y voiced the complaint,
long reiterated, that Protestantism had no missionaries. We who live in
the closing years of the same century, surrounded by the multiplied
evidences of the extent of missions, when the Protestants of the world
are expending nearly ten millions of dollars annually, and employing
nearly six thousand men and women as missionaries, cannot realize the
change that has taken place. In 1830 Southey again wrote: "Thirty years
hence another reproach may also be effaced, and England may have her
Sisters of Charity." He had learned to know their value when serving as
a volunteer in Wellington's army, and a year after the battle of
Waterloo he had visited the Beguines at Ghent, and what he saw deeply
impressed him. "We should have such women among us," he said. "It is a
great loss to England that we have no Sisters of Charity. There is
nothing Romish, nothing unevangelical in such communities; nothing but
what is right and holy; nothing but what belongs to that religion which
the apostle James has described as 'pure and undefiled before God the
Father.'"[54]

Southey's prophecy has come true. England to-day in her deaconesses
possesses her Sisters of Charity. How has this change been brought
about? The acquaintance of Mrs. Fry with Fliedner, and her visit to
Kaiserswerth, led her to introduce into England the practical training
of nurses for the sick. The Nursing Sisters' Institution in Devonshire
Square, Bishop's Gate, was founded through her efforts in 1840, and
still exists "to train nurses for private families, and to provide
pensions for aged nurses."[55]

In 1842, Fliedner came to London, accompanied by four sisters, at the
invitation of the German Hospital at Dalston. These deaconesses won
golden opinions from the hospital authorities for their quiet, efficient
manner, and their trained skill. The hospital continues to be served by
them, but the Sisters now come from the mother house at Darmstadt.

Kaiserswerth and its deaconesses became more widely known through the
life and inestimable services of Florence Nightingale. When a child,
one of Fliedner's reports fell into her hands. Its perusal marked an
era in her life. It made clear to her what she should do. She would go
to Kaiserswerth, and fit herself for a nurse. Her childish resolve never
wavered. "Happy is the man who holds fast to the ideals of his youth."
Florence Nightingale held fast to hers. She went to Kaiserswerth at two
different time