70 sterling. And yet with
all this economy she was so charitable and liberal in giving of her
own to the poor, that we have often had to caution her against
extravagance in that respect. By this spirit of economy, we have
also known several of the orphans and foundlings arrive at a degree
of independence which enables them in their turn to assist the
deserted generation of to-day, and to do for them as they themselves
had been done by. Many also have been the means of rescuing others
from crime and starvation by conducting them to that blessed
institution, to which, under Heaven, they owe all their prosperity
and happiness in life.
Of these charitable communities there are many orders, which differ
from the above chiefly in name, and in the Sisters never quitting
their sanctuary or the precincts of their gardens. The Sisters of
Charity, properly so called, not being vowed to seclusion, are more
generally known to the world, who see them, and therefore believe
that they exist for charitable purposes, while of those of whom they
see nothing they know nothing; and should the casual observer meet
in the street on a festival, or day of examination, a column of from
300 to 800 children, from six to ten or twelve years of age, neatly
clothed, and whose happy countenances and beautiful behaviour
bespeak the care with which their early education has been
conducted--it never once occurs to him that these are the children
of the poor, the children of the free schools of the 'Sisters' of
the Ursaline Convent, or of the Congregation of Notre Dame, or of
some other religious establishment of the kind.
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