Miss Davis was in Sicily in order to rest. The funds at her disposal amounted to six hundred lire only. But she saw an opportunity to help in the moral regeneration of the refugees and at the same time to supply one of the most pressing needs of the city. She went to the mayor and offered to employ refugee women in making clothes for the hospitals. Like everyone else, the Mayor had been told that the refugees would not work; but unlike everyone else, he decided to make the experiment. He gave Miss Davis two of his own rooms in the Municipio, supplied her with sewing machines, and promised to furnish all the necessary materials. She opened her shop on January 8th and soon had fifty women at work. Miss Davis was not alone in her labors. Besides the support of the officials and of Madame di Rudini, she had the direct assistance, from the first, of Mrs. Musson, wife of the British clergyman, and later of Mrs. Sisco, of Florida. When gifts of money from the American Red Cross and from the Committee of the _Bayern_ enabled Miss Davis to found a second workshop at Santa Lucia, the quarter of Syracuse situated on the mainland, Mrs. Musson became its manager. To supplement her own scanty knowledge of Italian, Miss Davis employed as interpreter and paymaster an English resident of Messina, Miss Smith, who had escaped from the earthquake without any of her belongings beyond what she could carry. The Syracusan ladies took an active interest in the workshops; two of them, the Baronesses del Bosco, whose principal work was in the hospitals, found time nevertheless to give much of their attention to Miss Davis’ work, and assisted her particularly in the cutting-out department. The workshops were a success from the beginning. Under Miss Davis’ unceasing supervision the women showed no tendency to idleness. A piece wage which would have put the unskillful and the beginners at a disadvantage was not found necessary; the women were paid by the day, one lira and a lunch of bread, cheese and wine. The question naturally suggested itself, could not the men also be induced to work? And could not their work be made to contribute, like that of the women, to supply their own wants? [Illustration: REFUGEE CAMP IN THE PIAZZA VITTORIA.]