THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 78, 24 October 1874, Page 9

THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR.

Thk following letfer, written by Blanchard Jerrold, son of the celebrated Douglas Jerrold, a Protestant gentleman, and editor of ' Lloyd's IJewtpaper, 1 bears testimony to the marvellous labours of those ministering angels, the Little Sisters of the Poor. The house established in London is an offshoot of the parent house in Paris, which has won m^ mr n commendation :— "To the Editor of the ' Morning Post.— Sir, — Will you grant your sometime « London Poor ' and • Poor of Paris ' -commissioner a little space in your journal to plead the cause of the intrepid Little Sisters of the Poor, whose lives are spent in daily hero«ms ? It was in your columns that 1 was privileged to describe the Jiouse in which these sistera are perpetually nursing and feeding some -iOO old men and women, depending for food and clothing on the restes which they are able to collect from house to house. Many of your readers must have noticed two sisters hastening through London etreets in a covered cart. These are the messengers from St. Joseph's House, Portobello-road Bayswater, who collect the broken victuals and bear them home to feed the old men and women whom they hove taken under their care. Be it known that tho Little Sisters of •the Poor eat only after their wrinkled proteges have feasted. Not the -crumbs from the rich man's table are theirs, but the odd crusts and tones which remain after Lazarus, stretching his leg 3 , has Baid, Enough. I remember it was with eyes brimming over with tears that I looked upon the Little Sisters' refectory. Pitchers of pure yater, mounds of unsightly morsels of bread, scraps of cheese, these furnished forth the banquet of the Christian heroines for whom I ask you space to plead again to-day. They are in debt for their house. A heavy mortgage is rotting the holy roof-tree they have raised over a crowd of grey heads, that but for them would not have even Chatterton s shelter, a slate between them and the thunder-cloud- Patient ■ comforters in the vestibule of dewtb to eucceasive hundreds of forgotten *nd destitute old men and women— comforters, whose angel hand «mooth alike the pillow of Jew and Christian— they haye turned to me, because it was my privilege to help them through you years ago ; and they have begged me to interpret the prayer they address to the many tender-hearted people whose eyes fall upon your columns. Not for themselves, who eat from the outcasts 1 plates, but for ago and helplessness sheltered in their holy arms, they plead; and to none who wll take the trouble of visiting St. Joseph's House will they, I am quite certain, plead in vain. If a few ladies would undertake a bazaar, or would collect among their friends, the Little Sisters of the Poor would soon have a house free from debt.— l have the honor to remain, air, your faithful servant, Bjoanchabd Jbbbold. Reform Club idune 26.