THE SISTERS OF THE POOR.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 216, 15 June 1877, Page 15

THE SISTERS OF THE POOR.

[From the Sun.'] In addition to nursing the sick, the Sisters of the Poor of Sfc. Francis charge themselves with feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. No formalities delay the relief afforded to the many starving, shivering men and women who go to the hospitable, wideopen doors of St. Peter's every day for food and warmth. The one qualification required of them is necessity, and the wan, pinched face of a ragged, homeless wanderer is a far better and more potent letter of recommendation to these patient nurses, sisters of the poor in name and in fact, than a certificate signed by the whole 1 Board of Health Commissioners, with the Mayor and Common j Council included. Every day at noon a table is spread with i excellent, substantial food, and for two hours or more the sisters are busy supplying the wants of the poor. The recipients of this charity are not asked whether they are Protestants or Catholics. Those unfortunates, also, who are not able to walk to the hospital \ are liberally supplied by the sisters, who go from house to house, ; and wherever they find poverty and sickness they carry hope to the hopeless, attendance to the sick, and food, fuel, and clothing to those who need. Every effort is bent toward making St. Peter's Hospital as cheerful as possible, and on festivals aud holidays the inmates are made, as far as practicable, to forget their worn-out frames, dependent condition, and dubious future. On Thanksgiving day (called " the Sister-Superior's Feast "), the annual turkey was supplemented with candies and ice cream for the children, and wine, not ad libitum, but in moderation, for the adults. i The rules of their order do not permit any one of the sisters to I walk in the streets alone; so every day every sister who is detailed I to solicit contributions sallies out, accompanied by a little orphan j girl, of whom several are provided for by the hospital, and, going j from store to store, and from house to house, she solicits charity I everywhere. Through the driving snow and bitter cold of winter, I under the broiling sun of July, the sisters are seen in all parts of Brooklyn, resolutely forcing their way along, intent only upon filling the baskets that they carry, and securing for their charges , i the necessaries for another day. Very often they meet with rebuffs, or have gratefully to take gifts grudgingly given ; but, in the main, the residents of Brooklyn are not uncharitable, and the quiet, patient heroism of these self-sacrificing women reaps its I reward, as is proved by the contents of two waggons, the property ', , of the hospital, which arrive every evening loaded with provisions. , ! Of course, gifts of money, too, are received, but the rule of the ' | order provides that when the hospital has on hand more money L i than its own immediate requirements call for, the surplus shall ba 1 given to some institution iv greater need. An excellent dispensary "r" r is attached to St. Peter's, from which an average of about 3,000 patients are annually supplied with medicines.