ength, through the unremitting
efforts of Consul Meyer, and of John D. Lankenau, president of the board
of managers, a small independent community of sisters under the
direction of Marie Krueger, who had herself been trained in
Kaiserswerth, acceded to the proposal, and the head-deaconess, with six
sisters, arrived in Philadelphia June 19, 1884. They left the field of
their self-denying work in the hospital and poor-house at Iserlohn, in
Westphalia, sadly to the regret of the authorities and citizens of the
place, but to the hospital at Philadelphia they gave invaluable aid.
From the first their good services met with appreciation. The efficiency
of the hospital service was greatly increased; and from physicians and
hospital authorities there was only one testimony, and that a most
favorable one, to the value of deaconesses as trained nurses. Mr.
Lankenau, who has ever been the wise and munificent patron of the
institution, determined to insure a succession of these admirable nurses
for the service of the hospital, and, at an expense of over five hundred
thousand dollars, he built an edifice of palace-like proportions, and
made over this munificent gift to the hospital corporation. It was
accepted by them January 10, 1887. The western wing of the building is
used as a home for aged men and women; the eastern wing is a residence
and training-school for the deaconesses, the chapel uniting the two, and
the whole being known as the Mary J. Drexel Home and Philadelphia
Mother-house of Deaconesses.

A visit to the Home convinced me that the regulations of the house, the
work of the sisters, and the devotion to duty that characterize the
mother-houses in Germany rule also in this home in the New World. The
imposing entrance hall with the great stair-way, the floor and stairs of
white marble, the wide halls and spacious reception-rooms and offices
seemed at first almost incongruous surroundings for the modest active
deaconesses, some of whom were busy in the hospital wards, others
hanging clothes on the line, and others occupied in duties within the
building. But place and environments are only incidental matters; the
spirit within is the determining quality; and a conversation with the
_Oberin_ (head deaconess) and the rector left me with the persuasion
that the spirit of earnest devotion to God and humanity is the
main-spring of duty in this house.

The arrangement of the rooms for the sisters is similar to that at
Kaisersw