The Irish standard., 1890-08-16
A WELL MERIT ED TRIBUTE
What an American Naval Officer.
Says Of the Sisters Of
Charity.
.UNTIRING DEVOTION TO DUTY.
How They Cared for Him and
Nursed HIM In. Remote
Chinese Town.

human suffering to alleviate, human
souls to save. human anguish to as.
suage. you are likely to find the jealous
Catholic priest and the devoted sister.
In the dense forest OF Africa. which are
opening up to civilization and Christ
ianlty: In the jungles of India; under
the bleak cliffs of Molokal; in the
crowded haunts of vice and crime and
squalor in the great centres Of popula-
ton, these agents of God will be met.
They are always working. always try
ing to do good to some of Gods Great
ures. There is no thought Of self in the
work. Their personal comfort or safety
Is minor or secondary consideration.
We find fresh proof of the self-sacric-
ing spirit of the good Sisters Of Charity
in private letter written by an Amer
lean naval off Ger stationed ON theAsiatic
coast. 1t was published by this Balti
more Catholic Mirror: ION January
10th left Hankow, and / laid up with
fever; next day anchored at FIN Klang.
and in the morning l broke out with
smallpox. Three hours later was hus-
tied ashore. Carried over the side in
my bed, was too sick to care very
much; yet it did seem pretty hard to
leave the ship that way, with never
soul to shake hands with me at parting.
kin-K iang is one of the smallest OF the
river ports open to foreigners. There
was no European hospital there, but
the Sisters of Charity. who run small
Chinese hospital and orphanage, took
me in. was given room in their own
quarters, not very palatial by the way,
for the sisters do not 1--we on the fat of
the land, as you may suppose; in fact,
their old building was so rickety, used
TO imagine, from the shaking Of my
bed, that it was tumbliug down every
time any one walked across the floor.
Well, here lay for three weeks on the
fiat Of my back, and during the time
that I had to wear a mask pIastered
down over my face, life was not alto
gether rosy, but the sisters did every
thing for me. [ wish I had words to ex
press nv appreciation Of them; thev are
the most self-sacrl6cing people ever
met; nor would [ have believed such PEG =
pie existed in our everyday world, but
only appeared in times of war, or in
cases of nation calamity. Don't think
it on account of their kindess to me
that go off in unbounded enthusiasm.
The same amount Of money would have
bought hundred times the comforts
and attention in any large city. but it's
what know Of the life they lead for
others. am ashamed how little
know of these people. have often
seen them in different parts of the
world, with their large caps (coronas).
and if thought at all, it was with an
idea they had a soft billet in some way
either there were 80 many at post
the duties must be very light. or else
after working hours they had delight
full nook to retire ana have good time
among themselves. How different IS
the reality! Their is one continual
slavinQ-you can't call it labor. as no
amount of money could buy such devo
ton for the good of others, There
were four of these Sisters Of st. Vim
cent de Paul. sister Ryan, an Irish
girl, was the only one on the premises
who could speak English. She had
principally to do with me, as / luckily
came under her department. l do be-
lieve almost fell in love with this wo-
man; at any rate. l never fel1 so jealous
of any ones time as did Of hers. Why,
I used to lie awake for hours for fear
she might make one of her visits while
l slept, and I assure you it would have
been very great catastrophe to me, as
they were angel-like IN more ways than
being few and far between. I used to
think it hard that she could not spend
more of her time with me; but when I
got to understand the working of the
establishment, was heartily ashamed
of the amount Of her valuable time /
did claim. She had charge of the hos
pital and dispensary; the former had
fifty patients, and to the dispensary
came hundreds Of the poor and needy
daily for medicine and TO have their
sores bandaged. One who has never
been IN China can form no idea of the
diseases and suffering that 20 on here.
Another sister has charge OF the Or