was filled with longing to follow her example, and received
two discharged prisoners, whose friends had refused them, with the
object of giving them the chance of retrieving their character. He set
them to work under the personal supervision of himself and his wife. The
work soon increased, and assistance was needed. To the penitentiary were
added an orphanage, a training-school, a hospital, and a lunatic asylum.
More and more workers were drawn in, and at the time of Agnes Jones's
first visit there were fifteen branches of the institution in different
parts of the world. This number by the time of her second visit had
increased to fifty.

The deaconesses as novices passed through every department of the work,
and received a thorough training in both nursing and household work, the
pastor wisely considering that if, when in visiting the poor, they could
render them practical help, their words would prove far more effective.
Much was made of Bible study, both public and private, and this, as well
as the _Stille Stunde_ (quiet hour), a half-hour daily set apart for
prayer and meditation, could not but tend to give a spiritual tone to
the whole work. Agnes revelled in all this, and found great happiness in
the daily routine, in spite of much which was, perhaps, somewhat
needless drudgery, such as sweeping and dusting her room, washing up
after meals, and even black-leading stoves. She had, however, well
learned the lesson that no action can be mean to the Christian if it
come in the way of duty. Sometimes, indeed, it seemed a waste of
strength to spend so much of the day in manual work, especially work
which so injured her hands that for some time she was obliged to keep
them poulticed, and was thus unable to assist in the hospital. Still she
was, as she said herself, "as happy as the day is long, and it does not
seem half long enough," in spite of a longing sometimes "for home sights
and voices."

Soon after her arrival at Kaiserswerth, fourteen sick boys were given
into her care for twelve hours a day. This was no easy task,
particularly when she was left in sole charge of them, some being too
far recovered to lie in bed, and needing to be kept at lessons or work.
As the weeks rolled by, her work was changed, and in addition to other
employment, she instructed a number of classes in English, both in the
training-school and among the deaconesses. As for herself, she was daily
becoming more proficient in German, and in a