use is supported, the old women
always get the first selection, and the ladies only the remaining
scraps. It is altogether the most striking example of self-denial and
self-devotion which has ever happened to fall under our attention in
this country.

We were received in a faded old dining-room, by a Sister whose age
surprised us, for she did not appear to be above five-and-twenty. Her
dress consisted of coarse black serge, and a linen cap, such as is
worn by poor old women in the country. She was evidently a
well-educated and refined English lady, who, under a different
impulse, might have very probably been indulging at this moment in the
gaieties of Almacks. With great courtesy, but without for a moment
departing from the serious manner in which she had first addressed us,
she conducted us through the house, and explained its various
arrangements. We were first shewn into a large hall in the rear, where
we found about thirty little beds, only a few of which were occupied,
the greater number of the inmates being able to sit up and move about
the house. Nothing could exceed the homeliness of the furniture,
though everything was remarkably clean. In another dormitory up
stairs, we found ten or twelve bedrid women, one of them within a few
months of completing the hundredth year of her age, but able to
converse. Another was a comparatively young woman, who had three
months ago had a limb amputated. A Sister, in her plain dark dress,
stood in this room, ready to attend any of the poor women. We were
next conducted to a large room, where a number of the inmates were at
dinner. They rose modestly at our entrance, and we had some difficulty
in inducing them to resume their seats. We were curious to see the
viands, knowing that they were composed solely of the crumbs from the
rich man's table, and having some idea, that as most of the Sisters
were French, there might be some skill shewn in putting these morsels
into new and palatable forms. We did not, however, find that the
dishes were superior to what might have been expected in a workhouse.
The principal article was a pudding, composed of pounded scraps and
crusts of bread, and bearing much the appearance of the oatmeal
porridge of Scotland. Ladies attend the old women at table, acting
entirely as servants do in a gentleman's dining-room, though only in
the limited extent to which such services are required at a meal so
simple. It is only after this meal is concluded, tha