And what a dull monotonous existence many of them accept! What tiresome and even repulsive duties they go through without flinching! I know a house kept by some “Little Sisters,” where there are eighty old paupers entirely fed and tended by them. The “Little Sisters” go about begging for remnants of food with a small van, and they never eat anything themselves until they have fed their eighty poor. Two or three of the Sisters do the washing. They are in the washhouse from morning till night to keep the old folks clean. Have I ever done as much?--have you? Till we have sacrificed our own ease and comfort in this way, or in some way equivalent to this, the next best thing we can do is to respect such self-sacrifice in others. One of these “Little Sisters” in the house I know remained humble and unknown like the rest, but when she was gone we learned by accident that she was of princely rank. [Sidenote: Evidence collected by Maxime du Camp.] Maxime du Camp has studied the charitable self-sacrifice of women belonging to the higher classes. The abundant facts that he collected were not a surprise for me, but if any English reader happens to retain the old prejudice that all Frenchwomen are frivolous he ought to read du Camp’s evidence. [Sidenote: Cheerfulness a Characteristic of the Active Sisterhoods.] The active sisterhoods are repaid to some extent in this world by a beneficent law of human nature. They have one remarkably uniform characteristic; they seem to be invariably cheerful, with bright moments of innocent gaiety. This serenity of mind may be explained naturally without having recourse to miracle. It is gained by the ever-present sense of duties accomplished in the past and the determination to face them in the future. It is the spirit that inspired Wordsworth’s “Ode to Duty” with a health surpassing all songs of love and wine. [Sidenote: The Saintly Nature in Protestantism.] [Sidenote: An Anglican Saint.] [Sidenote: Life of an Anglican Saint.]