Excerpt from The Service of the Poor: Being an Inquiry Into the Reasons, for and Against the Establishment of Religious Sisterhoods for Charitable Purposes

The attempt which has been made of late years to introduce into England a system of religious sisterhoods for charitable purposes, must be a topic of deep personal interest to all women who wish to devote their lives or any great part of their time to the service of the poor. It is with these women that the decision in favour of or against the system ultimately rests, and their decision is a matter of importance not only to themselves and to the poor, but to the whole nation. The incentives to such self-devotion are, however, becoming so increasingly urgent, and the practical difficulties to be encountered in it are so great, that any organization which offers guidance and protection in the work, especially when clothed with the prestige of ecclesiastical sanction and romantic associations, is too welcome to be often met with much scrutiny into its remoter action. Yet the more urgent the need for the services of women, the better bestowed in the long run will be any amount of careful and dispassionate inquiry which can be brought to bear upon the real nature of the schemes proposed for rendering them available.

It may, I think, be assumed as granted on all hands that some kind of organization is necessary for providing a supply of trained women for works of charity, and for directing them -when trained in the performance of such works.

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