Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1922-01-05
CHRISTLIkE WOMEN
EUROPE,S MAINSTAY
Lutheran Deaconesses Neces-
sary to Morale of Discour-
aged Communities.

A church In any language means
church, and so does a school and hos
pital, but European deaconess homes
suffer In the translating. To the aver
age American the term "deaconess
home" suggests a stone building Of
sober hue, whose lay-sister inmates,
most of them aged and decrepit, with
white lawn streamers beneath their
chlns, take their ease and spend their
declining days puttering around with
window boxes and bird cages. All
wrong
Webster's Unabridged fails to en-
tighten him, but the National Lutheran
Council, with headquarters at New
York City, is spreading the definition
far and wide. A deaconess home
means a social welfare colony main
tanned by these women church work
ers. A hospital, clinic, homes for Grip
pies and the aged, schools for the
deaf and blind, day nursery, milk
station, and social service bureau,
are the institutions that usually make
up one of these welfare centers. In
America there are numbers Of them
patterned after the models in Europe
where they have existed by the thou
sand for many generations. In Euro
pean cities Of any size they serve the
neighboring communities and have
closer touch with the people than any
other organization. Nobody is as busy
as these hardy, rosy-cheeked women
who give their full time from morning
till night, or from night until morning,
managing and running their big plants
that take care of people.
Deaconess homes over there are not
retreats in any sense. They are ac-
tive, progressive, public places. But
even so they are pretty independent
Of the outside world. They do their
own work and have their own food
supply. The deaconesses make use
of their varied hobbies, SO there are
bee specialists, poultry experts, gar
deners, dairy farmers, and orchardists
who know all about pruning and spray
ing, and keeping the children from pick-
ing green fruit. Most of them, of
course, do this work during their rec
reation hour after finishing a day
of nursing, teaching, sewing, or visit
ing the poor They are very handy
about the place. A carpenters strike
would be a small matter to them be-
cause there is always some demure-
eyed sister who can WELD an accurate
hammer.
This sketches the average deaconess
home in Central Europe in normal
times. Such times are past history to
a great degree, antedating 1914. Since
then war has crippled. the work so
that 1t is scarcely recognizable. Their
houses were shelled, robbed and burn
ed. Sisters were shot and carried
captive. But those who were left kept
steadily at their posts, and drawer,
harder work at reconstruction is not
being done in the world. Communi-
ties are SO wholly dependent upon
them. Nobody else knows how to do
anything in times of distress. Relief
funds sent by American Lutherans
have been largely dispensed through
deaconesses in each town. By this
simple financing they are enabled to
handle the emergencies through the
channels Of their own regular work.
Some Of the welfare centers have
been restored and are doing heavier
work than ever before though with
depleted staffs and in bitter poverty.
In the World Service Campaign that
the National Lutheran Council is to
conduct the last two weeks in October
to raise $1,250,000 for European Re
lief, deaconess homes have large
place in the budget for the coming
year. From Petrograd to the South
ern Tyrol, and from Cologne to Con
stantineple, these colonies of mercy
are to be reinforced, so that each in
It's own sphere can be healing refuge
to the sick, afflicted and oppressed in
those war and famine-maimed lands