Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/205

Rh cruelty of Philip and of Alba, and of the tragical deaths of their victims, give a gloomy interest to this portion of the city. But one thinks with joy at the same time, that the murderous powers of Spain and of the Inquisition are at an end.

Und seine Albas sind nicht mehr!

Little Netherland has, in its fight for freedom, destroyed their dominion, and although one portion, Belgium, still continues faithful to the Catholic church, yet has this portion maintained the most precious of its liberties, which her sister-state of Holland also acquired by a long and bloody war.

I will now say a few words about a sight in Brussels, which delighted me more than all its palaces and parks. I saw, one day, above a hundred old people of both sexes, the men on their side, the women on theirs, in a handsome and spacious building, cared for and waited upon by nice-looking young girls, like aged parents by their daughters. These young girls belong to an order which was established a few years ago, and which, at this moment, is greatly on the increase; it is called “les petites sœurs des pauvres.”

In a little seaport town of France, lived, some years ago, a good clergyman, who had deep sympathy with old seamen, and the widows of such, who, feeble and decrepit, obtained a wretched livelihood by begging, and so doing, fell into still deeper misery, both of soul and body. He communicated his feelings to two young girls, who, both orphans, maintained themselves by the labor of their hands, and prevailed upon them