Litchfield enquirer., 1857-08-27
The Old Fashioned Sisters of Charity,

The Old Fashioned Sisters of Charity
 Where, too are the companions, the fellow workers of these old pastors, the old-fashioned sisters of charity those dear old ladies who,
 with hearts warmed and opened by the affec- tlons of their own social life went forth from their hearths to the homes of the poor, drop 1 ping here word of comfort, here of admon- l tion, here an aims, here book, and leaving 1 ever behind them sense of true sympathy and interest? They knew not, so dark was the age in which they lived, that regular crgan- izatIon, discipline and uniform, prescribed drill and manuals, were necessary to the pertec- tion of their mission. Their charity was nat ural feeling. not an instituted effort their ad- montion friendly appeal, not systematic ,, summons to reform aud penitence their kind ness an Intuition not set to rule :: their books the selection of their own reading, not the li- censed and revised issue of repositories and so- ceties. They were the ducts by which many an unseen stream of benevolence flowed into poor houses. Strange to say, too, though un- aided Gv teadriukilgs, public meetings, LaZars, societies, public lists of subscribers, and all the recognized mechanism of modern charity, they had always the wherewithal to give and alms@lving, as they gave, brought no pain or modification, injured no sense of selt-depend ence, and left no moral degradation. They did good in their t;nle-a time when individual endeavor did the work of institutions and cor porations, hut have passed away now, and are superseded by very different caste. Their successors march upon uS, a stern, ZealoHs re soiute, and to us rather a grim sisterhood-the traincd-bands of morality and charity. They are an order having outward and inward forms The outward forms seems to be sad-co,ored raj ment and when we see a yOnng lady dismiss the bows from her bonnet and adopt a gray shawl, We know that she is about to rush on her vocation as district visitor. They have rlucs and codes, an appointed task aEd appoint cd order and when duly organized and drill led, advance on some bcnightcd town or village each cohort attacking quarter with the stern determination to trample down and drive out poverty, vice and uncleanliness wherever they may be found They are moral police de- tectlve and oppressive, each on a separate beat, rushing down courts aud through alleys in pursuit of want and immortality. TAey may fulfil their work, these sisters, and we wish them good speed but we believe that they must first clothe their charity with more love- and learn especially what their predecessors knew so well how to speak to the poor
 We loved those good old sisters and their work. One whom We remember we--thanks be to God--still walks the earth, doing her beautiful mission of love and charity. How or when she began this mission we know not
 It was no sudden adoption, 20 result of sud den conviction or of disappointed hope. We never remember her except aS engaged in this genial task It grew with her growth, as the natural ripening of early sympathies and early feelings Bred, as gcntles often were in those barbarous times, to It fgard the poor as their lowly friends. and to keep up a kindly inter- course with them, she had come to know their little histories to understand their peculiar ways, and to learn to address them in the language by which alone the poor are moved, the language of the heart. Thus, as time went on, the kindly greetings and kindly inter- est expanded easily into the higher offices of comfort, instruction and relief The transition was natural, and the people wondered not to see one whom they lad known loved and re- yered so long, moving among them as minis terng angel of good chasing darkness from the hours of the bed ridden by her pleasant converse uplifting the soul of some stricken sufferer by her cheering presence, bringing re- lief to the indigent, or dropping on the ears of some blind or aged Christian the precious words of Gospel writ. Great, too wss she in the nursery and by tiresdc, as we full well knew, and as another generation is now expe- ricncing. What rhymes she knew, and what stories she told, and how she told them and how have her love aid pleasantness followed us from infancy to manhood By the by, what story-tellers there were in those days Thc art seems lost at present. People com pose their talk now, and the faculty of telling easily natural narrative is getting rare indeed. Patient and gentle, thus for many years she pursued her loving mission, without the parade of circumstances or ostentation of duty, aud without murmur though, ill later days shc became the channel of all ndiscriminatc bcncvolence, and the director of all
 general charities. No outward humility Of garb or look distinguished this our sister. She went forth, even on her errandS, lady as she was, appare|!cd affer the fashion of her order. Nay it mtst he confessed that she rather loved handsome cloak or bonnet, nor thought them unbeseeming her mission for she could not understand, nor can we, why acts of charity should be done like deeds of penitence, in serge and sackcloth. One of her functions was a great mystery to us. Ever and anon mention was made of certain bag in connection with certain women. We used to wonder in our small way, what this could mean and dis
 covered at last that she was the manager of Lylng-in Society, which distributed bags containing all the requisites for ladies expect i ing that interesting event, aud that the bag in the gift ot our house was in early reqnisition for matron, whose habit it was to regularly increase an already swarming brood of white headed freckle-faced faced urchius, who, as soon ss they could crawl seized on gutter and
 a dunghill as their natural heritage.
 Her labors were not however, confined to
 the homes of the poor, but extended to field from which most would have slirunk-thc
 prison: Even there, amid the reprobate and