he needs of that Church, with all the
distinguishing American traits that will prepare them to understand the
people whom they are to serve, and that will give them access to the
hearts of this people.

If the deaconess cause should gain favor with us as it has in Europe,
and should the deaconesses become as established in the social life of
the people as they are there, the effective agencies will be largely
increased that are to deal with the questions that come to the front
whenever, as in great cities, large numbers of people are massed
together.

Deaconess institutions now exist in Switzerland, France, Holland,
Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Austria, England, and Germany, while
the countries in which these homes have stations are literally too
numerous to mention. Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the countries of
Northern Africa, and of Asia Minor, as well as isolated mission stations
throughout the entire world are now served by deaconesses.

If there were ten times the number of sisters, places could be at once
found for them. It is instructive on this point to read what Pastor
Disselhoff says[46] in the account he gives of the various demands made
upon him, which he has been unable to meet. One of the letters he quotes
was from an English missionary on the Cameron River. "Send us
deaconesses for our hospital," he says. "It was built for European
sailors, especially Germans. We hope and trust to overcome the
superstitions of the natives, and that they too, may come to be healed."
But there were no sisters to send.

A similar call came from Shanghai, but as it was impossible to return a
favorable answer, although the hospital was a Protestant institution,
the Sisters of Mercy were invited in, and given control. From 1870 up to
1886 over two hundred and twenty-seven places at widely remote
distances, such as Madras, New Orleans, Port Said, Rio de Janeiro, and
elsewhere, sent most urgent appeals for Kaiserswerth deaconesses to be
assigned them, but invariably the same answer must be returned: "There
are none to send." Disselhoff closes by saying, "How many open doors has
God given! Whose fault is it that they remain closed?"

[42] Schaefer, _Die Weibliche Diakonie_, vol. i, p. 21.
[43] The details of the deaconess work at Muelhausen are largely
taken from Schaefer's _Die Weibliche Diakonie_, vol. ii.
[44] _Life of Pastor Fliedner_, translated by C. Winckworth, London,
1867, p. 133. "The fa