The Irish standard., 1905-05-06
A NOBLE WORK
Is Performed Daily By Little
Sisters of Poor.
An Interesting Description OF
Minneapolis Institution.

the work of the Little Sisters of the
Poor in this city appeared in the Trib-
une of last Sunday:
Gray wooden doors in high fence
swing open, giving entrance to
grassy yard through which a stone
walk leads one up to the gray doors
in the center of a great white brick
building, visible for blocks from where
it stands at the intersection of Broad.
way and Second streets northeast.
ga small sign beside the doors in
the fence reads: Little Sisters of the
Poor-A Home for the Aged" and a
ring at the doorbell at the inner en-
trance brings one of these "little sis.
ters" to meet the visitor.
The hallway and the little recep-
| tion room in which one waits a mo.
ment for the Mother Superior, are i'm.
maculately clean and meagerly fur.
nished with simple and several plain
chairs and tables. Mother Frances, or
good mother" as she is affectionately
and respectfully addressed by the aged
men and women in the home, greets
all visitors cordially, and without
moments notice is willing and ready
to show one through the home.
Not very pleasant place to visit
one would think, knowing simply that
it is a home for destitute old people,
but pre-conceived notion about it is
apt to be all wrong. The old people,
especially the old women, are feeble,
many of them childish in their ex.
treme old age, some are suffering with
paralysis or other ills, and some of
them are blind, but they are all very
neat, not one seems dissatisfied or dis
contented, but on the contrary, quietly
happy and very fond of the dear, good
natured sisters who humor the whims
and eccentricities of their charges.
Two features most strongly impress
the casual visitor, the extreme neat,
ness of every room in the great build.
ing of five stories, with so many rooms
in them that the good sisters scarcely
know how many there are in all and
the content and cheerfulness of all the
inmates.
At least 100 aged men and women
are gathered under this hospitable
roof-tree, which is refuge open to all
the aged poor who are destitute, with
out friends and without means, and 60
years old or more.
| The little sisters, who number just
thirteen, take care of all these old
people as tenderly as though they
were children, nursing the sick, wash
ing, ironing, cooking, scrubbing, clean
ing and begging for the food and cloth
ing for their charges.
| The Home for the Aged is charit-
able institution, with no funds back of
it; it is dependent entirely upon the
generosity of the citizens of Mime,
apolis. None will dispute that it is
one of the worthiest charities that ex-
lists in the city. Denomination and
nationality matter not-men and
| women of nearly all the ordinary re-
ligions and of most nationalities are to
| be found in this institution.
AS we began our rounds of the build
ings we peered into the chapel-a
quiet holy place where all who are
able gather for devotionals twice a
day, and before we left we saw them
during the afternoon hour of prayer,
the white heads of the men and the
black caps Of the women bent low and
all were devoutly praying.
In the sunny corridor on the first
floor group of the very old women
not strong enough to do any work
were telling their beads" chatting or
taking maps. Many of them were Irish
and their witty replies to our ques-
tions amused them and us.
The dining room, which is also the
sewing room for the women, is very
plainly, but neatly furnished A few
women We're busted there making over
garments, which is about the only oc.
cupation the women are strong enough
to undertake.
WARD ROOMS FOR SICK.
We ascended the stairs to the second
floor, where the ward rooms for the
sick are located, those for the women
in the left wing and others on the
same floor, but in a separate part of
the building for the men.
One or two patients, too i'll to be up,
received us as they lay in small iron
cots whose linen and comforters were
far more immaculate than might be
found in some private homes. In a
ward adjoining the first we discovered
the invalids who are able to sit up.
All the invalids were friendly and
talked about their ailments and the
Mother Superior patted their hands
and sympathized with each one.
AS if they were children, Mother
Frances called them by their first
names and pleased them much by re.
membering their little peculiarities.
On the next two floors the sleeping
rooms are located. The beds are ar
ranged in rows, about twenty in each