do it; the
proceeds went to keep up the establishment.

So successful was the venture and so happy were the poor creatures who
found a comfortable home and kind treatment in their old age that the
Ladies of Charity determined to found an institution on the same lines
for all the beggars of Paris. A large piece of ground that had been
used for the manufacture of saltpetre was accordingly obtained from
the King, who also gave a large contribution of money toward the
undertaking. The hospital, known as "La Salpetriere" from the use to
which the ground had formerly been put, was soon in course of
building, but the beggars who were destined to 1711 it, many of whom
were worthless vagabonds, showed very little desire for being shut up
and employed in regular work. Vincent would have preferred to begin in
a small way with those who were willing to come in; but the Ladies of
Charity, in their enthusiasm, declared that it would be for the
beggars' own good to bring them in by force, and the King was of their
opinion. The Salpetriere was soon crowded, while the sturdy rascals
who infested the streets and begged under pretense of infirmity were
suddenly cured at the prospect of leading a regular life and working
for their living. Begging, at the risk of being taken off to the
Salpetriere, soon became an unpopular occupation, and the streets of
Paris were a good deal safer in consequence.

In 1658, two years before his death, Vincent de Paul gave to the
Congregation of Mission Priests its Rule and Constitutions. It was the
work of God, he explained to them; there was nothing of his own in it.
If there had been, he confessed humbly, it would only make him fearful
lest his touch might spoil the rest. Those who listened to him and who
had been witnesses of his long and holy life, his wisdom and his
charity, knew better.

St. Lazare was a center where all fervent souls zealous for the
service of God and the good of others met to find counsel and
inspiration at the feet of its holy founder. Letters from all parts of
the world and from all kinds of people in need of help and counsel
kept the old man continually busy during the time he was not giving
instructions, visiting the sick, or receiving those who came to ask
his advice. He rose at four o'clock to the very end of his life and
spent the first hours of the day in prayer, and this in spite of the
fact that the last years of his life were years of acute bodily
suffering.

His le