ck
of being terribly Protestant, and her Protestantism is somewhat
dictatorial. On the other hand, to the energetic organizer whose ideal
of a parish is a well-oiled machine turning out piety and charity
without hitches or friction she is simply a parochial impediment. She
has no system. Her visiting days are determined by somewhat eccentric
considerations. Her almsgiving is regulated by no principle whatever.
She carries silly likes and dislikes into her work among the poor. She
rustles into wrath at any attempt to introduce order into her efforts,
and regards it as a piece of ungrateful interference. She is always
ready with threats of resignation, with petty suspicions of
ill-treatment, with jealousies of her fellow-workers. We can hardly
wonder that in ecclesiastical quarters she is retreating before the
Sister of Mercy, while in the more organized parishes she is being
superseded by the Deaconess. The Deaconess has nothing but contempt for
the mere "volunteer" movement in charity. She has a strong sense of
order and discipline, and a hatred of "francs-tireurs." Above all she is
a woman of business. She is without home or child, and her time and
labour are arranged with military precision. She has her theory of the
poor and of what can be done for the poor, and she rides her hobby from
morning to night with an equal contempt for the sentimental almsgiving
of the District Visitor and for the warnings of the political economist.
No doubt an amazing deal of good is done, but it is done in a
methodical fashion that is a little trying to ordinary flesh and blood.
The parish is elaborately tabulated. The poor are grouped and ticketed.
The charitable agencies of the parish are put in connection with the
hospital and the workhouse. This case is referred to the dispensary,
that to the overseer. The Deaconess prides herself on not being "taken
in." The washerwoman finds that her "outdoor allowance" has been
ascertained and set off against her share in the distribution of alms.
The pious old woman who has played off the charity of the church against
the charity of the chapel is struck off the list. The miserable creature
who drags out existence on a bit of bread and a cup of tea is kindly but
firmly advised to try "the house." Nothing can be wiser, nothing more
really beneficial to the poor, than the work of the Deaconess, but it is
a little dry and mechanical. The ill-used wife of the drunkard sighs
after the garrulous sympath