APPENDIX.

NOTE A.

THE following extracts from a very interesting Narrative of Kaiserswerth, written by one who has resided there*, will give a clear idea of the details and the working of this institution.

Speaking of the way in which Pastor Fliedner educated his deaconesses, the writer says,—

"He really, not nominally, delegates his authority. Every master and parent knows how difficult this is. He does not like to see another do ill what he can do well. He doubts how far it right to allow it; and much as he feels the importance of forming his monitors or children, he ends by waiting till they are fit for their office, like the man who waited to go into the water till he had learned to swim. Pastor Fliedner, from the unexampled plainness of his instructions to his nurses, and from the constant vigilance with which he follows them up, guards both them and the patients from danger. Every week he gives a lecture to the nurses; before which each has to report to him all that she has read to her patients at morning and evening prayers during the week, and generally what has passed in her ward, and to receive his advice as to how she should proceed. He then places before them particular cases which are likely to occur, e. g. where the patient is distressed in mind, where he is selfrighteous, etc., and questions them what, in such cases, they would do, attentively listening to and correcting their answers. His instructions are never in the shape of a formal lecture, but of question and answer. He shows them how they are to approach the hearts of the patients, without assuming the tone of a father confessor, how

* The Institution of Kaiserswerth, on the Rhine, for the Practical Training of Deaconesses. London: Printed by the Inmates of the Ragged Colonial Training School, 28, St. Ann's-street, Westminster. (To be had at Hookham's, Bond-street.)

they are to act in cases of emergency; and at all times they have access to him to ask his advice.

"The hospital contains above one hundred beds, and is divided into four departments-for men, for women, for boys, and for children, which last includes girls under seventeen and boys under six years of age.

"The wards are all small. This gives, it is true, more trouble, but also far more decency and comfort. None of the female wards have more than four beds. When an examination takes place, or when a particular case requires it, the patient can thus easily have a ward to herself. In no private house is decorum more observed than in this hospital, and the influence this continues to exercise upon the patients after their return home can well be believed.

:

"The male wards are served by men-nurses, of whom there are five, who have been educated in the hospital, and are under the authority of the Sisters. After eight P.M. no Sister goes into the men's wards the men-nurses sleep in the wards, and sit up in case of need. Even in the boys' ward the Sister does not sleep. No Sister is called upon to do anything for a male patient but that which, in a private house, a lady would perform for a brother. Everything else is done by the men-nurses, who, brought up in this atmosphere, have always been found faithful and careful. The most fastidious could find nothing to object to in the intercourse which takes place between patient, surgeon, and Sisters.

"No medical man resides in the hospital. Why should he? In a private family, a patient only receives a visit once or perhaps twice a-day from the physician. Why he should not reside in the house is sufficiently obvious; he is then master: whereas, at Kaiserswerth, the clergyman is master. The Sisters are however bound, of course, punctually to obey the directions of the medical man (and they are too well trained not to do so) with far more correctness than is found in other hospitals.

"The superintending Sister of every ward is always present during the daily visits of the medical man. The apothecary is a Sister, and she also goes the round of the patients with him, noting down all his prescriptions and directions, which she afterwards transcribes into a book. By the presence of this Sister and the head Sister of the ward, the strictest propriety is preserved.

"Every head Sister has family prayers, morning and evening, in her ward. She generally sings a hymn with the patients, reads a very short portion of the Bible, or of some other book chosen by the Pastor, and prays. All the male patients, who are able to leave the wards, assemble in a school-room for prayer, which is conducted by one of the Sisters, whose practical remarks on the Bible are listened to by the patients with eager interest.

"The night-watching seems remarkably well managed. . . . The

nurse is made to feel the night-watch more a blessing than a burden. She never sits up more than three hours and a half, and the whole establishment takes it in turn, so that it comes once a-week at most to each Sister. The Sisters go to bed at ten and rise at five. One Sister sleeps in every ward, but the watcher is for the whole house; at half-past one A.M. she is relieved by another. Every hour she makes the round of all the wards, goes softly into every room, excepting those of the male patients; and thus a double advantage is secured; the watcher is not likely to fall asleep; and she can minister to the little wants of the patients not dangerously ill, without waking the ward Sisters. In cases of severe illness, and in surgical cases, the Sister of the ward is, of course, obliged to sit up. The station of the watcher is in the children's room, where her attention is most frequently wanted, as infants are received at any age.

"A period of from one to three years is allowed for probation. As nothing is offered to the Sisters, neither the prospect of saving money, nor reputation, nothing but the opportunity of working in the cause for which Christ worked and still works; so if this does not appear to be their ruling principle, they are dismissed, however painful to the Pastor. They are also at liberty to leave any day. The probationary Sister receives nothing for six months but food and lodging; after that a small salary. The Deaconesses, that is, those who, after their probation, have received a solemn blessing in the church,—are paid, but only sufficient to keep them in clothes. Board, lodging, and the Deaconess's upper dress are given to them. There is therefore no pecuniary inducement to come to this work; but a provision is secured for those who have become ill or infirm in the service, to whom the Mother-house always opens her arms. 'You have been wounded with honour in the field,' as the Pastor said one day to a Deaconess, about to undergo a painful operation. No establishment can subsist which does not offer this prospect to those who have disinterestedly spent the best years of life in its service; and it is beautiful to see the attachment which the Deaconesses of Kaiserswerth feel to their Mother-house."

NOTE B.

The following remarks on the same subject, by the Rev. F. Harter, founder of the Strasburg Deaconess Institution, may be found interesting. He says, in his sixth Report:

"A work has only then a right to exist, and a chance of success, when it meets a real want, and is conducted on right principles. The Deaconess-work does meet a pressing want, which is at the same time a social and a religious one. Its object is to train female

labourers, who are to devote their time and strength for the good of the people at large, and of our congregations in particular. And first, the sick and suffering are objects of their attention. There is no woe belonging to this poor earthly life to which a handmaid of Christ is not called upon to minister. But as the powers and talents of individuals willing to devote themselves for the good of others are very different, a combination of such persons is absolutely necessary, in order that among them a selection may be made for each branch of their activity. Some go into the huts of the poor, and whilst tendering earthly gifts, offer heavenly consolations ; others nurse and tend the sick, and in faith, overcoming natural repugnance and fear of contagion, bend over the couch of suffering, and announce to the convalescent and to the dying the glad tidings, and the way of salvation; others cause themselves to be locked up with female prisoners, and whilst attending upon them, seek to reform them, so that they may not be a burden and plague of society when they are turned loose upon it, at the expiration of their term of imprisonment; others again take particular charge of the fallen and degraded among their own sex, and seek to raise them by giving them, together with religious instruction and example, opportunities of proving the sincerity of their repentance; lastly, others go among the insane, and seek to rekindle the glimmering spark of human consciousness in their fettered souls, and to lead them out of their dark imaginations to the eternal light of grace. Another and not less extensive and fruitful field of labour for Deaconesses, is that of education. Here the want is quite as pressing. We do not doubt that there are many schoolmistresses who conduct girls' and infant schools very satisfactorily, but still the position of a Deaconess will always be the most advantageous for the female teacher. In the mother-house or home she finds that stay and support which, as a woman, she stands so greatly in need of; and whenever, from over-fatigue or ill-health, she may be obliged to return thither for a time, her place is immediately filled by another Deaconess, sent from the Central Institution, and thus the school does not suffer from any interruption. In reformatory girls' schools, and in orphan asylums, Deaconesses are yet more indispensable."

NOTE C.

The field of labour assigned to the Deaconesses of Echallens is thus set forth by its founder:-First, the care of the sick at their own homes, the importance of which department is specially felt in times of epidemic. For services of this kind, the demand constantly exceeds the supply; and although the Director of the establishment

naturally prefers affording in-door relief, where practicable, out of the six Deaconesses who are usually attached to the parent institute, one is set apart for out-door nursing. Secondly, the care of the sick in, or at the expense of, private charitable foundations, of which many appear to have been created in Switzerland of late years, five of these, besides one at Lyons for the Protestant sick, employ seven Sisters. Thirdly, the care of the sick in public hospitals employ the remaining Sisters, making in all, sixteen Deaconesses received, besides three probationers.

The statutes of the Institute are similar to those of Paris and Strasburg. The Deaconesses of Echallens are a free corporation, which devotes itself, for the Saviour's love, to the service of the unfortunate, and especially of the sick. There is as yet no internal hierarchy among the Sisters, who are placed under the authority of the worthy minister and his wife, as Directors ;-a superintending Committee has been named to examine the accounts, and to provide for the maintenance of the establishment, in the event of the founder's death.

The Deaconesses' day is spent as follows:-They rise at five o'clock in summer, six in winter; pray in private; pay their first attentions to the sick; arrange their own rooms; breakfast upon soup, or coffee and bread, then assemble for family prayer. At seven or eight o'clock the doctor makes his rounds, and issues his instructions, followed by Madame de Germond. Medicines are given; and the Sisters read to such of the sick as wish for it, and finish the house-work. Twelve is the dinner-hour: the meal being composed of soup, meat, and vegetables,- -one dish of each. The Sisters are then free to choose their own occupation till two, when they meet to work at their needle. At four there is coffee or milk-and-water, after which the Director makes his rounds, celebrates Divine service for the whole establishment, and pays pastoral visits to those sick who are detained in bed. At eight soup is again served out; at nine, to bed.

Where watching is required, the Sisters take it by turns, there being a male nurse for male patients.-M. Germond's Second Report. Extract from an appeal published by Pastor Germond, the founder of the Deaconess Institution at St. Loup, in Switzerland :

"Besides a good constitution and good health, a Deaconess must possess lively piety, an enlightened faith, and the meek and quiet spirit, which is, in the sight of God, of great price. There are no doubt many amongst us who possess these qualities, and are capable of great self-denial, but as a defined and sufficient object in life is wanting to them, they waste and lose the powers which have been given them, by dragging on an objectless existence, as displeasing to God as it is burdensome to themselves. Perhaps they stand alone, having lost by death those most dear to them, or they have given up all thoughts of forming a home of their own. Should such persons not then rejoice in finding an adopted family, by joining, out of love