part by describing what
was to be seen at ts second annual uncoiling on eaturday
afternoon.
A pleasant, old-fashioned mansion, situated at the corner
of the Green, at Tottenham, was receiving company. Car-
riages were setting down, liveried retainers lounged about
its gater, glimpses of a pretty amid spacious garden, with a
large marquee ic its centre, could be seem; thtoteth Its open
door. Within, names were being entered in the visitors'
book, and gay dresses and happy-looking people were soon
promenading the soft sward beyond, chatting over the pros-
pects of the institution with Dr. Lueron, its director ; learn-
ing that one of the Sisterhood married last year, and that
seventeen were now in training, anti a proportion of them
ready at a moment's notice to go out as nurses to the sick
wherever and whenever. the occasion Reese. This la the great
aim and object of the Sisterhood.
Good nursing is one of the crying wants of the day, nerd
the private family upon whom the calamity of disease has I
fallen, or the hospital anxious to place Its wards under re- I
non/tilde nurses, have but to put themselves into communi-
cation with Dr. Laseron to learn the nature and extent of
the assistance he can furnish them So far, there is nothing
absolutely new. The good ladies who have the entire charge
of the wards of the London University Hospital, and whose
asocial treat, when a Christmas-tree is hung with presents
for the patients, makes one of the most interesting evenings
ix the London year ; the eletcre who db.:tote themselves to
mein places as the Newport Market Refuge and the excellehl
! Home of Charity in .oho, have accustomed us to the fact of
Englishwomen, gently born and nurtured, giving up their
lives to good works. Those ladies, however, are all
supposed to be of the High Church party. One at
least of the Sisters st the Newport Market Refuge
has left it to join the Church of Route, while the
special characteristics of the Evangelical deaconesses is that
they are Protestants among Protestant.. The whole tone of
Saturday's gathering showed this. Mr. Samuel Morley,
aI.P., presided ; and was supported by Mr. John Morley, the
nomiticent donor of the Society's freehold land and house;
Mr. George Moore, the Reverend Thomas Binney, and others„
while the ministers of Yarrow, denominations, who spoke In
commendation of Pr. Laneron and his scheme, all testified to
the pyre Evangeliciem of their doctrines Luther and Calvin,
the Reformation, and the Christian Church, in the largest
sense of the words, were all honoured, anti thou who shrink
from the word deaconese, and scent in It Popery in disguise,
might de worse than make -a Journey to 'fottenham-green,
there to test how thoroughly and essentially Protestant are
the principles Inculcated and acted on. eir Samuel Morley
described the institution as ore action from the stern iconoc-
lastic spirit which would have none of the things of Roman
Catholicism good or bad, and which in its eagerness to put
down monasteries and convents, had lost sight of the good and
holy principle which those much abused institutions claimed
to foster. The tendency of modern legislation was, he said, to
sever the care of the poor too exclusively from religion, and
to make of it a dry and hard obligation like the payment of
taxes and rates. The Evangelical sisterhood mote the
doctrines of Protestantism with the exerciee' of practical
charity and its niemeere lob like no ninny Dinah Al orrises !
early and eager to do battle with the evils of this life. There •
Is nothing secret about the institution. It may be visited
freely, and if, as was suggested on Saturday, Mr. Newdegate's
wishes become law, there is no establishment where the
commissioners of inquiry will be more warmly welcomed
than at Tottenhartegrern. The association is primarily a
voluntary one of Christian women, united for the performance
of works of active heuevolence,and has in connection with it a
free hospital for the sick poor, and an industrial home for
orphan girls. It is Intended to comprise members from
all ranks of society, and that "neither wealth nor poverty
should form a barrier to admissiou of the sisterhood."
Its original prospectus explained that It " would comprise
persons belonging to various branches of the Church of
Christ, provided they all hold evangelical truth and are
willing to partake of the Lord's Strpper in common." Can-
didates must bring a satisfactory recommendation from the
pastor of the Chmech to which they belong, and a medical
certificate that they are in good health. If approved by the
director and the council, they are received as probationary
sisters for twelve months or longer After this probation,
they are solemnly set apart for their calling, and are ex-
pected to remain tall, though it must be again distinctly un-
derstood that no vows are made. The deaconess has to de-
dare, however, that she has formed no engagement for mar-
riage, ani will not form one without consnlting the managers
of the institution she has Mined. That this obligation does
not operate very severely seem, proved by the recent mar-
riage of a deaconess while the codumes of the !deters,
thoogh plain, do not imply any severe renunciation of the
world. Brown or chocolate stuff drttuses. with neat white
aprons and .11A, cheerful, smiling, yorieg faces, bright eyea,
and a quiet intelligence, which is very apparent, are the imt
pressioes left by the Sisterhood, the majority of whom are
young, and, If we may say so, pretty. Amolq the salutary
rules they are called on to observe is "to ask no questions
ante the limit or extent of the private means of any Sister or
Probationary Sister, and to refrain from trying to influence
one another in the disposal of any private means.' They
most before admission promise to he content with the simple
maintenance provided for all the deaconesses, and they are
not allowed to make any largo donation to the fends of the

institute without consulting "their natural friends or

mate advisers."
The rules to be observed by and to the sisters who none In
private families have been well considered. The sister's duty
ni to mine, wash, and tend her patient, and to follow out con-
scienticusly every direction of the doctor. If absolutely
necessary she will also undertake to keep in order and cleam
linen the patient's room, and she Into take all her meals
either v,oth the patient or In an adjoining chamber. When
the sister has been watching during the night she must he
allowed fly, hours sleep In a nom to herself next .4 ay ; she is
not f ermined to watch more frequently than every second
night, anl when the we.tchtng Is required (Jr more than a
fortnight, not more than eTerV third night No charge 4
made for her services and she is not allowsa to accept
presents either from patients or their relations or friends. If,
however, it be desired to make a thank off el Mg to the insti•
tution she Is permitted to receive It, and to hand it over to
the director on her return which must be directly the patient
recovers or iu case of death. Such are briefly the conditions
nailer which the Evangelical Sisterhood serve, and on which
their aulatance can be obtained.

It ens pleasant to hear the Rev. Thomas Pinney relate how
a few mouthe sP,.Ce bodied driven down to Tottenham for a
nurse, suddenly and rorey n'eclet by n near relative, and
how one had been supplied immedhCej *hes, Mlles' and
intelligent nursing w,uld always be rememb3red cith grati-
tude ; pleasant to know from those with a wide T.:perinea
of the working of kindred institutions in Protestant Ger-
many of the blessing they have proved: pleasant to learn
from people who had "agreed to differ" on many points of
Christian doctrine Qnakers Presbyterians, Methodists,
Baptist', and Low Churchmen—that they regarded this as a
broad common ground on which they could meet with
the certainty of good. This loot seatiment was re-
peated by various speakers and in different forms
until the afternoon waned, and the company were invited to
inflect the hospital. This is a new building, with wards
winch eta Alrotighly Ventilated, cheerful, and light. The
esters nurse here, and actritel the knowledge which is so in-
valuable to those having ttiL cars of UV.) Melt. The building
has all modern appliances, is supported by itoluntary contri-
butions, and is entirely tree. Concerning it we have nothing
to say, save that its management and Internal arrangements
seems unexceptionable. So with the Orphan Home, the
children from which were supplied with buns and milk
In the grounds, and who lifted their sweet young voices
u song and praise in the intervals between the speeches
and the prayers. Neither of these institutions were
what we had come down specially to investigate,
and we shall content ourselves with recording that in
tweive short years the one last named has expanded
from one room rented at three shillings a week into an esta-
blishment in which 123 people are fed and clothed, and
having ragged schools, Sunday schools, soup kitchens, and
the Protestant Deaconesses' Institute and Hospital connected
with it. But whether viewed as an exceptional develontnent
of feeling and faith, or as &strenuous effort for the alleviation
of human suffering It will be readily admitted that the new
Sisterhood deserves attention from all intereeted in the reli-
gious and philanthropic movements of our day. As an
experiment it Is unique, for it claims to unite the organisa-
tion, drilling, and machinery of Catholicism with the puiity
and toleration of the Reformed faith.