On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    16 A HOUSE OF MERCY.

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    . At A Few This High Days Institution Ga...

    elegance . Sister A . said this was the work of the girls in spare momentsand upon Saints ' -days and holidays , and -was their only

    " fancy-work , , " and also a great delight ; some of them executing this leaf-embroidery with much expertness and taste . A square

    aperture in the Sister's room opened into the dormitory , thus conveying all sounds to her attentive ear , even when the walls separated her

    otherwise from her charges . The dormitory was a large chamber subdivided into about a dozen

    cubicles or small sleeping apartments by wooden partitions and doors which rose within a few feet of the _ceilings thus producing

    privacy to each occupant of the cubicle , and not preventing a free circulation of air . All here was scru _| _3 ulously clean ; each little

    iron bedstead stood covered with its mattress and blue and white checked coverlet ; apparatus for washing standing by each bed . I

    noticed above several of the beds those little religious prints called in France " images , " and 'which , though occasionally sentimental ,

    frequently also have a peculiar sacred grace about them . These I observed had been well selected ; they had been given to the girls

    by the Sisters and visitors . One particularly struck me . It was not bad in an artistic point of view , and the sentiment was affecting

    when you knew that it had been placed by the hands of the poor penitent above her pillow . A very narrow bridge spanned a deep

    chasm . A tall , commanding figure of Christ approached from the farther side towards a girl who , with outstretched arms and face of

    anguish , p - leaded for aid , ready to fall as she stepped along the narrowdizzy plank . Beneath it , if I rightly remember , were the

    , words , " Aid me , O Lord , or I perish . " There were also holy words and sentences embroidered in box and ilex leaves over many of the

    beds . The girls become greatly attached to their " cubicles , " and regard the privacy and sense of possession there enjoyed as one of

    their greatest privileges . They are found greatly to develop a sense of self-respect in the girls . -

    I inquired from Sister A . whether there were any particular rules regarding cleanliness and bathing , as I should imagine that the free

    and ample use of cold water would be an important means towards reformation . She said that each week they took a bath , and that

    personal cleanliness was especially enjoined ; but that it was difficultwhilst so many duties devolved upon one Sister , to be sure that

    their , ablutions were as thorough as might be desirable . I have learned subsequently that the Warden is very desirous of fitting up

    a room in the house as a bath-room , but is as yet restrained from doing so until the requisite funds are obtained . The weekly bath

    takes place in the laundry at present , where the accommodation is by no means such as the Sisters consider desirable , and where the

    stone floor is prejudicial to health . Silence was , Sister A . informed me , enjoined upon the girls in

    their bed-rooms , and the rule was rarely broken . At 10 o ' clock the

    16 A House Of Mercy.

    16 A HOUSE OF MERCY .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 1, 1858, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01031858/page/16/