years went on, many ladies of noble birth enrolled themselves
in the company, working side by side with their humbler sisters in the
relief of every kind of misery; but daughter of peer or of peasant,
the Sister of Charity was and is, before all else, the daughter of God
and the servant of the poor. Louise le Gras rejoiced one day when she
heard that one of the Sisters had been severely beaten by a patient
and had borne it without a murmur. She, their Superior, and a woman of
gentle birth, led the way in that humility which was their strength.
She had been trained by Vincent de Paul and had learned from a living
model.

Chapter 7
THE FOUNDLINGS

M. VINCENT was passing one day through the streets of Paris on one of
his errands of mercy when he saw a beggar mutilating a newborn baby in
order to expose it to the public as an object of pity. Snatching the
poor little creature out of the hands of its tormentor, Vincent
carried it to the "Couche St. Landry," an institution which had been
founded for the care of children left homeless and deserted in the
streets.

The state of things in that household filled him with horror. The
"Couche" was managed by a widow, who, helped by two servants, received
about four hundred children within the year. These unfortunate little
creatures, in a state of semi-starvation and utter neglect, were
crowded together into two filthy holes, where the greater number died
of pestilence. Of those who survived, some were drugged with laudanum
to silence their cries, while others were put an end to by any other
method that suggested itself to the wretched women into whose hands
they had fallen.

The sight of the "Couche" was one that could not fail to rouse any
mother's heart to indignation. Vincent took one or two of the Ladies
of Charity to the place and let them judge for themselves. The result
was a resolve to rescue the little victims at any cost.

It was not difficult to get possession of the babies; their inhuman
guardians were in the habit of selling them for the modest sum of one
franc each to anyone who would take them off their hands. But the cost
of maintenance was a more serious matter. A house was taken near the
College des Bons Enfants, and twelve of the miserable little victims
were ransomed and installed there under the care of Louise le Gras and
the Sisters of Charity.

But this was only a beginning. The work appealed all the more strongly
to the Ladies of Charity for