re young girls with the charms of happy girlhood set off by the
plain, black dress and wide white collar of the deaconess garb, I could
but think the founders wise in arranging such pleasant, home-like
surroundings for their workers.

From the windows you look down into a beautiful garden, a rare luxury
for a London dwelling. This garden was among the later accessions of Mr.
Pennefather, being purchased by him shortly before his death. A train of
circumstances led to its possession which he regarded as markedly
providential; and the delightful uses to which "that blessed garden," as
it has been called, has since been put, seem to justify the importance
he attached to securing it. During the conference times great tents are
reared here for the refreshments which the weary body needs. A fine old
mulberry tree extends its branches, and under its ample shade meetings
of one kind or another are held at all hours of the day. The lawn, with
its quiet, shady walks, furnished with comfortable garden seats,
provides a meeting place for friends, where, in the intervals between
the services, those who perhaps never see each other during any of the
other fifty-one weeks of the year may walk or sit together. "Here in
more ordinary times may be seen the children of the Orphanage (where
thirty-six girls form a happy, busy family) playing together, or the
deaconesses in their becoming little white caps, who have run out for a
breath of air. Here, too, during the summer, a succession of tea-parties
is held for the different classes which have been reached by the
deaconesses in the more densely populated parts of London, to whom the
garden is a very paradise."[71]

Before leaving the Central Deaconess Home I must speak of one branch of
work--the artistic illustration of Scripture texts--because it so
illustrates the happy freedom and wisdom of the Mildmay methods, which
seek to develop the strength of each sister in the line of her special
aptitudes. Two of the deaconesses have marked ability as artists, and
they devote their time to illuminating texts and adorning Christmas and
Easter cards with rare and exquisite designs. From the sale of these
illuminations over five thousand dollars were realized last year for the
benefit of the institution.

The Conference Hall, too, should have a further word of recommendation
for the truly catholic spirit in which it serves the interests of a
myriad of good causes. Besides the crowded meetings of