THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
inward religion and universal salvation. Amalie Sieveking, a wealthy woman, broke new ground in dealing with the poor. She was the first exponent of the modern doctrine, ‘‘ not alms but a friend,” founding the society of ‘‘ the Friends of the Poor” for systematic visiting in homes to relieve distress in all ways except by money. Beata Sturmin, “ the Tabitha of Wirttemberg,”’ and a woman of great devotion, exerted an unusual influence. Dorothea Trudel, a Swiss woman, began the ‘ Faith Cure movement.’”’ But in spiritual power no woman of the eighteenth century can compare with Sarah Pierrepont, the wife of Jonathan Edwards and mother of a long line of notables in American church history.
The divisions of Protestantism prevented that large cooperation in good work which the requirements and the growing social consciousness of the
nineteenth century rendered necessary,
2. Later and therefore many of the noblest or- Philan- ganizations founded or participated in thropic by Protestant women of the past hun- Work. dred years have been distinctly outside
of the Church. The prison reforms of Elizabeth Fry (q.v.), the army and hospital reforms of Florence Nightingale, the German Frauenverein founded by three women in 1813 to care for the wounded in the field whether friend or foe (now with auxiliaries all over the German empire), the Sanitary Commission of the American Civil War, the States Charities Aid Association, the Young Women’s Christian Association (see YounG Pro- PLE’s SocimTiHs), the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, the Needlework Gild, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the Consumers’ League, the National Association of Mothers, Working Girls’ Clubs, all of them religious services and all due to woman’s initiative, belong in this category. To the individual initiative of Protestant women is due much religious work of far-reaching importance, yet not in any sense ‘in the Church.” About 1863, Mrs. Daniell, an officer’s widow, made at Aldershot, England, the first attempt to teach soldiers the blessings of religion. The work of Miss Sarah Robinson among soldiers resulted in the founding of the Soldiers’ Institute, in 1874, and of an important work in the troop ships. Miss Marsh carried on effective work among navvies, and especially among the workmen on the Crystal Palace, in Sydenham. Josephine E. Butler founded first in England and then on the continent the most efficient and far-sighted work for outcast women ever instituted. Agnes Weston, the sailors’ friend, has founded sailors’ rests and homes all over the world. She also founded the Royal Naval Temperance Society. Countess Schimmelman carries on a large work for sailors. In the later field of Christian benevolence the names of Dora Pattison, Octavia Hill, and Ellice Hopkins are conspicuousamong many. The work of Mrs. Nassau Senior, first female inspector of workhouses in England, is truly a religious service. Mrs. Senior has done more for servants than any one else in our time. Mrs. MacPherson in 1870 instituted the work of sending friendless children to the colonies. The direct services of women to the Church have, how-
ever, not been few. Baroness Burdett-Coutts founded and endowed the three colonial bishoprics of Natal, British Columbia, and Adelaide, and opened many schools. Catherine Booth (q.v.) opened a great door of opportunity through which women of small education have. been admitted to work side by side with women of fine attainments. When she died, the number of women officers of the Salvation Army exceeded 5,000, and of Halleluiah lassies the number,was in the tens of thousands. Mrs. Ballington Booth, & woman of rare eloquence, is one of the founders of the Volunteers of America (q.v.) and the founder of the Prison Gate Mission of America. Mrs. Meredith, of England, who was the first to advocate cottage homes for children, was, with Mrs. Pennefether, the moving spirit of the Mildmay mission.
In the Church of England and later in churches in the United States the movement toward denominational sisterhoods (see DrEAconEss) and associations of women and girls is rapidly growing. The
Wesleyan Methodists have an order of
3. Sister- Sisters of the Poor. The Church of hoods, England has twenty-nine sisterhoods Education, devoted to helping girls, church work, Missions. etc. The Order of St. Margaret’s, London, has founded a colored sister-
hood in Baltimore. Mrs. Hugh Price Hughes of London has introduced some varieties of the sisterhood idea. Mary Aikenhead introduced into Ireland the Sisters of Charity, Catherine Elizabeth McAuley (q.v.) the Sisters of Mercy (see Mzrcy, Sistrrs or). From the Sisterhood of All Saints, founded in England about 1857, came Helen Bowden, Sister Helen, who founded Bellevue Hospital Training School for Nurses. The Girls’ Friendly Society, founded in 1875 in England by Mrs. M. G. Townsend, to bring together Christian ladies and working girls, was introduced into this country by Mrs. Owen Thomas. The Girls’ Letter Gild, to bring cultured Christian women into correspondence with working girls, founded in England in 1889, was introduced into America in 1892 by Miss F. Wadleigh. Movements analagous to these of the Anglican communion are now taking form in other denominations. The order of The King’s Daughters, founded in 1886 by Mrs. Margaret Bottome (see Youna ProPiE’s Societies, IV.) has spread into all countries where Protestant churches are found. The rise of Sunday-schools (q.v.) opened a wide field for women’s service in the Church, a field of increasing usefulness now that the importance of special training for this work is being recognized. It is hardly more than a century since the right and the necessity of the higher education for women— unquestioned in the early Church, and the secret of much of its usefulness—became recognized by modern civilization. In no sense due to the Church, yet to Christian women it is due that that right has again been won. The name of Mary Lyon stands first among these women, and by her side must stand the names of Emma Willard and Alice Freeman Palmer. Elizabeth Blackwell and Alice Jex Blake opened the doors of the medical profession to women, with all that this involves of blessing upon the mission field. The rise of modern missions had already