officers of the Commune interrogated them closely. Their answers were
favorable beyond all expectation. "Are you happy here?" "Oh, yes, very
happy." "What have you done deserving punishment?" "Nothing that we need
talk to you about." "How are you punished here?" "The sisters don't
punish us; they advise us what to do, and warn us." "Now," said the
chief to one, "just tell me quietly, no one else need hear; if you are
not contented I will take you away with me." "What a coward you are,"
she answered, quite scornfully. Not one of them thought of escaping. All
this time the prison wagon had been waiting in the street, and would
have been filled with deaconesses had the slightest cause of complaint
been found; but it went away empty. Later the sisters had occasion to go
to the head-quarters of the Commune in their ward, and they met with
polite consideration. This is not the only experience of the troubled
political life of the great city that the deaconesses have had. The
Faubourg St. Antoine has been noted ever since the time of the Fronde as
being the haunt of all that is turbulent and revolutionary. In February
1848, a great barricade was thrown across the Rue de Reuilly, men,
women, and children hurrying with bricks and stones to help in building
it. Then came the moment of storm and attack, and forty-two men lay dead
in the street. Some of the wounded were received by the sisters, crowded
as they were with the children whom the mothers had brought for safety.
Meanwhile the deaconesses went about unmolested, bought food and
medicine, hunted friends and relatives for the sick, and through all
that period of excitement and strife kept up their ministrations of
mercy.

There is no distinct home for women who are left alone and desire
Christian surroundings, as is the case in several German institutions,
but about sixty such ladies are received as boarders in the Paris home.
Frequently also the hospitality of the house is enjoyed by young girls
who come to Paris alone to earn a livelihood, or who have to stop here
for some hours on their way to another place; a great advantage for
inexperienced young women, unversed in the ways of a city, who find
themselves alone in the great world for the first time.

The preparatory school for deaconesses is on the first floor, below the
rooms of the sisters. For two years the candidates are under the
instruction of superior sisters. They are received into the house
gratuitously, and a