Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - II. Quartier Latin
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Even sweet Sœur Philomène had looked at me
disapprovingly when, alone among my comrades,
I had come with my morphia syringe after the old
padre had left the bed with his Last Sacrament.
They were still there in their big white cornets,
in all the hospitals of Paris, the gentle,
all-sacrificing sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. The crucifix
was still hanging on the wall of every ward, the
padre still read mass every morning before the
little altar in Salle St. Claire. The Mother
Superior, Ma Mère as they all called her, still went
her round from bed to bed every evening after the
Ave Maria had rung.
La Laicisation des Hôpitaux was not yet the
burning question of the day, the raucous cry of:
“away with the priests! away with the crucifix!
à la porte les sœurs!” had not yet been raised.
Alas! I saw them all go ere long and a pity it
was. No doubt they had their faults, these nuns.
No doubt they were more familiar with handling
their rosaries than the nail-brush, more used to
dip their fingers in holy water than in carbolic
acid solution, then the all-powerful panacea in
our surgical wards, soon to be replaced by
another. But their thoughts were so clean, their
hearts so pure, they gave their whole life to their
work and asked for nothing in return but to be
allowed to pray for those under their care. Even
their worst enemies have never dared to belittle
their all-sacrificing devotion and their all-enduring
patience. People used to say that the sisters
went about their work with sad, sullen faces,
their thoughts more occupied with the salvation
of the soul than that of the body, with more words
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