Best Reward of a Useful Life.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 931, 3 January 1890, Page 4

Best Reward of a Useful Life.

‘ Sister Marie Ther&se ! When scarcely twenty years old you were woundsd on the battle field of Balaclava while devoting yourself to the care of the wounded. At Magenta you were again wounded in the front line of battle. After that you nursed our warriors in Syria, in China and in Mexico. At the battle of Reichshofen you were oarried wounded from the field amid a heap of slain Cuirassiers. Later on a bombshell fell in the midst of the ambulance committed to your care. You immediately seized it, and carried it some eighty yards away from the ambulance, where it fell to the ground, and by its explosion wounded you seriously. After you had recovered, you followed your vocation here to Tonkin.’ In such remarkable words did the Governor of Tonkin, surrounded by his staff, in front of all the troops, lately address the superioress of the Sisters of Mercy. He then bade her kneel down, and touching her shoulder thrice with his sword, added, ‘ In, the name of the French people and army, I confer upon you the Cross for Tried Bravery. Nobody can show more heroic deeds to merit it, nobody can claim a more selfdenying career, and entirely devoted to his fellowmen and his fatherland. Soldiers, present arms !’