There are now seven deaconess establishments in the Church of England, each having a larger or smaller number of branches, with diocesan sanction and under the supervision of clergymen.[59]

The first of these was founded in 1861, and is now known as the London Diocesan Deaconess Institution. At that time Kaiserswerth was accepted as its model; deaconesses were sent there to be trained; Kaiserswerth rules were adopted as far as possible, and a modification of the Kaiserswerth dress for the sisters. The house was then represented at the triennial Conferences in Germany, and in the list of mother houses published at Kaiserswerth[60] the name still appears. It would seem, however, that now the Kaiserswerth connection is entirely set aside by the London house, for in an historical sketch of the revival of deaconesses in the Church, that is found in the organ of the institution, called Ancilla Domini, for March, 1887, there is no mention made of any of the continental houses. The Anglican Church apparently dates the entire work from the setting apart of its first deaconess, Elizabeth C. Ferard, in 1861, as she was the first to receive consecration through the touch of a bishop's hand. The former connection with Kaiserswerth and the great work carried on in Germany from 1836 to the present time are quite ignored.

Besides the London house already mentioned an East London deaconess home was opened in 1880, to provide deaconesses and church-workers for East London. Besides the deaconesses and probationers thirty-two associates are connected with this home. The associates are ladies who do not intend to become deaconesses, but give as much time as they can to the work. They live with the deaconesses, conform to the rules, and wear the garb, but pay their own expenses. These associates are a highly important part of the working force. They form a valuable tie connecting the sisters with sources of influence and aid that would otherwise be closed to them. Nearly always they are ladies of independent means, and come for longer or shorter periods to relieve the deaconesses, their zeal often being as great as that of the sisters whose places they take.

Besides these houses there are homes located at Maidstone, Chester, Bedford, Salisbury, and Portsmouth, in the respective dioceses of Canterbury, Chester, Ely, Salisbury, and Winchester.

In the home at Portsmouth sisters not only engage in nursing and parish work, but are also given special training for penitentiary and out-of-door rescue work. They also have a home for the rescue of neglected children.

The Salisbury Home is beautifully situated in the quiet cathedral city of the same name. The house is a picturesque and venerable mansion, covered with clinging green vines, opening out into a garden which in olden times belonged to the convent. There is in connection with the home an institution for training girls for domestic service, supported by the funds of a charity given for that purpose. The whole service of the house is done by the girls. They attend upon the deaconesses and the ladies who board there to receive training in the hospital. Each deaconess pays for board and lodging while training, and, if able to do so, when she returns for rest, or a visit to her old home.

In other houses the deaconess is expected to keep her own room in order, and may have some duties in the house, but servants do the rough work. The social status of the English deaconesses is, as a rule, markedly different from the German deaconesses. Here ladies of rank and inherited social traditions, of refinement, of accomplishments, and of education, many of them women of means, defraying their entire expenses and often those of their poorer sisters, are largely represented among the deaconesses. On the other hand, the German deaconesses, as we have seen, are largely of that station in life that furnishes many for domestic service. Although of course there are among them women of all ranks and all degrees of education, still such women form the larger number; and the conditions under which Fliedner began the work, as well as the difference of custom and habit in the two countries, incline the German houses to maintain the rules of service by which nearly every detail of domestic service in their institutions is cared for by the deaconesses. There is more of ceremony and formality in the English deaconess institutions which are under the direction of the Church of England. At Salisbury, for instance, the candidate must reside in the home for three months, that her ability and efficiency may be tested. If accepted, she then puts on a gray serge habit, a leathern girdle, white cap, black bonnet, the veil and cloak of a probationer, and is admitted to the "degree" of a probationer at a special service. The year of probation having come to an end, she is again presented to the bishop, and is set apart as a deaconess by the laying on of hands. This time the habit is changed from gray to blue, and a black ebony cross, with one of gold inlaid, is hung upon her neck.[61]

This is very different from the way in which Fliedner regarded the dress and adornment of the deaconesses for whom he was responsible. The king of Prussia desired to present them with a small silver cross as their badge of service, but the simple-hearted German pastor dissuaded him, saying that the deaconesses needed no ornament save a meek and quiet spirit, and they must avoid symbols which would suggest Romish imitations.

The Strasburg deaconesses also at first wore a small cross, but Pastor Haerter discontinued it when he found that the wearing of it gave occasion for complaint.

Yet however we may differ in the lesser details, of garb, of rules, and of ceremonies, from those accepted by some of the Church of England deaconess institutions, we can give unstinted admiration to the lives of self-denial, and active, unceasing efforts in behalf of others, that we see among their numbers. Take, for instance, the little publication The Deaconess, issued by the East London Home, and notice the undertakings carried on by the members—district-visiting, nursing of the sick, mothers' meetings, Sunday-school teaching, Bible classes, and all the multitudinous ways of meeting the squalor, poverty, ignorance, sickness, and sin of the poor of the east of London. There is no poetic enthusiasm that strengthens one for such work, the dirt, the degradation, the forlorn condition are so trying. The little children so precociously wicked, so preternaturally cunning, that the natural charm and attraction of childhood have wholly disappeared; the sights and sounds that assail the senses; the dulled, hopeless faces, the apathy, the stunted intellectual growth—these are the depressing influences that continually beset the deaconesses, and nothing short of God-given strength and Christ-like enthusiasm can enable these women to devote six, eight, and ten years of service to this worst city district, and to come forth with sunshiny, peaceful faces, and sympathetic, loving hearts.

Taking the total number of deaconess institutions under the Church of England, there are eighty one deaconesses, thirty-four probationers, and two hundred and twenty-nine associates.[62]

So far, sisterhoods have proved more attractive to the women of the Church of England than have deaconess establishments. The latter do not seem to increase largely in numbers. Vexing questions have arisen as to how the deaconess should be set apart to her work. Should she be consecrated by the imposition of the bishop's hands? What relation should she have to the Church? These questions have been partially settled by the principles and rules that were drawn up in 1871 and were signed by the two archbishops and eighteen bishops. They define a deaconess as "a woman set apart by a bishop, under that title, for service in the Church;"[63] placing her under the authority of the bishop of the diocese. These recommendations have not been formally adopted by the Church of England; they hold good only so far as they are accepted.

But there are other institutions, lying outside of the boundaries of the State Church, which have developed more fully and prosperously than those within it. Of these we must speak first of the institution of Dr. Laseron, which is more closely connected with Kaiserswerth than any other in England. In 1855 Dr. Laseron and his wife lost their only child; and as Mrs. Laseron walked through the streets with burdened heart she looked at the little children with quickened sympathy, and noticed how many were poor and hungry and scantily clothed. She talked with her husband, and they opened a "ragged school" for children. This increased and branched off, until now there is an orphanage, workhouses for boys, and a servants' training school for girls. Requests were frequently made for some of the older girls to act as nurses among the poor; and, finally, Dr. Laseron, who was a German by birth, determined to found a deaconess house and hospital. A small hospital of twelve beds was opened, and proved insufficient to meet the demands; and none could be accepted as deaconesses, as there was no opportunity to train them in so small a place. While waiting to see how the house could be enlarged, he mentioned his perplexity to Mr. Samuel Morley. This gentleman heard him with interest, and said that he was one of the directors of a large hospital; that at a recent meeting of the directors a Catholic bishop had offered to send Sisters of Charity who, without compensation, should nurse the sick, and he had thought what a fine thing it would be if the Protestant Church had also its women of piety who could devote themselves to a similar work. The result of the conversation was that Mr. Morley contributed forty thousand dollars, with which Dr. Laseron purchased a site in Tottenham, built a hospital with fifty beds, and a deaconess was called from Kaiserswerth to superintend it. The hospital has been again enlarged, so that it now accommodates one hundred patients. Sixty-four deaconesses are connected with it, who are at service in the hospitals of Cork, Dublin, Scarborough, and Sunderland. This institution is unsectarian, and has met with special aid from non-conformists. It still keeps in close relation to Kaiserswerth, and is represented at the Conferences. It has constantly thriven, and the mother-house at Tottenham is a center for various benevolent enterprises.

In connection with Dr. Barnardo's Orphanage there is also a deaconess house. Harley House, the missionary training-school under the direction of Dr. and Mrs. Grattan Guinness in East London, has a deaconess home as one of its branches. The Kilburn (St. Augustine's) Orphanage of Mercy, and the London Bible-women's Mission are also centers for the training and organizing of women's work in London.

We must pause more at length over the prison mission under the care of Mrs. Meredith. American women are beginning to occupy themselves with questions of philanthropy and religious activity to an extent not before equaled. The women's prisons in England are especially fruitful of suggestions to us, as many here are interested in having our women prisoners separated in prisons by themselves, as has already been attempted in a few States. Mrs. Meredith's work is in behalf of the prisoners after they have served their sentence and are discharged. She is the daughter of General Lloyd, who was formerly governor-general of prisons in Ireland. As a little child she was accustomed to go about with her father, and the interior of prisons became familiar to her. Later in life, when her family ties were broken, and her hands left free for service, her interest was engaged in behalf of the women convicts who were discharged from prison. She enlisted the support of other ladies of like views, able to assist her, and in 1866 the Prison Gate Mission began, which has continued to the present day. Every morning, as the gate of Millbank prison swings back to allow those who have been released from penal bondage to come forth, a sister stands waiting to invite those who will go with her to a room near by, where breakfast awaits them; there are ladies to inquire about their plans and to offer them work. A great laundry was opened in 1867 to provide employment for these women. Here washing is done for two classes: for the poor and sick, to whom the service is given as a charity, and to those who pay for the work and whose money enables the mission to be partly self-supporting. Then the ladies extended their plans to take in the children of the prisoners. A law was passed by Parliament which enabled Mrs. Meredith and her associates to have the care of those children at the Princess Mary Village Home until they are sixteen years of age. This home was founded at Addlestone in 1870, and was named after the Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck, who aided in obtaining funds to build it. The institution takes not only the female children of criminal mothers, but also little girls who are likely to drift into a career of crime. It is conducted on the cottage plan, each little house having ten inmates and a house mother to superintend it, and being complete in its own arrangements. There are eighteen cottages, a large, generous school-room, a small infirmary for the sick, and a little church. About two hundred children of criminals and the unfortunate class are here cared for. Instead of allowing them to drift away and to perpetuate vice, crime, and immorality, they are taken entirely from their old surroundings, and new influences of knowledge and purity are thrown about them. There is no part of Mrs. Meredith's mission which has such hope for the future and is so valuable in results as this preventive work among the children.

There are also a woman's medical mission (1882), a Christian woman's union, a girls' school, and a deaconess house in Jerusalem under the control of the same association. How it arose is well intimated by the following extract from a letter from Mrs. Meredith to the author, dated March 9, 1889: "You will know that my course has been progressive with regard to the mode of congregating the women who joined me in working. At first we merely came together daily from our own homes, as those who make a business concern do. Then to spare time and money we began to live together. The next step was to admit useful and devoted women who had no property, and to form an association with degrees of membership. When we found ourselves becoming a corporation of importance, and having combined to acquire property and to found institutions, we invited the help and counsel of some men of known eminence. Our institutions are all branches of a parent stock, and are now placed in the charge of these good men, and we have taken the name of the Church of England Woman's Missionary Association. I am daily persuaded of the value of such organizations."

In connection with the London West Central Mission there is an association of ladies called the Sisters of the People. "They are expected to be worthy of the beautiful name they bear. They are true sisters of the unprivileged and the disheartened; as ready to make a bed, cook a dinner, or nurse a baby as to minister to the higher need of the immortal spirit. The sisters live together in the neighborhood of their work, and wear a distinctive dress as a protection and for other reasons; but they take no vows, and are at liberty to withdraw from the mission at any time. Their work is directed by Mrs. Hughes. Katherine House, the residence of the Sisters of the People, was opened early in November, 1887, and from that day the work of the sisters dates its commencement. Their daily labors are very similar to those of the deaconesses of Mildmay, who work among the London parishes. Each sister has a district allotted to her, which she visits regularly and systematically. The first object which she sets before herself is to get to know the people, and to make them feel that she is their true sister and friend, irrespective of the fact that they are themselves good or bad, respectable or degraded. When once true friendliness is established, the way is opened for direct religious influence; and many, who in the first instance would never pay any attention to religion, will listen to an appeal from one whom they love and respect."[64]

Katherine House accommodates twelve sisters. A second house is urgently needed, and a strong plea is made for it in the Report.

There are besides "out sisters," who work with the sisters but reside at their own homes. This is a valuable feature of this mission, as it interests ladies who are living in their own homes, and yet who can be very useful to those who devote their whole work to the sisters' labor. In the Report a great many instances are given which show what an intimate knowledge of the poor people is obtained by these sisters, and in what practical ways they minister to the bodily and spiritual needs of those whom they find in their house-to-house visitations. The term "sister," as it is used in the report of the London West Central Mission, is in all respects a synonym for "deaconess," as the name is understood in the large deaconess establishment at Mildmay. To the study of this we shall devote the following chapter.

[52] Daniel Neal's History of the Puritans, London, 1703, vol. i, pp. 344-346. [53] Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth, from 1602 to 1625. By Alex. Young. Second edition. Boston: C. E. Little & J. Brown, 1844, pp. 455, 456. [54] Schaefer, Die Weibliche Diakonie, vol. i, p. 207. [55] The Royal Guide to London Churches for 1866, 1867. By Herbert Fry, p. 162. [56] Official Year-book of the Church of England, 1889. [57] Andover Review, June, 1888, art., "European Deaconesses," p. 578. [58] Deaconesses in the Church of England. Griffith & Farran: London, 1880, p. 22. [59] Official Year-book of the Church of England, 1889. [60] Armen und Kranken Freund, October, 1888. [61] "Deaconess Work in England," The Churchman, May 19, 1888. [62] I am indebted to the kindness of the Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Wakefield for these numbers, upon whom the mantle of Dean Howson seems to have fallen in caring for the deaconess cause. [63] London Diocesan Deaconess District Services. [64] First Annual Report of the London West Central Mission, pp. 14-42.



CHAPTER XI.

MILDMAY INSTITUTIONS.

Valuable suggestions will be obtained from the study of every successful deaconess institution, and none will perhaps furnish more practical models for American Methodism than does the establishment at Mildmay Park in North London. Its methods of work are flexible, and allow place for a diversity of talent among the workers, while a wide variety of charitable and evangelistic effort is undertaken. These two causes give a breadth and vigor to the work at Mildmay that impress every one who has knowledge of it.

Whenever we find a good cause carried on successfully and prosperously, we know that behind it there must be a strong man or woman who has "thought and wrought" to good purpose. So the first question that arises in the mind of the visitor who for the first time forms one of the audience in the great Conference Hall, or looks about in the adjoining building to see the deaconess home, is, "Who first thought this out? Who was the founder of this wonderful mission?" And the answer tells us that Mildmay originated, as did Kaiserswerth, in the prayerful determination of a Christian minister and his wife to reach out to every good end that God's spirit of enlightenment could suggest to them. Rev. William Pennefather was rector of Christ's Church at Barnet, and while devoted to his ministerial duties his sympathies did not end with his own people, nor his own denomination. His home was sometimes called the "Missing Link," for it was a meeting-place for noblemen and farmers, bishops and clergymen of all churches; a place "where nationalities and denominations were easily merged in the broad sunshine of Christian love."[65] He carried his principle of Christian fellowship further, for, after mature deliberation, in 1856, he issued a call for a conference to be held at Barnet whose object was "to bring into closer social communion the members of various Churches, as children of the one Father, animated by the same life, and heirs together of the same glory."[66] These conferences have been continued from then to the present time, and are known and prized in many lands. I was present at the conference of 1888, and representatives were there from nearly every Protestant country, while on the platform were leaders of nearly every Protestant denomination, furnishing a wonderful illustration of the union of the Christian Church in Christ; a spiritual union so real and eternal that the minor differences of faith were swallowed up in the great fact that in Christ Jesus all are one.

Gradually a variety of missionary and evangelistic agencies grew up about the conferences. In 1860 the little Home was opened at Barnet which subsequently developed into the deaconess house at Mildmay Park. The question of calling into more active exercise the energies of educated Christian women, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, was one that was attracting attention at the time in England. Mr. and Mrs. Pennefather had long desired to do something in this direction, and their desire took this practical form. In its beginning it had to battle with all the "definite and indefinite objections" that could be advanced against any attempt at organizing woman's work. But those days of latent suspicion or more open antagonism are long past. The institution has justified its right to be by doing a work that otherwise would have remained undone.

In 1864 Mr. Pennefather was called to St. Jude's, Mildmay Park, and the philanthropic and religious undertakings which he had begun were transferred to his new home. He took with him the "iron room" that had been erected for the conferences at Barnet, and continued to use it for the same purposes at Mildmay; while the missionary training-school and home were accommodated in a house which he hired for the purpose.

His new parish was in a part of London where poverty and want abounded. There was no adequate provision for the education of the poor and neglected children, so he erected a building where elementary instruction could be given at a very low price. A soup-kitchen was started at the iron room: clubs of various kinds were formed, and other agencies were set at work, both for the temporal and spiritual welfare of the people. The degraded and miserable neighborhood gradually underwent a transformation, and the police testified that there was a manifest restraint on the lawless locality. "To many of the waifs of life no human hand was stretched in kindness until he came to the district and taught them what Christianity was."[67]

A small legacy coming to him, he bought a house with a large garden attached, and made it a mission center for the needs of the infirm and aged; while the ignorant and careless, who would not enter a church, were often induced to attend meetings here.

The training-school had been started at Barnet for the purpose of training foreign missionaries; but Mr. Pennefather now saw that there was as great a demand for home mission workers in the sorrowful and benighted portions of the vast metropolis, so, after much deliberation and consultation between himself and his wife, he decided to initiate the ministry of Christian women as deaconesses. He hesitated about the name to be given to the women whom he employed as Christian workers, but no other was suggested conveying the same idea of service to Christ among his suffering and needy ones, and, as the appellation had already won respect through the good reports of the deaconess houses on the Continent, he decided to adopt the same name. They continued to work in his parish only until the terrible visitation of the cholera in 1866. Then when men were swept into eternity by hundreds, and hundreds more were in dire distress, the deaconesses were invited by the minister of another parish to come to his assistance. In this way the bounds of the work began to enlarge. A small hospital was added to the home and a medical-school mission was begun.

It now became necessary to build a large hall; the iron room was too small for the conferences, the church too small for the congregation, and the missions had outgrown the capacity of the mission room. When the plan for a new building was made known money came in unsolicited from various sources. The undertaking was pushed rapidly forward, and in October, 1870, the hall was opened. It will seat 2,500 people, having a platform at the west end, and a gallery running around the sides and east end.

Thanksgiving and prayer were built into the walls from the very foundation; and before the basement rooms were cleared of rubbish, or the floor laid, a prayer-meeting was held to ask for a blessing upon the future undertakings of the mission. The basement was divided into five rooms, to be used for night-schools and other agencies for the benefit of the poor.

Adjoining the hall, at the west end, was built the deaconess house. From his home near by Mr. Pennefather had watched the completion of the work with great interest. In one of his letters he says:[68] "Sometimes I can scarcely believe that it is a reality, and not all a dream—the Conference Hall, with its appendages, and the deaconess house actually in existence. May the Holy Spirit fill the place, and may he make it a center from whence the living waters shall flow forth."

From a letter written to one of these deaconesses, we gain his opinion as to the need of deaconesses, and what was his ideal of a Home.[69] "The need for such an institution is great indeed. I do not suppose there was ever a time in the history of Christianity in which the openings for holy, disciplined, intelligent women to labor in God's vineyard were so numerous as at present. The population in towns and rural districts are waiting for the patient and enduring love that dwells in the breast of a truly pious woman, to wake them up to thought and feeling. O! if I had the women and had the means, how gladly would I send out hundreds, two by two, to carry the river of truth into the hamlets of our country, and the streets and lanes of our great cities. Will you pray for the Home? Ask for women and for means. I want our Home to be such a place of holy, peaceful memories that, when you leave it, it may be among the brightest things that come to your mind in a distant land, or in a different position; and each inmate can help to make it what it should be." But Mr. Pennefather did not live to see the great extension in usefulness and importance that the Deaconess Home was to obtain in later years. He passed away from life April 28, 1873, leaving to his wife, who had ever been his sympathetic and devoted helper, the care of continuing the work he had begun. She is still the head of the Mildmay Institutions, assisted by a resident superintendent, and aided by the counsels of wise, experienced men, who form the board of trustees.

From the beginning of the erection of the new building every portion of it was put to use. In one of the basement rooms is the invalid kitchen, where, daily, puddings, jellies, and little delicacies are prepared and sent out to sufferers in the neighborhood, who could not otherwise obtain suitable nourishment. From eleven to two o'clock tickets are brought in, which have been distributed by the sisters or by the district visitors; and those who come to take the dinners, while waiting their turn, have a kind word, or sympathetic inquiry about the sick one, from the deaconess in charge.

A flower mission occupies another room. Kind friends send here treasures from the garden and green-house, field and wood, and children contribute bouquets of wild flowers. A deaconess superintends the willing hands that tie the bunches, each of which is adorned with a brightly colored Scripture text. Ten hospitals and infirmaries were regularly visited during 1888; and more than thirty-eight thousand bunches of flowers were distributed, each accompanied by an appropriate text.

Near at hand is the Dorcas room, where deaconesses are kept busy in cutting out clothing and superintending the sewing classes. During the winter of 1887 thirty widows attended this class three times a week, glad to earn a sixpence by needlework done in a warm, lighted room, while a deaconess entertained them by reading aloud. A large amount of sewing is given out from the same room, and the garments that are made are often sold to the poor at a low price. A most impressive scene is witnessed during the winter months, when, on three evenings of the week, all the basement rooms are crowded with the men's night-school, which has, it is believed, no rival in England. The ordinary number of names on the books exceeds twelve hundred. There are forty-nine classes, all taught by ladies, the majority of them being deaconesses. The subjects range from the elementary to the higher branches of general and practical knowledge, including arithmetic, geography, geometry, freehand drawing, and short-hand. The Bible is read in the classes on Monday and Friday, and a scriptural address is given by some gentleman on Wednesday. The school always closes with prayer and singing. The men may purchase coffee and bread and butter before leaving, and of this they largely avail themselves. A lending library is also attached to the school. The highest attendance during last session was five hundred and eighty-one, the lowest two hundred and eighty-seven.

The influence of this school is very great, and many pass on from it to the men's Bible-class, which is held on Sunday afternoons in the largest basement room.[70]

A servants' registry is attached to the deaconess house, and through its means about four hundred servants are annually provided with places.

Nearly fifty deaconesses make their home at this central house, many of them having work in the different parts of the city, perhaps at remote distances, but returning at night to the home-like surroundings and purer air of the central house. The large sitting-room, the common living-room of the deaconesses, is a charming place. It is of great size, but made cheerful and attractive by pictures, flowers, and bright and tasteful decorations that are restful to the eyes. Both Mr. and Mrs. Pennefather made it a principle of action to have the home life cheerful, pleasant, and attractive, so that when the sisters come in toward evening, tired physically, and mentally depressed and exhausted by the long strain of hearing tales of misery, and seeing sights of wretchedness and squalor the day through, they could be cheered not only by the words of sympathy and love of their associates, but by the silent, restful influences of their surroundings.

As I looked around the great room with deep-set windows, brightened by flowers, and still more by the happy faces of the deaconesses, some of whom were young girls with the charms of happy girlhood set off by the plain, black dress and wide white collar of the deaconess garb, I could but think the founders wise in arranging such pleasant, home-like surroundings for their workers.

From the windows you look down into a beautiful garden, a rare luxury for a London dwelling. This garden was among the later accessions of Mr. Pennefather, being purchased by him shortly before his death. A train of circumstances led to its possession which he regarded as markedly providential; and the delightful uses to which "that blessed garden," as it has been called, has since been put, seem to justify the importance he attached to securing it. During the conference times great tents are reared here for the refreshments which the weary body needs. A fine old mulberry tree extends its branches, and under its ample shade meetings of one kind or another are held at all hours of the day. The lawn, with its quiet, shady walks, furnished with comfortable garden seats, provides a meeting place for friends, where, in the intervals between the services, those who perhaps never see each other during any of the other fifty-one weeks of the year may walk or sit together. "Here in more ordinary times may be seen the children of the Orphanage (where thirty-six girls form a happy, busy family) playing together, or the deaconesses in their becoming little white caps, who have run out for a breath of air. Here, too, during the summer, a succession of tea-parties is held for the different classes which have been reached by the deaconesses in the more densely populated parts of London, to whom the garden is a very paradise."[71]

Before leaving the Central Deaconess Home I must speak of one branch of work—the artistic illustration of Scripture texts—because it so illustrates the happy freedom and wisdom of the Mildmay methods, which seek to develop the strength of each sister in the line of her special aptitudes. Two of the deaconesses have marked ability as artists, and they devote their time to illuminating texts and adorning Christmas and Easter cards with rare and exquisite designs. From the sale of these illuminations over five thousand dollars were realized last year for the benefit of the institution.

The Conference Hall, too, should have a further word of recommendation for the truly catholic spirit in which it serves the interests of a myriad of good causes. Besides the crowded meetings of the conference there are held Sunday services throughout the year. The hospitality of its rooms is readily granted to every good cause with which the mission has sympathy. During 1887 "temperance society meetings, railway men and their wives, Moravian missions, Pastor Bost's mission at La Force, the MacAll Paris missions, the Sunday closing movement, young men's and young women's Christian associations, a Christian police association, the Children's Special Service mission, the Christmas Letter mission, Bible readings for German residents, and various other foreign and home missions have all in turn been advocated here."[72]

The larger number of the deaconesses at the central house, as well as the twenty-five at the branch house in South London, are employed in twenty-one London parishes, where their work has been sought by the clergymen; they go to all, undertaking every kind of labor that can give them access to the hearts and homes of the people. While co-operating with the clergyman in charge of a parish their work is superintended from the Deaconess Home. They visit from house to house among the sick and poor, hold mothers' meetings, teach night-schools, hold Bible-classes separately for men, women, and children; hold special classes for working women and girls who are kept busily employed during the day, and during the winter months have a weekly average of more than nine thousand attendants on their services. They are solving the problem of "how to save the masses" by resolving the masses into individuals, and then influencing these individuals by the power of personal effort and love.

But a few steps from Conference Hall is the Nursing Home, where about one hundred "nurse sisters," nurses, and probationers make their home in the intervals between their duties, and are presided over by a lady superintendent of their own. Adjoining is the Cottage Hospital, a beautiful building, the gift of a lady in memory of her son. The walls have been painted and decorated throughout by some ladies who delight in using their skill to make beautiful the homes of the sick.

A large hospital and medical mission also exist in Bethnal Green, a densely populated part of London that in some portions can vie with the worst slums of the city. It was so necessary to provide better accommodations for nursing the sufferers than could be found in their poor homes that a warehouse was fitted up with beds and transformed into a small hospital. In 1887 four hundred and thirteen patients were received at the hospital, and in the dispensary for outside patients sixteen thousand four hundred and eighteen visits were paid during the year, nearly two thirds of which number were to patients in their own houses. There is no place in which a hospital could be more sorely needed than in this destitute part of London, and perhaps no place where it could be more appreciated. "I had no idea," said a man of the better class who was brought in, "of there being such a place as this; you give as much attention to the poorest man you get out of the street as could be given to a prince."[73]

Every Christmas some kind of an entertainment is arranged for the hospital patients, and, through the gift of friends, articles of warm clothing are distributed to protect against the winter's cold.

A variety of mission work is carried on in connection with Bethnal Green. There is a Men's Institute, open every evening except Sunday and Monday, in connection with which is a savings' bank that is well patronized. There is a Lads' Institute, where the deaconesses have classes and meet the boys in a friendly way; a men's lodging-house, where a comfortable bed and shelter can be had for eight cents a night. The latter is an enterprise which could be imitated with profit in all our large American cities, where it is very difficult for the homeless and poverty-stricken to obtain a decent lodging, or to find any place, in fact, where liquor is not sold. There are also evangelistic services in the mission here, Sunday-schools, Bible-classes, temperance meetings, a soup kitchen, and a coffee bar, where, during Christmas week, between four and five hundred men and boys were given light refreshments, and at the same time some idea of the kindliness and good-will that are associated with this happy season of the year.

There are also two convalescent homes, one at Barnet and one at Brighton. The home at Brighton is especially designed for the poor patients of the East End mission. The report for the year ending December 31, 1887, says that five hundred and fifty men, women, and children enjoyed its benefits for a fortnight or longer.[74]

Mildmay nurse deaconesses have also charge of the Doncaster General Infirmary, the Nurses' Institute at Malta, and the Medical Mission Hospital at Jaffa, where two hundred and nineteen patients were received the last year, of whom one hundred and seventy-five were Moslems.

There also exists under the supervision of Mildmay workers a railway mission that was begun in 1880 for men on duty at two of the London stations. An organized mission has sprung up from this small beginning that has now extended over three great lines of railroads which employ thousands of men.

The long list of labors given do not exhaust the efforts of Mildmay workers, for, besides special teas for policemen and postmen, and the mission room and day-school at Ball's Pond, there is also an educational branch that is meeting the demand for higher educational advantages for women, under distinctly religious influences, by the Clapton House School.

The questions involuntarily present themselves, when reading the undertakings just enumerated, that involve not only faithfulness and devotion in service, but disciplined, practiced faculties, "What class of women are these by whom so much has been accomplished? And what is the training that has made them so effective?" It is difficult to answer the first question. The deaconesses are of all classes, many of them being ladies who devote their time, talent, and means to forward the cause. There are a good many daughters of clergymen, who are carrying out the associations of their life at home. Just how many are self-supporting and just how many are maintained by the Institution are facts that are never known; as Mrs. Pennefather says in a letter of February 11, 1889, "There are certain points we deal with as strictly private. While every probationer pays four guineas for her first month, the after monetary arrangements are never known except to myself and the resident lady superintendent."

NOTE.—There is a further department at Mildmay that has never been named, but is certainly an important and busy one; it might be called the "Department of Inquiry," for certainly the personal visits and letters received, inquiring into the details of the institution, must be very large. My obligations to Mrs. Pennefather are great, who, both by letter and printed matter, has placed a great number of facts at my disposal, of which I have availed myself freely in writing this sketch. Mrs. Pennefather's words, "we are glad when we can help any Christian work with the experience God has permitted us to gather," echo the words of the great apostle, "Let him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teacheth in all good things." I remember, too, the gracious patience with which, during one of the crowded days of the last conference, Miss Coventry, the superintendent, spent a long hour with us, answering fully and minutely the many questions which we put when trying to supplement our want of knowledge by her long experience. Indeed, the spirit of Mildmay impressed me as generous and helpful; as has been said, "Over the whole house rules the spirit of love, devotion, and prayer."*

* "Deaconess Work in England," The Churchman, May 12, 1888.

The second question is more easy of response. There is a probation house, where ladies that present themselves as candidates are received for a month, and are given work in teaching orphan children, or go out to the city missions and the night-schools under the care of a deaconess. If the probation has proved satisfactory the candidate enters the training-school called "the Willows," a mile or two from the Central House, a pleasant home which about three years ago came into the possession of the institution and the inmates of the school, formerly accommodated in five small houses, are now gathered, at slightly greater expense, under one roof in the larger, pleasanter home. The following extracts, taken from a little circular called "A Missionary Training-school," will give us a good idea of the life of the embryo deaconesses, and the instruction, practical and theoretical, that they receive. "The house, which lies a little back from the road, is entered through a conservatory passage, and on the other side of the spacious hall, with its illuminated motto, 'Peace be to this house,' above the fireplace, are the lady superintendent's sitting-room and the large dining-room, where, on the day when I visited 'the Willows,' about thirty of us sat down to dinner. Several others were absent in connection with their medical studies. Both these rooms open on a terrace, and beyond stretches a garden which, even in lifeless winter-time, looked inviting, and, in its spring beauty and summer loveliness, must be in itself a training for the young natures which are learning in the slums of Bethnal Green and Hoxton their hard acquaintance with sin and sorrow. Perhaps in these days of strain and toil too little has been thought of the need of young hearts for some gentle relief from the first shock of meeting with the evil with which older workers have a mournful familiarity."

The inmates of the Training-school are not deaconesses alone. The school was started to prepare workers for the foreign field, but the crying need of the vast metropolis turned attention to the home field. The Church of England Zenana Society sends its candidates to Mrs. Pennefather for training, and she is glad to accept them, believing that a variety of companionship is needed by those who, in zeal for their personal work, might lose the broad sympathy for all kinds of Christian labor, which is an invaluable cultivation for wise and useful laborers.

The several classes who pass through the course of training may be designated as follows:

a.) Those who pass on to the deaconess house.

b.) Candidates for (1) the Church of England Zenana Society; (2) the Church Missionary Society.

c.) Those who receive medical training for working among the women and children of India.

d.) Those who are as yet unconnected with any society.

e.) When vacancies occur some few are received who merely return to home or parish work, but who are greatly benefitted by training and experience.

"The general routine of life seems to be as follows: Prayers at eight o'clock, then breakfast, followed by a certain amount of domestic duty which falls to the lot of each. For it is not forgotten that these years of training are not for the sake of home life, but as preparation for the self-denials of missionary life. Speaking broadly, the mornings seem to be chiefly devoted to classes; afternoons to out of door and district work; and thus theory and practice pleasantly relieve and support each other."

There are regular Bible-classes held by different clergymen, and once a fortnight there are lectures on the history of missionary work. There are classes in Hindustani, drawing, and singing, and for those whose education is defective, elementary classes in arithmetic, geometry, and short-hand. The probationers are also given training in the duties of the store-room, and the order and method that they are taught in caring for the minutest details must certainly form valuable habits in all those who have any desire to profit by the instruction they receive.

For those who are destined for medical work among the women of India there is a special course of medical training, both theoretical and practical.

The age requirement is not so strictly maintained at Mildmay as at many other deaconess houses, but, as a rule, ladies from about twenty to thirty years of age are preferred as students in the training-school. The sum of three hundred dollars is charged for the year's expenses at the training-school, medical students paying one hundred dollars additional.

Our study of the Mildmay Institutions has been somewhat extensive. As was said at the beginning of the chapter, the great freedom and simplicity of the Mildmay methods, as well as the happy faculty that its directors possess of utilizing all varieties of individual talent, make this deaconess establishment one that is full of valuable suggestions to the similar institutions that are now arising in American Methodism. No working force is wasted; if a deaconess possess a special talent, she is given a field in which to exercise it; and if exceptional conditions arise workers are found ready to meet them. This training provides well-equipped missionaries for the foreign field, and equally well-prepared missionaries for the great field of the present hour—the home mission work in the crowded wards of great cities.

The annual expenses of the Mildmay Institutions vary from one hundred and ten thousand to one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Sixty thousand dollars are received in voluntary contributions, and the remaining sum is generally obtained from friends who are immediately concerned in the work.

It is certainly a marvelous tribute to Christian faith, although it is never heralded as such, that an establishment of the extent and magnitude of Mildmay has been maintained for years with no permanent endowment to fall back upon, and that annually the renewed self-denial of constant friends has to supply the large amount of money needed to meet the entire expenses. Besides those outward and visible services which it renders "for the love of Christ, and in his name" Mildmay furnishes a constant testimony to the fidelity of the Christian faith in the hearts of many believers.

[65] Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather, p. 279. [66] Ibid., p. 305. [67] Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather, p. 435. [68] Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather, p. 471. [69] Life and Letters of the Rev. W. Pennefather, p. 471. [70] Mildmay Deaconesses and their Work, p. 7. [71] Mildmay Deaconesses and their Work, p. 6. [72] A Retrospect of Mildmay Work During the Year 1887. [73] Mildmay Deaconesses and their Work, p. 13. [74] A Light in a Dark Place, p. 21.



CHAPTER XII.

DEACONESSES IN SCOTLAND.

When Fliedner went on his second tour to England he extended his journey to Scotland, and ventured to Edinburgh at a time when the cholera was sweeping with fearful ravages through the city in order to become acquainted with Dr. Chalmers. The great Scotch divine and his good deeds, that were connected with all kinds of charitable endeavor, moved the German pastor to admiration and stirred him to holy emulation. On the other hand, that Chalmers was profoundly touched by the work that Fliedner had accomplished in Germany there can be no doubt; we have his own words to testify to the importance he attached to the diaconate of women. In his lectures on Romans, he says: "Here, too, we are presented with a most useful indication, the employment of female agency, under the eye and with the sanction of an apostle, in the business of the Church. It is well to have inspired authority for a practice too little known, and too little preached on in modern times. Phebe belonged to the order of deaconesses, in which capacity she had been the helper of many, including Paul himself. In what respect she served them is not particularly specified. Like the women in the gospels who waited on our Saviour, she may have ministered to them of her substance, though there can be little doubt that, as the holder of an official station in the Church, she ministered to them by her services also." It is but recently, however, that deaconesses have become incorporated into the religious life of Scotland, and, so far, they do not exist in connection with the Free Church, of which Chalmers was the able and heroic leader, but only in connection with the national Church—the old historic Church of Scotland. Within this Church the question has assumed the form, not alone of the revival of the apostolic order of deaconesses, but also of the organization of all the manifold activities of women within the Church into one whole, which is put under the authority and direction of the officers of the Church.

Isolated attempts in this direction had previously been made, but in 1885 the first definite steps were taken when the Committee on Christian Life and Work, of which Dr. Charteris was the Convener, presented to the General Assembly a report on "The need of an organization of women's work in the Church," part of which is as follows: "The organization of women's work in the Church has become a subject of pressing interest. The Assembly has already sanctioned and regulated the organization of women's work in collecting for foreign missions, and in sending out and superintending missionaries. The great and growing strength of the movement thus recognized is one of the most gratifying things in our mission; ... but of still older date, and not less powerful, is the part taken by women in the home work of the parish church. Lady visitors are carrying messages of divine truth and of human sympathy into the dwellings of the poor both in town and country. Many have been trained as nurses that they may be skilled ministrants to the suffering and sick; and there can be little doubt that the greater part of the actual personal help which ministers receive in parishes is from the women of the congregations. But those who have done most of the good work are most instant in asking from the Church some means of doing still more. From ministers and from their female helpers have come many requests to the committee for some provision for training; some recognition and organization of those who are trained.... In the Church of England are many homes for nurses and deaconesses; training institutions for female mission work of every kind; and the rapidity with which they are multiplying proves of itself how much they are needed; also non-conformist institutions of the kind, and some separate from all Churches. Your committee believe that the time has fully come for our Church's taking steps to supply her own wants in this important department of mission work."[75]

The General Assembly then directed the committee to inquire into the subject of women's work in the Church, and to bring up a definite report to the next assembly. The committee accepted the task, sent out requests to every parish for suggestions as to the forms of Christian work to be carried on by women, and the best means of making preparation for their special training, and prepared themselves by personal inspection of the leading institutions for training women workers in England to be able to answer intelligently the same questions. A scheme was reported in 1886 which should incorporate all existing parish organizations, such as Sabbath-school teachers' and women's societies of all kinds, and should aim at increasing their number and working power. In 1887 regulations were perfected for working this scheme, and the approval of this by the Assembly of 1887 made the new plan a part of the organized work of the Church.

The comprehensive character of the new departure in the Church of Scotland is plainly seen from a view of the organization as it now exists. The three grades into which the Christian women workers are divided embrace every kind of work done in connection with the Church. The first grade is general in its character, and forms an association called the Women's Guild. In each parish the members of Bible-classes, of Young Women's Congregational Associations, of mission working parties, of Dorcas societies, as well as tract distributers, Sabbath-school teachers, members of the Church choir, and any who are engaged in the service of Christ in the Church are all to be accepted as members of the guild. The next higher grade is the Women Workers' Guild, for which a certain age is required, and an experience of at least three years, with the approval of the kirk session which enrolls them. In connection with this guild are associates, who have a similar relation to the members of the Women Workers' Guild that the associates have to deaconesses in the English deaconess houses. They are not pledged to regular or constant service, but engage to do some work or contribute some money every year. They can go to the deaconess house, put on the garb of the deaconess while there, and as long as they remain can assume the responsibilities and enjoy the privileges belonging to deaconesses. The third higher grade is that of the deaconesses. Any one desiring to become a deaconess "must purpose to devote herself, so long as she shall occupy the position of a deaconess, especially to Christian work in connection with the Church, as the chief object of her life."[76] Provision was also made for a training-school and home where deaconesses could be prepared for their duties.

There are a great many ladies who for a long time have been engaged in doing the practical work of a deaconess without being clothed in the garb, or invested with the office. The Church of Scotland recognized these workers by providing two classes of deaconesses, who should be equal in position, but have different spheres of activity. Those who for seven years had been known as active workers, and who have given their lives largely to Christian service, are accepted as deaconesses of the first class, and are free to work wherever they find themselves most useful within the limits of the Church. The second class embraces those who shall have received training in the deaconess institution, or have been in connection with it for at least two years.

When the measure was finally passed by the General Assembly there was no delay in carrying into execution the details indicated by the plan of work. The Deaconess Institution and Training Home was at once started. It was located at Edinburgh, as the most central and convenient place for the institution, and as furnishing the most available advantages for the instruction and training of the deaconesses. From here as a center the work is expected to penetrate into every part of Scotland by means of the trained workers whose services will be available for all parts of the country when desired by the ministers and kirk sessions. With true Scotch prudence and wisdom it was arranged that the lady who was chosen to be the superintendent should fit herself thoroughly for the duties of her responsible place by becoming familiar with the workings of similar institutions in England. She was accordingly given six months' leave of absence, which she spent among the great London Homes, and only assumed the duties of her position May 1, 1888. Meanwhile the Home had opened under the temporary care of a lady who had been a worker in Mrs. Meredith's Prison Mission, and for six years a Mildmay deaconess. It had from the beginning the warm co-operation of sympathizing, influential friends. Regular courses of lectures were arranged on subjects connected with Christian work, and as similar courses will be demanded of like institutions in America it may be interesting to give the syllabus in full:

SYLLABUS OF LECTURES. (On Tuesdays at 12.)

1. B.—Professor Charteris. Four Lectures. "How to Begin a Mission."

Nov. 29.—1. Whom to visit, and why. The ills we know of, bodily, spiritual, social; and seek to lessen. Dec. 6.—2. How to induce the people who belong to no church—perhaps care for none—to come in. Dec. 13.—3. What to do with the children; (a) to attract, (b) to influence them. Dec. 20.—4. What agencies besides Sunday services prove best.

2. C.—Dr. P. A. Young. Six Lectures. "Medical Hygiene for the Use of Visitors."

Jan. 3.—1. Object and scope of the course of lectures; short sketch of the structure and functions of the human body, including a brief description of the functions of digestion, absorption, circulation, respiration, excretion, secretion, and enervation. Jan. 10.—2. Fractures, how to recognize and treat them temporarily; bleeding, and how to treat it; the use of the triangular bandage. Jan. 17.—3. Treatment of fainting, choking, burns and scalds, bites from animals, bruises and tears from machinery, convulsions, sunstroke, persons found insensible, suspected poisoning and frostbite; how to lift and carry an injured person. Jan. 24.—4. Sick-room, its selection, preparation, cleaning, warming, ventilation, and furnishing, bed and bedding, infection and disinfection. Jan. 31.—5. Washing and dressing patients, bed-making, changing sheets, lifting helpless patients, food administration, medicines and stimulants, what to observe regarding a sick person. Feb. 7.—6. Taking temperature, baths, bedsores, nursing sick children, application of local remedies, poultices, fomentations, blisters, etc.; management of convalescents.

3. D.—Rev. George Wilson. Four Lectures. "Difficulties Encountered by District Visitors."

Feb. 14.—1. Difficulties proceeding from indifference. Feb. 21.—2. Difficulties proceeding from ignorance. Feb. 28.—3. Difficulties proceeding from adversity. Mar. 6.—4. Difficulties proceeding from anxiety. Note.—Questions invited from the ladies.

4. E.—Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod. Four Lectures. "Some Qualifications of a Church Worker, especially among the Poor."

March 13.—1. Motives and aims. March 20.—2. Difficulties and hindrances, how to overcome them. March 27.—3. Conditions of success. April 3.—4. Helps, agencies, etc.

5. F.—Rev. John McMurtrie. Two Lectures. "History and Methods of Missions to the Heathen."

April 10.—1. History of missions. April 17.—2. Methods of missions.

Another wise provision in this Scotch home is the arrangement by which those who do not wish to become deaconesses, but who want to become competent Christian workers in their own homes, can come here and spend some months in receiving training and instruction in various methods of Christian work. There is no department in life in which many blunders and much loss of time and usefulness cannot be prevented by making use of the experience of others who have previously overcome the difficulties to be encountered. In other words, we need to obtain all the preparation and discipline we can possibly have in order to do our work well; and especially is this true of Christian work, which demands the highest service that the heart and soul of humanity can give. Many individuals will come to the home to be trained and fitted to work in their own homes, and will start new lines of Christian activity that will win the sympathies and efforts of many who are eager to be employed in good works, if only they can have competent direction.

A pamphlet entitled The Deaconess Institution and Training Home says: "Are there not many parts all over Scotland—mines, quarries, etc.—where the population is poor and hard-working? Would it not in such places be an advantage both to minister and people to have a Christian lady, trained, experienced, and devoted, to live and work among them? Or, which would be possible in every parish, would it not be a great advantage that in case of need—in a mining accident, an outbreak of sickness—a trained Christian nurse should be available during the emergency?"

The General Assembly provided that deaconesses should be solemnly inducted into their office at a religious service in church. It also provided "that along with the application for the admission of any person to the office of a deaconess there shall be submitted a certificate from a committee of the General Assembly intrusted with that duty stating that the candidate is qualified in respect of education, and that she has had seven years' experience in Christian work, or two years' training in the Deaconess Institution and Training Home." Also, "Before granting the application, the kirk session shall intimate to the presbytery their intention of doing so, unless objection be offered by the presbytery at its first meeting thereafter." On Sunday, December 9, 1888, the first deaconess was set apart to her duties. The kirk session was already in possession of the necessary certificates testifying to her "character, education, experience, devotedness, and power to serve and co-operate with others." Due intimation had been made to the presbytery. The questions were put that were appointed by the General Assembly:

"Do you desire to be set apart as a deaconess, and as such to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in the Church, which is his body?

"Do you promise, as a deaconess of the Church of Scotland, to work in connection with that Church, subject to its courts, and in particular to the kirk session of the parish in which you work?

"Do you humbly engage, in the strength and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master, faithfully and prayerfully to discharge the duties of this office?"

The lady who, by answering the above questions, received the sanction of the Church as one of its appointed officers was Lady Grisell Baillie, of Dryburgh Abbey. She writes to the author of this book: "I count it a great honor to be permitted to serve in the Church of my fathers, and I pray that I may be enabled faithfully and prayerfully to fulfill the duties to which I am called, and that it maybe for the glory of our God and Saviour that I am permitted to work in his vineyard."

Miss Davidson, who was temporary superintendent of the home, but who is now engaged in organizing branches of the Women's Guild throughout Scotland, and Miss Alice Maud Maxwell, the present superintendent of the home, have also been set apart to the same office. As has been said, "Each represents an old Scottish family, whose members have been distinguished for Christian and philanthropic labors;" and "each represents a different type of deaconess work." Lady Grisell Baillie is engaged in gentle ministrations among the people of her own home. Miss Davidson is at the service of every minister who desires aid in organizing women's work in his parish. And Miss Maxwell is at the training-home, leading a busy life in directing the class labors and missionary activities that center around it and in impressing her life and spirit upon a band of workers who are to further Christ's cause both at home and in the mission field.

The mention of any facts that can bring before us the varied character that the deaconess work can assume is valuable. For to be truly useful, this cause needs to provide a place for women of very unlike qualities, and also to allow a certain degree of freedom which will insure the individuality of each worker.

The action of the Church of Scotland has had its influence upon the Reformed Churches throughout the world holding the presbyterial system. At the session of the London Council of the Alliance of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches during the summer of 1888, Dr. Charteris presented a report embracing many of the features of the elaborate scheme which he had previously devised for the Church of Scotland. And the Council, in receiving the report, not only approved it, but "commended the details of the scheme stated in the report to the consideration of the churches represented in the Alliance." We may regard the Presbyterian churches of Great Britain, therefore, as committed, not only to the indorsement of deaconesses as officers in the service of the Church, but to the organization of the whole work of women in the churches, under ecclesiastical authority and direction.

There is one feature of the deaconess cause as it has been developed in the Church of Scotland that is of especial interest to the Methodists of America. Most of the great deaconess houses of England have sprung from the personal faith and works of earnest-souled individuals. Mildmay, for example, is a living testimony to the faithfulness and energy of the Rev. Mr. Pennefather and those associated with him. Within the Church of England the recognition accorded deaconesses is a partial one, resting on the principles and rules signed by the archbishops and eighteen bishops, and suggested for adoption in 1871. But as yet the English Church has not formally accepted this utterance, and made it authoritative. The German deaconess houses, while receiving the practical indorsement of the State Church of Germany, are not in any way officially connected with it. Even Kaiserswerth itself is solely responsible to those who contribute to its support for a right use of the means placed at its command. The same fact applies to the Paris deaconess houses. They are all detached efforts, not parts of a general system. But the Scotch deaconesses are responsible to a church, and a church is responsible for their work. The Church of Scotland is, therefore, justified in its claim when it says that the adoption of the scheme of the organization of women's work by the assembly of 1888, "is the first attempt since the Reformation to make the organization of women's work a branch of the general organization of the Church, under the control of her several judicatories."[77] The second attempt was made, which was the first also for any Church in America, when, May 18, 1888, the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States instituted the office of deaconess, and made it an inherent part of the Church economy, under the direction and control of the Annual Conferences.

[75] Organization of Women's Work in the Church of Scotland. Notes by A. H. Charteris, D.D.; p. 4. [76] Report of Committee on Christian Life and Work, 1888, p. 36. [77] Nearly all of the facts, both printed and personal, concerning the deaconess cause in Scotland have been furnished the writer through the kindness of Lady Grisell Baillie, Dryburgh Abbey, Scotland.



CHAPTER XIII.

THE DEACONESS CAUSE IN AMERICA.

It was no part of the plan of this book, when first projected, to treat of the deaconess cause as it is developing within the United States of America, but gradually, through the kindness of many friends belonging to different denominations, a number of facts have been obtained which bear directly upon the question of how the example of European deaconess houses has influenced and is influencing the Protestant Churches of America; and it seems unwise to omit them from the consideration of the subject.

Naturally the German Lutherans, who were well acquainted with the deaconess work in their native land, were the first to try to introduce it among their churches. In the yearly report sent out from Kaiserswerth, January 1, 1847, Fliedner mentions that an urgent appeal had been made to him to send deaconesses to an important city in the United States, there to have the oversight of a hospital, and to found a mother-house for the training of deaconesses. In the report for the following year Fliedner again refers to the call from America, and states his intention to extend his travels to the New World, and to take with him sisters who shall aid in founding a mother-house. In the summer of 1849 he was enabled to carry out his intention, and July 14, 1849, accompanied by four deaconesses, he reached Pittsburg, Pa., where Rev. Dr. W. A. Passavant, who had written so many urgent appeals for his aid, was awaiting him. The building had already been secured for a hospital and deaconess home, and, July 17, was solemnly dedicated at a service where Fliedner delivered the principal address, and a large audience testified to their interest.

Before his return to Europe Fliedner visited the New York Synod, and, in an English discourse, described the character and aims of Kaiserswerth, and commended the newly founded institution at Pittsburg to the sympathy and aid of the German Lutheran Church in America. No further results were reached, as the synod contented itself with resolving that "this Ministerium awaits with deep interest the result of the work made in behalf of the institution of Protestant deaconesses at Pittsburg."[78]

The institution is occasionally heard of afterward in the proceedings of the Pittsburg Synod, and in the paper, The Missionary, published under the auspices of the same Church. Urgent appeals were also sent out for devoted Christian women to come to the aid of the sisters and to join their numbers; but although the hospital, commended by their skillful and able ministrations as nurses, had the full approval of the public, there were few, if any, who came to join them, and they were unduly burdened by a task too great for their small number.

In 1854 Dr. Passavant resigned his pastoral charge, and devoted his entire time to the furtherance of the cause, but, up to the present, it has not attained the complete organization and wide extension that its friends in the German Lutheran Church have desired.

The institutions which owe their existence to Dr. Passavant's efforts are the infirmary at Pittsburg; the hospital and deaconess home in Milwaukee; the hospital in Jacksonville, Ill.; the orphanages for girls in Rochester and Mount Vernon, N. Y., and one for boys in Pennsylvania.

There is, at the present time, only one of the original Kaiserswerth sisters left, and that is Sister Elizabeth, the head deaconess at Rochester. Dr. Passavant still continues to labor at forming a complete organization on the basis of the Kaiserswerth system, and, to quote the words of Dr. A. Spaeth, "As he succeeded forty years ago in bringing the first sisters over from Kaiserswerth to Pittsburg, I have no doubt that now, when the Church is at last awakening to the importance of this work, he will succeed in the completion of his undertaking."

A more recent development of the deaconess work in the German Lutheran Church has arisen in connection with the German hospital in Philadelphia. The hospital was well equipped for its work, but there was much dissatisfaction with the nursing, which was inefficient and unskillful. In the fall of 1882 the hospital authorities turned for advice and co-operation to Dr. W. J. Mann, Dr. A. Spaeth, and other clergymen of the denomination in Philadelphia. It was determined to secure German deaconesses as nurses. Several attempts were made to induce Kaiserswerth, or some other large mother-house in Germany, to give up a few sisters to the hospital, but on all sides the applications were refused. The deaconesses were too greatly needed in the Old World to be spared for work in the New. At length, through the unremitting efforts of Consul Meyer, and of John D. Lankenau, president of the board of managers, a small independent community of sisters under the direction of Marie Krueger, who had herself been trained in Kaiserswerth, acceded to the proposal, and the head-deaconess, with six sisters, arrived in Philadelphia June 19, 1884. They left the field of their self-denying work in the hospital and poor-house at Iserlohn, in Westphalia, sadly to the regret of the authorities and citizens of the place, but to the hospital at Philadelphia they gave invaluable aid. From the first their good services met with appreciation. The efficiency of the hospital service was greatly increased; and from physicians and hospital authorities there was only one testimony, and that a most favorable one, to the value of deaconesses as trained nurses. Mr. Lankenau, who has ever been the wise and munificent patron of the institution, determined to insure a succession of these admirable nurses for the service of the hospital, and, at an expense of over five hundred thousand dollars, he built an edifice of palace-like proportions, and made over this munificent gift to the hospital corporation. It was accepted by them January 10, 1887. The western wing of the building is used as a home for aged men and women; the eastern wing is a residence and training-school for the deaconesses, the chapel uniting the two, and the whole being known as the Mary J. Drexel Home and Philadelphia Mother-house of Deaconesses.

A visit to the Home convinced me that the regulations of the house, the work of the sisters, and the devotion to duty that characterize the mother-houses in Germany rule also in this home in the New World. The imposing entrance hall with the great stair-way, the floor and stairs of white marble, the wide halls and spacious reception-rooms and offices seemed at first almost incongruous surroundings for the modest active deaconesses, some of whom were busy in the hospital wards, others hanging clothes on the line, and others occupied in duties within the building. But place and environments are only incidental matters; the spirit within is the determining quality; and a conversation with the Oberin (head deaconess) and the rector left me with the persuasion that the spirit of earnest devotion to God and humanity is the main-spring of duty in this house.

The arrangement of the rooms for the sisters is similar to that at Kaiserswerth; each consecrated sister has a small apartment simply furnished for her own use. The older probationers are divided two and three in a room. Those who have recently entered are placed in two large rooms, but here every one has her own four walls—even if they are only made by linen curtains. When Elizabeth Fry first visited Kaiserswerth, among the arrangements that she at once recognized and commended was that by which each deaconess was given the privacy of her own apartment. In the deaconess houses that are so rapidly springing up in different parts of the United States this provision ought to be guarded with care, for a life that is so constantly drawn out in ministrations to others should have some moments of absolute privacy upon which no one can intrude.

There are at present thirty-two deaconesses at the Philadelphia Mother-house, twenty of whom are probationers. The house was admitted to the Kaiserswerth Association, and will henceforth be represented at the Conferences. The direction is vested in a rector and head deaconess, neither of whom can be removed except on just cause of complaint. The distinctive dress is black, with blue or white aprons, white caps and collars. There is one addition to their garb which Fliedner would have looked upon with disfavor, and that is a cross—worn by the sisters from the time they are fully accepted as deaconesses.

The first consecration took place in the beautiful chapel of the Home, January 13, 1889, when three deaconesses were accepted as members of the order.

For those who desire to form a good conception of the deaconess institutions as they are conducted in Germany, a visit to the Philadelphia Mother-house of Deaconesses will be fruitful of valuable suggestions.[79]

In July, 1887, a Swedish Lutheran pastor in Omaha sent a probationer to Philadelphia to be trained as a sister for a deaconess house to be established in that central city of the United States. In 1888 four others joined her, and the building of a hospital and deaconess home is now progressing by the generous support of all classes of philanthropists in Omaha. A deaconess home has also recently been founded by Norwegian Lutherans in South Brooklyn, L. I.

In the German Reformed Church a layman endeavored in 1866 to arouse interest in the deaconess office. The Hon. J. Dixon Roman, of Hagerstown, Md., at Christmas gave five thousand dollars to the congregation, and with it sent a proposition to the consistory that three ladies of the congregation should be chosen and ordained to the order of deaconesses, with absolute control of the income of said fund for the purposes and duties as practiced in the early days of the Church.[80] This, and the action of the Lebanon Classis in 1867, requesting the synod "to take into consideration the propriety of restoring the apostolic society of deaconesses," seem to have been the only steps taken by those connected with this denomination.

In the Protestant Episcopal Church of America the bishop of Maryland first instituted an order of deaconesses in connection with St. Andrew's Parish, Baltimore, Md. Two ladies gave themselves to ministering to the poor, and, with the sanction and approval of the bishop, a house was obtained and given the name of St. Andrew's Infirmary. In 1873 there were four resident deaconesses and four associates.[81] An early report of the infirmary says: "The deaconesses look to no organization of persons to furnish the pecuniary aid required by the demands of their position. Their first efforts have been for the destitute and sick. At the home they minister daily to the suffering and destitute sick wherever found; some requiring only temporary medical aid and nursing; others, whom God has chastened with more continuous suffering, requiring, in their penury, constant care and continual ministration." There is also under their charge a church school for vagrant children, and one also for the children of those comfortably situated in life.

The "Forms for Setting Apart Deaconesses," the "Rules for Self-Examination," and the "Rules of Discipline" in the order of deaconesses in Maryland are largely patterned after the Kaiserswerth rules. In truth, the general questions for self-examination in regard to external duties, spiritual duties to the sick, the conduct of the deaconesses or sisters to those whom they meet, and the means for improving in the duties of the office are in many cases selected, and but slightly altered, from the series prepared by Pastor Fliedner.[82] The influence of the devout German pastor is indelibly stamped upon the deaconess cause in whatever denomination it has developed during the nineteenth century.

In 1864 the deaconesses of the Diocese of Alabama were organized by Bishop Wilmer. Under the supervision of the bishop the three deaconesses with whom the order originated were associated in taking charge of an orphanage and boarding-school for girls. In 1873 there were five deaconesses, one probationer, and two resident associates.[83]

In the Church Home all of the work is done by the inmates. As in the foreign Homes, the deaconesses are provided with food and raiment, and during sickness or old age they are cared for at the expense of the order. They are forbidden to receive fee or compensation for their services. Any remuneration that is made is paid to the order. In one feature, however, the deaconesses of Alabama differ from either their German or English sisters, and that is in the care of their individual means. The "Constitution and Rules" says: "The private funds of deaconesses shall not be expended without the approval of the chief deaconess or the bishop."[84] This usage prevails in sisterhoods, but, outside of this instance, so far as the author has been able to learn is not known in deaconess institutions.

The rules for the associates in connection with the order are given somewhat at length, from which the following are taken. After defining an associate as a Christian woman desiring to aid the work of the deaconesses, and admonishing her that, although not bound by the rules of the Community, yet she must be careful to lead such a life as is becoming one associated in a work of religion and charity, she is requested "to state what kind of work she will undertake, under the direction of the chief deaconess, and to report the result to her at such intervals as may be agreed upon." The following modes of assistance are suggested as most useful; namely, "to provide and make clothing for the poor; to collect alms; to procure work, or promote its sale; to teach in the school; to assist in music or other classes; to relieve the destitute; to minister to the sick; to visit and instruct the ignorant; to attend the funeral arrangements for the poor; and to take charge of or assist in the decoration of the church."

The feature of the union of the associates with the deaconesses is one whose importance can scarcely be exaggerated. There are many who would be able to serve for a short time in this relation whose valuable aid would be entirely lost if none but deaconesses who give all their time and strength could work in the order.

In the Diocese of Long Island Bishop Littlejohn instituted an association of deaconesses by publicly admitting six women to the office of deaconess in St. Mary's Church, Brooklyn, February 11, 1872. The association has not continued in the form in which it originated, but has now changed into the Sisterhood of St. John the Evangelist. Still this sisterhood retains many of the distinctive deaconess features. A sister may, for instance, withdraw from the sisterhood for proper cause. She labors without remuneration, and the sisters live together in a home, or singly, as they may please, in any place where their work is located.

In the Diocese of Western New York there are five deaconesses, with their associates and helpers, under the direction of the bishop of the diocese.

In America, however, as in England, within the Episcopal Church sisterhoods are more influential and more rapid in their growth than are deaconess institutions. In a list of the sisterhoods of the Episcopal Church in America, given in the monthly magazine devoted to women's work in the Church,[85] fourteen sisterhoods are named, one religious order of widows, and two orders of deaconesses, one of which is that which is now changed into the Sisterhood of St. John the Evangelist.

In 1871 the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church discussed at some length the relation of women's work to the Church, and there resulted increased interest in the subject of sisterhoods and deaconess institutions. An effort has been made to obtain for the order of deaconesses a wider recognition than it now enjoys, as it simply has the support of the bishop within whose diocese the deaconesses are at work. To this end, in the General Convention of 1880, a canon was presented to the House of Bishops, and accepted by a large vote. But it reached the Lower House too late for consideration, and no further action has been taken since that time.

In the Presbyterian Church of America the question of the revival of the office of deaconess has already claimed some attention. The late Dr. A. T. McGill for many successive years earnestly recommended the revival of the office to the members of his classes in the theological seminary at Princeton; and his views, matured by years of reflection, were given for publication in an article published in the Presbyterian Review, 1880.

In the Minutes of the General Assembly for 1884, page 114, and of 1888, page 640, we find an overture asking if the education of deaconesses is consistent with Presbyterian polity, and, if so, should they be ordained, answered in the negative in the following words: "The Form of Government declares that in all cases the persons elected [deacons] must be male members. (Chap. 13. 2.) In all ages of the Church godly women have been appointed to aid the officers of the Church in their labors, especially for the relief of the poor and the infirm. They rendered important service in the Apostolic Church, but they do not appear to have occupied a separate office, to have been elected by the people, to have been ordained or installed. There is nothing in our constitution, in the practice of our Church, or in any present emergency, to justify the creation of a new office." The next year an explanation of this action, which so obviously contradicts the facts of history, was asked, but the committee declined to say any thing more.

The Southern Presbyterian Church has proceeded further, and in the direction of the female diaconate, as it is characterized in its main features wherever it has existed, when it declares in its Book of Church Order, adopted in 1879, that "where it shall appear needful, the church session may select and appoint godly women for the care of the sick, of prisoners, of poor widows and orphans, and, in general, in the relief of the sick."[86]

In isolated Presbyterian congregations deaconesses have already obtained recognition. At the Pan-Presbyterian Council, held in Philadelphia in 1880, Fritz Fliedner, the son of Dr. Theodor Fliedner, was present as a member, and through the influence of his words the Corinthian Avenue Presbyterian Church set apart five deaconesses, whose duty it should be to care for the poor and sick belonging to the congregation.

"More recently the Third Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles, Cal., empowered its three deacons to choose three women from the congregation to co-operate with them in their work, granting them seats and votes in the board's monthly meeting."[87]

The very interesting article from which the quotation has just been made seems to think the term "deaconess" a misnomer for the Kaiserswerth deaconess, as she belongs to a community, whereas the deaconess of the early Church was attached to a congregation and belonged to a single church as an officer; but it may well be questioned whether the class of duties assigned to the deaconess of the early Church and of modern times alike, that is, the nursing of the sick, the care of the infirm in body and mind, the succoring of the unfortunate, and the education of children, are not the main characteristics of the office of a deaconess, while the fact of her connection with a number of like-minded women in community life is merely an external feature of the office as it has developed in the nineteenth century. Whatever form the question may assume, with the Presbyterian churches of Scotland and England so far committed to the adoption of the office of the deaconess as an effective part of the organization of the Church, it seems inevitable that the Presbyterian Church of America will have to meet this question in the near future.

The Methodist Episcopal Church of America, although occupying itself with the question of the diaconate of women later than any of the denominations previously mentioned, by its acceptance of the office and by making it an inherent part of its ecclesiastical organization has taken a higher ground than any Protestant body, with the exception of the Church of Scotland. The Methodist Episcopal Church has ever offered a freer scope for the activities of its women members than any other body of Christians save the Quakers, who are still the leaders in this respect; but it may be questioned if any furnishes a larger number who are actively engaged in promoting philanthropic and religious measures.

The honor of practically beginning the deaconess work in connection with the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States belongs to Mrs. Lucy Rider Meyer, of the Chicago Training-school, who, during the summer months of 1887, aided by eight earnest Christian women, worked among the poor, the sick, and the needy of that great city without any reward of man's giving. In the autumn the Home opened in a few hired rooms, and Miss Thoburn came to be its first superintendent. The story of the growth of the work, the securing of a permanent home, and the enlargement of its resources is a most interesting one.[88]

The Rock River Conference, within whose boundaries the Chicago Home is situated, had from the beginning an earnest sympathy and confidence in the work as it was developing in its midst. A memorial was prepared, and was presented to the General Conference in May, 1888, by the Rock River Conference, through its Conference delegates, asking for Church legislation with reference to deaconesses. At the same time the Bengal Annual Conference, through Dr. J. M. Thoburn, also presented a memorial asking for the institution of an order of deaconesses who should have authority to administer the sacrament to the women of India. Our missionaries in India have long felt the need of some way of ministering to the converted women who are closely secluded in zenana life, and who, though sick and dying, are precluded by the customs of the country from any religious service of comfort or consolation that male missionaries can render. If it had been possible for our women missionaries to administer the sacrament many Indian women could have been received into the Church. All of the papers and memorials on this subject were put into the hands of a committee, of which Dr. J. M. Thoburn (afterward made missionary bishop to India and Malaysia) was chairman; and the report of the committee was as follows:

"THE NEW OFFICE OF DEACONESSES IN THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

"For some years past our people in Germany have employed this class of workers with the most blessed results, and we rejoice to learn that a successful beginning has recently been made in the same direction in this country. A home for deaconesses has been established in Chicago, and others of a similar character are proposed in other cities. There are also a goodly number of similar workers in various places; women who are deaconesses in all but name, and whose number might be largely increased if a systematic effort were made to accomplish this result. Your committee believes that God is in this movement, and that the Church should recognize the fact and provide some simple plan for formally connecting the work of these excellent women with the Church and directing their labors to the best possible results. They therefore recommend the insertion of the following paragraphs in the Discipline, immediately after 198, relating to exhorters:

"DEACONESSES.

"1. The duties of the deaconesses are to minister to the poor, visit the sick, pray with the dying, care for the orphan, seek the wandering, comfort the sorrowing, save the sinning, and, relinquishing wholly all other pursuits, devote themselves in a general way to such forms of Christian labor as may be suited to their abilities.

"2. No vow shall be exacted from any deaconess, and any one of their number shall be at liberty to relinquish her position as a deaconess at any time.

"3. In every Annual Conference within which deaconesses may be employed, a Conference board of nine members, at least three of whom shall be women, shall be appointed by the Conference to exercise a general control of the interests of this form of work.

"4. This board shall be empowered to issue certificates to duly qualified persons, authorizing them to perform the duties of deaconesses in connection with the Church, provided that no person shall receive such certificate until she shall have served a probation of two years of continuous service, and shall be over twenty-five years of age.

"5. No person shall be licensed by the board of deaconesses except on the recommendation of a Quarterly Conference, and said board of deaconesses shall be appointed by the Annual Conference for such term of service as the Annual Conference shall decide, and said board shall report both the names and work of such deaconesses annually, and the approval of the Annual Conference shall be necessary for the continuance of any deaconess in her work.

"6. When working singly each deaconess shall be under the direction of the pastor of the church with which she is connected. When associated together in a home all the members of the home shall be subordinate to and directed by the superintendent placed in charge.

"J. M. THOBURN, Chairman. "A. B. LEONARD, Secretary."

The adoption of this report made its contents a portion of the organic law of the Church.

It is doubtful if there was any measure taken at the General Conference of 1888 that will be more far-reaching in its results than that which instituted the office of deaconess. The full and complete recognition accorded by the highest authority of the Church commended it to the people, who showed a remarkable readiness to accept the provisions. Nearly simultaneously, at important points distinct from each other, steps were taken to establish deaconess homes, and to provide lectures and practical training to educate deaconesses for their work.

The terms of the law in which the Conference action was expressed were not closely defined. It was felt that in establishing a new office for a great Church there must be room for a wide interpretation, to meet the various exigencies that will arise. It is true, also, that there can be no final interpretation until there shall be a basis of experience wide enough and varied enough to furnish facts that will justify us in forming conclusions from them. Still it was thought by those who were practically engaged in the work that there should be a common agreement on certain practical points: What was to be the training that the deaconesses were to receive during the two years of "continuous service?" What was to be their distinctive garb? What was to be the relation of the deaconess homes, that were arising, to the Conference board appointed by the Annual Conference? To discuss these and other questions a Conference was held in Chicago, December 20 and 21, 1888, of those who were actively engaged in the work. The outcome of the deliberations was the "Plan for Securing Uniformity in the Deaconess Movement." Regulations were suggested concerning homes and their connection with the Conference boards, conditions of admission were agreed upon, and a Course of Study and Plan for Training recommended.[89] Of course the recommendations set forth in the "Plan" are not obligatory, but there has been remarkable unanimity so far in accepting them.

In addition to the Chicago Deaconess Home, and the branch in New Orleans, there is the Elizabeth Gamble House in Cincinnati, of which Miss Thoburn is superintendent; the Home in New York city, instituted by the Board of the Church Extension and Missionary Society, under the superintendence of Miss Layton; the home in Detroit, under the auspices of the Home Missionary Society; and homes under way or projected in Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Minneapolis; while individually deaconesses are employed in Kansas City, Jersey City, Troy, and Albany. It is also well to add that since his return to India, Bishop Thoburn has opened a deaconess house in Calcutta, with four American ladies as deaconesses, while at Muttra a second home has been opened, of which Miss Sparkes, so long connected with our mission work in India, is superintendent.