The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1868-11-01
TIE LrrrEz SISTERS OF THz PooR.

In France, as in this country, it has been
for long time the custom for persona liv
ing in the interior to seek the sea- coast
during the summer months. A young lady
coming from Tours to St. Servan did not,
as too many do, leave all thoughts of her
religion behind, but in her temporary So
journ gave herself to good works. Attract
ed by the genuine humility and piety OF the
Little Sisters of the Poor" she begged
them to go back with her to Tours. They
asked only a roof to shelter and liberty to
work, and in January, ls47, they hired in
ceived at once dozen poor people. In 1648
they bought, for SO, 600 francs, very large
building, and found shelter for hundred.
How this sum was paid and the family sup
ported, remAins . secret with the angel who
makes record of alms-deeds.- For the food
gagged to save their coffee grounds and tea
leaves, and schools, colleges, barracks, and
families their crusts of bread each sister,
as she went forth, carried on her arm q large
tin pail, divided in compartments, which
allowed the scraps of bread and meat, with
the cups Of broth and other fragments, to be
Kept apart from each other. At their re-
turn these bits we're overlooked, and by the
hands of the sisters made into very palata-
bic dishes for their beloved poor. But we
must not forget that other and more ardu-
GUS and disagreeable duties were required
providing their food from such material.
The nursing, tending, and watching of these
poor creatures, whose former lives of misery
had often brought upon them repulsive in
tirmities and diseases, lifting the helpless,
comforting the forlorn, and bearing with the
ungrateful, all these must be shared by these
devoted women, who had undertaken to fol-
low the command of the apostle, to provide
for the aged and the widow. Most of these
nuns came from the people many of them
had witnessed want and woe from their in
fancy, and understood the special needs of
the people but now and then ladies of rank
and education Joined them, all working to-
gether in perfect equality, each undertaking
that class of duties for which she was best
fitted. Many a sister has been truly mar
tyr for Christ, in working for these ignorant,
degraded beings, often obstinate and full of
lngratitude. But" it is not for the sake of
gratitude we nurse them," said sister
whose pale face showed the wearing nature
OF her cares it is because in them we see
te bon Dieu ~
To tell the story of the journeyings from
place to place all over France, the difficulty
with which they took root in some of the
larger cities, and the comparative welcome
they met in the smaller towns, would fill n
volume. From France they went to Bel
GUM, to Spain, to Switzerland, and lately
to Ireland, and even to Protestant England,
and Scotland. To-day one hundred and
Europe, with sisterhood Of eighteen hun
dred women, who watch over, comfort, and
maintain more than twelve thousand poor
old men and women, without money and
without price, save the voluntary offerings
of the cheerful giver!
In England the appearance of the order
excited at first much curiosity, but many
turned away from them with aversion, the
aversion which centuries of false teaching
has planted in the minds of most Protestant
communities against all religious orders; but
their uniform humility, gentleness, and
tot. England, in Bayswater, in London, as
well as in other places, their converts are
admirably conducted, and they welcome
visitors most cordially; wherever they go
they become popular. 1--WE get good deal
in England" )" said one of the sisters :" the
are Professionals" There is something in
simple, honest trust in God which touches
the heart, and often those who at first turn
ed away from the begging sisters, in the
end prove their warmest supporters.
On his way to business a butcher be-
longing to London, and glorying in the
name of ''a staunch Protestant" was in
duced to visit one of the converts. He was
SO delighted with the charity and with all
he saw, that he told the " good mother" to
let the convent cart call at his stall once a
week, a1d he would give them soup meat
for the house. AS he went away his con-
science reproached him; the "horns and
h00fs " of the dreadful " beast" of whom he
had so often heard appeared before him
he might be suspccted7of leaning toward
Popery! But then his Anglo Saxon com
mon sense told him that to help the aged
aud infirm was right, Popery or not, and he
Kept his word the meat is always ready
when the cart arrives, but no communica-
tion passes between the sister who takes
and the man who gives he has not yet lost
his fear of the "seven heads and ten horns.
and the number &C.,"
The institution of this order at least
makes plain one fact; that numbers of poor
can be well supported from the waste of the
rich. 1t ought also to put to silence those
who scott at the idea of an overruling Prov
idence-the liring God rather, who cares for
the raven and the sparrow, and is CONSTANT