All the world, that is, one out of the two millions of people in this
great town, know, that the above is the title of a somewhat romantic drama,
in which Miss Kelly is fast monopolizing the tears and sympathies of the
public by her impersonation of a _Sister of Charity_. To witness it will
do every heart good; and this is the highest aim of a dramatic
representation. The performance has had the effect of drawing our
attention to the original of the character, which is intensely interesting,
though at the same time overtinged with romance.
Every six weeks' tourist has seen or heard of the _Sisters of Charity_ on
the Continent. They are nurses in the hospitals there, but on a system
very different from the hireling attendants in similar institutions in
England. Indeed, they may be said to have quitted the world to devote
themselves to the relief of those unfortunate persons, who people the
abodes of misery and distress. They form, it appears, a numerous body,
consisting of several thousand members, who are said to perform or
superintend the administration of 300 hospitals in France. They are united
under several denominations, as nuns of those monastic communities which
escaped the storms of the revolution. Many of them are in the prime of
life, and though not bound by absolute vows, devote the whole of their
time, and even die in the act of doing good. In spiritual matters, they
are under the jurisdiction of the bishop of the district in which the
hospital is situated; in temporal concerns they are subject to the
authority of the heads of the establishment to which they belong; but they
are chiefly under the guidance of the superior of their order. They are
fed and lodged at the expense of the hospital, and receive in addition, a
certain stipend for the purchase of clothes. In the hospital at Lyons,
(which forty or fifty years ago, was the only hospital in France which was
not in a barbarous state), there are about 150 of these _Sisters_, wearing
a uniform dress of dark worsted, and remarkably clean. They receive the
trifling sum of forty francs a year for pocket-money, and sit up one night
in each week; the following is a day of relaxation, and the only one they
have. During the siege of Lyons, when cannon-balls passed through the
windows, and struck the walls every moment, not one abandoned her post
near the sick.
Every one will rejoice at the existence of such offices as _the Sisters of
Charity_--benign, nay almost divine; and until this moment, we thought
that such had been their real character. Our belief has, however, been
somewhat staggered by an article in the last number of _the London Review_;
in which the services of the _Sisters_ are represented in a much less
amiable light than we have been accustomed to view them. This notice
occurs in a paper on a work by Dr. David Johnston, of Edinburgh, on the
Public Charities of France. The Doctor, whose book abounds with evidence
of considerable research, thus speaks of the _Sisters of Charity_:--
"The inmate of an hospital is alone qualified to speak with justice of the
blessings which such attendance affords. Possessed of superior education,
and from their religious profession placed above many of the worldly
considerations which affect nurses in general, the Sisters of Charity act
at once as temporal and spiritual comforters, watch over the sick bed,
soothe the prisoner in his confinement, and penetrate into the worst
abodes of misery, to comfort the distress, and instruct the ignorant."
Such we also thought had been their portraiture, although we could not so
far speak from personal evidence. But the reviewer gainsays all this, and
even does more. After drawing a comparison, and not altogether a just one,
between the "Sisters of Charity in France," and ladies of fortune who
unostentatiously visit the sick poor in England, he says--
"It is matter of fact, generally observable in the instances of the
_soeurs de charité_, that in the performance of their duties towards the
sick, during the first three or four months, they display all that tender
solicitude and devotedness, which romance ascribes to them as constant and
habitual. After the first feelings have subsided, the _soeurs_ are found
to consult, in all their actions, first, their own interests, in ease and
comfort; next, those of their order, and of the servants on the
establishment personally connected with them; and, last of all, those of
the patients. On an unprejudiced examination it will be found, that a body
so constituted as the _soeurs_, are extremely unfit for the performance of
such functions as are entrusted to them in these establishments. It is
essential to the good performance of the duties of a nurse, that she
should be responsible to the medical officer for their omission. The
_soeurs_ are entirely independent of any such control, and their usual
answer to any complaint is, '_Je reponds a mon crucifix_.'"
"It is a great mistake to suppose that these nuns are enlightened, or well
born, or well educated. In general they are ignorant women, too poor and
too deficient in personal qualities to find husbands. They are proud,
arrogant, and bigoted; and, with a few interesting exceptions, it may be
said of them, that they become nuns for want of better occupations; that
they are characterized by the ill temper of disappointment, at the world
having neglected or rejected them, rather than by any sublime elevation of
feeling, which could have led them to reject the world. It is a delusion
to suppose that all the more important duties, on the due performance of
which the success of medical treatment mainly depends, devolve upon the
_soeurs_. The fact is, that it is one of the most serious defects of the
French hospitals, that proper persons are not procured to perform these
services: such as waiting upon the patients, changing their linen, moving
them, and administering to their little wants, in a proper manner. In
Paris there is a class of men, the refuse of the working classes, who,
when all means of support fail, apply to the hospitals, and become
_infirmières_. It will scarcely be believed, that to these men are
entrusted the important duties to which we have adverted, and which the
Doctor seems to suppose are chiefly performed by the _soeurs_. These
_infirmières_ receive for their services only six-and-eightpence per month,
besides their board and lodging in the house; and, as they can earn more
at any other occupation, they seldom remain long in their situations. The
_infirmières_, or female servants, are much of the same description: badly
appointed, badly paid, negligent and rapacious, often pilfering a portion
of the allowance of provisions and wine prescribed to the patient for his
recovery. The general interference of the _soeurs_ is prejudicial.
Frequently, on the strength of their own medical opinions, they will
neglect the prescriptions; frequently they harass a patient about his
confession, when a calm state of mind is indispensable for his recovery.
They also often exercise their united influence against a medical man, to
protect favourite servants. They encumber all exertions for improvement,
so that, whenever any change is discussed, one of the first subjects for
consideration is, whether the _soeurs_ are likely to interfere. Of late,
however, their power has been somewhat checked. Under good regulations
they might, no doubt, be rendered serviceable; but every alteration of
their condition, with regard to the hospitals, to be an improvement, must
bring them nearer to the superior condition of responsible nurses, chosen
for their aptitude, and remunerated according to their merits."
"We have been compelled to state thus much of these orders. The
associations connected with persons of their sex and supposed rank, who
have taken the veil; their apparent devotedness to such amiable and
pre-eminently serviceable duties; their solemnity of exterior, and other
incidents--are so calculated to strike the eye and possess the imagination
of the beholder, that we are not surprised to perceive that they have
misled the judgment of the Doctor, since they constantly impose on others,
who have better opportunities for observation. The _soeur de charité_ is
too fine an object for the effusion of sentiment and romance, not to be
made the most of in these worldly and unpoetic times; and were it not that
the illusions thrown around this object might lead to practical errors, we
should have refrained from disturbing them."
Feelings similar to those professed by the reviewer, have induced us to
present the reader with his new light, which we hope is a just one. Of the
little system of plunder carried on in some institutions at home, we can
speak of one instance with certainty:--A relative near and dear to us as
life's blood, had by money and comforts, (which but for this incident
would have been kept secret), for many months relieved an inmate of a
London hospital. The patient was a poor, old female, in the last stage of
decrepitude, and fast sinking beneath the sorrows of life. She had seen
happier days, and the only relic which she possessed of better fortune,
was a pair of silver framed spectacles; which, on her death-bed, she
bequeathed to her benefactress. The poor old woman's relations were dead,
and this guardian-spirit who soothed her path to the grave, was her only
friend. Such an act of gratitude was, therefore, extremely affecting, and
her benefactress was anxious to possess the legacy--heaven knows, not for
its intrinsic value--but as a testimony of rare and unaffected gratitude;
yet, will it be believed, that the tempting bit of silver had not escaped
the clutches of the nurses of the ward, and the spectacles were not to be
found! Our informant related the circumstance with tears of indignation;
we threatened to investigate the matter, yet her meek and mild spirit
implored us to withhold: she too passed from us a short time after, and is,
we hope, gone where her good deeds will not be forgotten.