From the nucleus of the congregation of St Stephen’s, a new society of women, nearly all of whom were delicately nurtured, was called into being, and drew vast numbers of adherents. It was called the Sisterhood of the Kindly Life. There was no conventual establishment and no monastic rule. The sisters still lived in their own homes; they were at liberty to marry, and they dressed, if it pleased them, in the fashion of the hour; but the vast majority discarded the finery and ornaments which cost so much and had once seemed so essential to their happiness. A bonnet and cloak as simple as those worn by hospital nurses became widely adopted as the uniform of the Sisterhood. There were no actual vows, but two injunctions were solemnly impressed upon the Sisters by Father Francis, as their warden--self-denial in everyday life, and the service of others in every way that each Sister’s circumstances permitted. Every day each Sister was to perform at least one act of kindness. Of this Sisterhood Aldwyth Westwood became a member, and, with others of the order, she found much practical scope for helpfulness in ministering to the great number of unemployed men who in the early winter weeks marched into London from great distances in the vain hope of enlisting help from the ruling powers in Church and State. These marches from provincial centres had assumed most remarkable, and, indeed, dangerous proportions. The great bulk of those who joined in such demonstrations from the provinces were sober, well-conducted, but unlucky beings. Footsore and weary, they tramped through the suburbs into London, and were charitably provided for in halls and schools, where the Sisters attended to their wants; only to leave the capital after a few days with no improvement in their prospects. Long ago the foreigner had been allowed to get a grip on our industries. So complex had the position become that England could no longer support her own sons on English soil. Even the old soldiers, always numerous in these provincial contingents--men who had fought and bled for their country on far-off battlefields, where pluck and endurance had been lauded in the hour of triumph--were now forgotten and unprovided for in their maturity or old age. The bitter feeling engendered by the failure of successive Governments to grapple with the problem of the unemployed, on statesman-like lines of national policy, now bore fruit. For, while patient endurance was the characteristic of most of the provincial demonstrators, there was a considerable minority ripe for resentful action against the ruling classes. Great numbers of these men having come to London, stayed there, and the magnetism of a powerful organisation attached them practically, if not admittedly, to the forces of the League. The old soldiers, in particular, were welcomed and well paid on account of their experience in discipline, and the qualifications which many of them possessed for marshalling bodies of recruits.