ks. On her return to Berne
she gained the support of a society of women, and through their aid
secured a hospital and deaconess home. It is now fourth in number among
the largest mother-houses, has two hundred and ninety-seven deaconesses,
five affiliated houses, and forty-five different fields of work.

The oldest mother-house in Switzerland is at St. Loup, not far from
Lausanne, standing on one of the beautiful heights of that picturesque
region. It was founded by Pastor Germond in 1841, through the direct
influence of the work at Kaiserswerth. There are now seventy-three
deaconesses, mostly acting as nurses either in private homes or public
institutions.[45]

There is also a large institution at Riehen near Basel, which sends out
two hundred deaconesses. The greater number are of the peasant class,
and are nearly all employed as nurses. The home at Zuerich was at first a
daughter-house of Riehen, but is now an independent institution with
twenty-seven stations. In Austria there is a mother-house at
Gallneukirchen from which sisters are sent forth, four of them working
in as many Vienna parishes. The story of deaconess work in Austria is an
interesting one, and is told by Miss Williams in a recent number of
_The Churchman_, from which the following extracts are taken:

"The Protestants of Gallneukirchen were first formed into an independent
parish in the year 1872, and it is the only one lying between the Danube
and the Bohemian frontier. It is very widely extended, but numbers only
three hundred and eighteen souls, and is so poor that with the greatest
effort it can raise only four hundred florins a year (about one hundred
and sixty dollars) for church and school. With the aid of those
interested in the work a parish-house has been secured, where the pastor
and his wife reside, and in which is the deaconess asylum for the aged,
infirm, and insane of all classes. It has not as yet been possible to
clear off the debt on the purchase. Still the sisters strive in every
way to enlarge their usefulness, so that they now possess extensive
buildings and farms--only partly paid for, it is true--wherein to house
the many afflicted who apply to them for aid. In one building, standing
alone on a hill, they purpose to collect the insane patients, and
suitable additions are now being made to insure their safety and
comfort. In another village, two hours' drive from here, is their
school, where more than sixty boys and girls are