man's heart. "Unless the Congregation of the Mission is humble," said
Vincent, "and realizes that it can accomplish nothing of any value,
but that it is more apt to mar than to make, it will never be of much
effect; but when it has this spirit it will be fit for the purposes of
God."

Yet, in spite of all that such a vocation meant of self-renunciation,
year after year the Mission Priests increased in number. "This work is
not human, it is from God," was Vincent's answer to those who
marvelled at the power of the company for good.

Chapter 6
THE GREY SISTERS

ALTHOUGH many of the great ladies of Paris had enrolled themselves
among the Ladies of Charity and were ready to help Vincent to the
utmost of their ability, much of the work to be done in that great
town was hardly within their scope. The care of the sick in the
hospitals alone demanded ceaseless labor and an amount of time which
few wives and mothers could give. There was a gap which needed
filling, as Vincent could not but see, and he took immediate steps to
fill it.

The instrument he required lay close to his hand in the person of
Louise le Gras, a widow lady who had devoted her life to the service
of the poor. She had gathered in her house a few young working women
from the country to help her in her labors; these were the people
needed to step in where the Ladies of Charity fell short. A larger
house was taken on the outskirts of Paris; good country girls who were
ready to give their services without payment were encouraged to devote
themselves to the work, and Louise le Gras, with all the enthusiasm of
her unselfish nature, set to work to train the little company to
efficiency.

Of one thing this holy woman was absolutely convinced--unless the
motive with which the work was undertaken was supernatural, neither
perseverance nor success could be expected. "It is of little use for
us to run about the streets with bowls of soup," she would say, "if we
do not make the love of God the object of our effort. If we let go of
the thought that the poor are His members, our love for them will soon
grow cold." To pray, to labor and to obey was to be the whole duty of
the members of the little sisterhood. The strength of their influence
was to be the fact that it was Christ to whom they ministered in the
person of His poor.

To many of these girls, rough and ignorant as they were for the most
part, life in a great town was full of dangers. Such work as th