I had been sick for a long time before this, several times sick enough to die, and Sister Rita told me that she was almost afraid to go with me for fear that she would have to bury me on the way. I told her not to worry about me; that if I died to see that I was put under ground, and say, "Good-bye, Lucretia," and go on with the journey. On the evening of June third, 1907, we were prepared to start and were met by a few friends at the Union Depot, who presented us with dainty lunch baskets with enough good things to eat until we arrived at Chicago, our first stop. We were met at Chicago by some of my relatives, Mr. and Mrs. Gorman, who entertained us during our stay of ten days. I had a relative in the Notre Dame Convent, whom I visited while there. Her sister, a married woman, asked me if I could do anything for her sister's (the nun) sickness, which I found to be nervousness. I told her the best thing to do for her was to take her out of the convent and let her live like other people live. The next stop was the Mother House, Montreal, Canada. This building was an immense, dark stone structure, six stories in height, a sure enough penitentiary-looking Roman fortification. The walls of this enormous building encloses a large novitiate, which has about one hundred novices most of the time; large dormitories for the sisters, some of them fitted to accommodate forty, and dark except when lighted by artificial light; a printing plant operated by the sisters, used to print the books and other literature for the many houses of the order; sewing rooms, where clothes are made for the novices in the novitiate and other inmates of the Mother House; a department where the sisters make slippers for the inmates of the house; a chapel, community room, large kitchens, dining-rooms for the chaplain and sisters, bakeries, an infirmary and operating room, and in fact a department for nearly everything used for the sisters in this institution. [Illustration: _Head Mother House of the Sisters of Charity of Providence, Montreal, Canada._] Most of the professed sisters at this house are those who have passed their years of usefulness in the work done by the order, such as hospital work, teaching, orphanage, etc., or are sickly sisters who cannot do the outside work. There are always several hundred sisters at the Mother House sent from the numerous houses of the order from all over the country, many of which pass their few remaining years in solitude. There are about six sisters who attend to the business of this house, which is the head of all the different houses of this particular order, and all reports must be made to the head sister, who is called the Mother General.