lled it a hospital, and looked
with aversion upon it. The beginning was very unpromising. But the
founder never hesitated, and the close of the first year of the history
of the _Institute_ revealed the fact that it had received forty sick
persons, and that these were nursed by seven deaconesses. Every day gave
new strength to the enterprise; and soon there were more of a similar
character springing up in Holland, Switzerland, France, and other
countries, but all dependent upon the parent at Kaiserswerth for
properly trained nurses and instructors. The organization of new
institutes at a great distance, imposed severe labor on Fliedner, but it
was cheerfully undergone for the sake of the great cause so dear to him.
It was to advance its interests that he came to America, and afterwards
went to Jerusalem, to superintend the establishment of branch Institutes
of Deaconesses. They are now in prosperous existence in Constantinople,
Smyrna, Alexandria, Bucharest, and Florence,--not to mention many more
in the Protestant lands of the Continent.

But it is in Kaiserswerth that the Deaconesses are trained for their
humanitarian life-work. Of this institution Mr. Stevenson says: "It
consists of an Hospital for men, women, and children; a Lunatic Asylum
for females; an Orphanage for girls; a Refuge for discharged female
convicts; a Magdalen Asylum; a Normal Seminary for governesses; an
Infant School; a Chapel; two shops; a publishing office; a museum;
residence for the Deaconesses; and a Home for the infirm. Besides, as
the property of the Institution, there are a home for maid-servants in
Berlin; an Orphanage at Altdorf; the Deaconess Home at Jerusalem; the
Seminary at Smyrna; the Hospital at Alexandria; and the Seminary at
Bucharest. The number of these Christian women is about three hundred
and twenty, of whom upwards of one hundred are at Kaiserswerth, or at
private service, and the rest scattered over seventy-four stations in
Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. Upwards of eight hundred teachers
have been sent out to educate many thousand children. The number
annually in hospital is over six hundred, and upwards of fifty families
are supplied with sick-nurses; in the Asylum there are twenty-four; in
the Orphanage, thirty; in the Infant School, fifty; in the Refuge,
twenty; in the Seminary, fifty. The number dependent on the Institution
for daily bread is between seven and eight hundred."[86]

In addition to the enterprises of