Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. I.djvu/206

222 to adopt these poor, neglected, old people—first one, then two, then several, of the most forlorn. The blessing of God rested upon their work. The old people rewarded their young benefactors by a renewed life, us it were, both of soul and body, as well as by the most heart-felt gratitude. A larger room was obliged to be hired for the old people, who placed themselves under the protection of the young.

The next step which the good pastor induced his young disciples to take was, to go out themselves to beg for the old, from the fear that if these returned to their former life of beggary, they might relapse into their former life of sin. This step was the most difficult of all to the young. But they took even this courageously, when they were convinced of its necessity, to complete the good work. They went, with a basket on their arms, from door to door. They had to encounter, at first, derision, hard language, and petty ridicule; but when they endured all with great patience, and continued to persevere in the spirit of self-sacrificing love, the derision was changed into admiration, and the hard language into gifts, and a more and more liberal feeling towards the object of their labors.

The good clergyman now began to extend the sphere of these labors. The number of “the little sisters” had, in the mean time, considerably increased, and he now sent them into various of the French towns,—Rouen, Toulon, Lyons, Paris. They went by twos or fours, and always began by hiring a couple of poor rooms, and purchasing some bedding. They then went out into the streets and lanes, and gathered