Evatt, G. J. H. (George Joseph Hamilton), 1843-1921; Nightingale, Florence, 1820-1910
Caroline, young though she was, made a good Deaconess Mother,[4] and she
seems also to have been an excellent wife, full of devotion to the work
her husband loved, through all the rest of her life. The deaconesses give
their work, and in a sense give themselves. They do not pay for their
board, but neither are they paid for their work, though they are allowed
a very simple yearly outfit of two cotton gowns and aprons, and every
five years a new _best_ dress of blue woollen material and an apron of
black alpaca. Also their outdoor garb of a long black cloak and bonnet
is supplied to them, and each is allowed a little pocket money. Their
private property remains their own to control as they please, whether
they live or die.
The little account of Kaiserswerth which Miss Nightingale wrote is most
rare and precious, having long been out of print, but from the copy in
the British Museum I transfer a few sentences to these pages, because of
their quaintness and their interest for all who are feeling their way in
the education of young children:—
“In the Orphan Asylum,” wrote Miss Nightingale, “each family
lives with its deaconess exactly as her children. Some of
them have already become deaconesses or teachers, some have
returned home. When a new child is admitted, a little feast
celebrates its arrival, at which the pastor himself presides,
who understands children so well that his presence, instead of
being a constraint, serves to make the little new-comer feel
herself at home. She chooses what is to be sung, she has a
little present from the pastor, and, after tea, at the end of
the evening, she is prayed for....
“One morning, in the boys’ ward, as they were about to have
prayers, just before breakfast, two of the boys quarrelled
about a hymn book. The ‘sister’ was uncertain, for a moment,
what to do. They could not pray in that state of mind, yet
excluding them from the prayer was not likely to improve them.
She told a story of her own childhood, how one night she had
been cross with her parents, and, putting off her prayers till
she felt good again, had fallen asleep. The children were quite
silent for a moment and shocked at the idea that anybody should
go to bed without praying. The two boys were reconciled, and
prayers took place....”
In the British Museum also is a copy of the following letter:—
“MESSRS. DUBAW,—A gentleman called here yesterday from you,
asking for a copy of my ‘Kaiserswerth’ for, I believe, the
British Museum.
“Since yesterday a search has been instituted—but only two
copies have been found, and one of those is torn and dirty. I
send you the least bad-looking. You will see the date is 1851,
and after the copies then printed were given away I don’t think
I have ever thought of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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