sing influences that
continually beset the deaconesses, and nothing short of God-given
strength and Christ-like enthusiasm can enable these women to devote
six, eight, and ten years of service to this worst city district, and to
come forth with sunshiny, peaceful faces, and sympathetic, loving
hearts.

Taking the total number of deaconess institutions under the Church of
England, there are eighty one deaconesses, thirty-four probationers, and
two hundred and twenty-nine associates.[62]

So far, sisterhoods have proved more attractive to the women of the
Church of England than have deaconess establishments. The latter do not
seem to increase largely in numbers. Vexing questions have arisen as to
how the deaconess should be set apart to her work. Should she be
consecrated by the imposition of the bishop's hands? What relation
should she have to the Church? These questions have been partially
settled by the principles and rules that were drawn up in 1871 and were
signed by the two archbishops and eighteen bishops. They define a
deaconess as "a woman set apart by a bishop, under that title, for
service in the Church;"[63] placing her under the authority of the
bishop of the diocese. These recommendations have not been formally
adopted by the Church of England; they hold good only so far as they are
accepted.

But there are other institutions, lying outside of the boundaries of the
State Church, which have developed more fully and prosperously than
those within it. Of these we must speak first of the institution of
Dr. Laseron, which is more closely connected with Kaiserswerth than any
other in England. In 1855 Dr. Laseron and his wife lost their only
child; and as Mrs. Laseron walked through the streets with burdened
heart she looked at the little children with quickened sympathy, and
noticed how many were poor and hungry and scantily clothed. She talked
with her husband, and they opened a "ragged school" for children. This
increased and branched off, until now there is an orphanage, workhouses
for boys, and a servants' training school for girls. Requests were
frequently made for some of the older girls to act as nurses among the
poor; and, finally, Dr. Laseron, who was a German by birth, determined
to found a deaconess house and hospital. A small hospital of twelve beds
was opened, and proved insufficient to meet the demands; and none could
be accepted as deaconesses, as there was no opportunity to train them in
so sma