debated. She wished to lay out her life to the best interest for God,
and both schemes had special attractiveness to her; the one, because of
its intensely spiritual work; the other, because of her love for
nursing, and the boundless possibilities for good there might be in
training nurses. She feared, however, that as superintendent of the
nurses' home she might be fettered in more definite Christian work. She
felt she must be left in no uncertainty on this point. In her letter
replying to the gentleman who had written to her, she said:--"You sent
me the ground plan of the building, but I would ask, is its foundation
and corner stone to be Christ and Him crucified, the only Saviour? Is
the Christian training of the nurses to be the primary, and hospital
skill the secondary object? I ask not that all should be of one
Christian denomination, but what I do ask is that Jesus, the God-man,
and His finished work of salvation for all who believe on Him, should be
the basis, and the Bible the book of the institution. If this be your
end and aim, then will I gladly pass through any course of training to
be fitted to help in your work."

Soon after writing this letter she bade farewell to Kaiserswerth. Her
plan was to go first to London to consult with Miss Nightingale and
other friends as to her future. The seven months in Germany had been
most happy ones, and she was ever thankful for the time she had spent
there. She fully saw the great need of Christian training institutions.
In those days the Evangelical Protestant churches, unlike the Romanists,
who for many centuries had largely availed themselves of it, were not
alive to the importance of the ministry of women. There were no
institutions in England where Christian women could be trained to work
for Christ, that work of all others the most important, and some, to
secure the training they longed for, and could not get elsewhere, had
even entered Roman Catholic sisterhoods. Times are changed now, thank
God, and although there is still the need of more, there are many
institutions where Christian women can be thoroughly and efficiently
trained for service of different kinds at home and abroad.

CHAPTER IV.

IN LONDON SLUMS.

As we have already seen, Agnes Jones distrusted her power to rule. This
fact, added to her mother's dislike to her entering a hospital
determined her, for the present at least, to join Mrs. Ranyard in the
work of the Bible Mission, for she kn