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his spiritual pastors that the prayers ot others often save 

 the sinner, and considering that none are such pleaders 

 at the throne of Grace as the aged, he builds for such 

 intercessors a warm retreat, in the hope that out of gra- 

 titude the inmates of the home will pray for him. 



What a mistake ! Having been connected myself 

 officially with local institutions of this kind for seventeen 

 years, during ten of which I have presided over one, 

 I have had abundant opportunity and occasion to ob- 

 serve their inner working. I have been able to convince 

 myself by experience that inside the walls of such homes 

 instead of improving spiritual exercises, prayers of re- 

 pentance and entreaty on behalf of the charitable bene- 

 factor, the old paupers occupy their time almost exclu- 

 sively in scolding and gossip and quarrels merging not 

 infrequently into fights. The causes of all this internal 

 discord are in almost all cases ludicrously trivial 

 some tool or a needle, or a bit of sugar, or a pinch of 

 tea, or an old candle-end, or some other trifle about 

 which no- one in ordinary life would care to waste a 

 word but which in these places serve as the cause of 

 endless discussions. Why is this? 



The reason is simple. The inmates of these alms- 

 houses feeling themselves idlers without any occupation, 

 and having all their time hanging heavy on their hands, 

 naturally lose their temper, and those quarrels which 

 ensue not only furnish the principal "parties concerned 

 with a temporary iaterest in life but provide a subject 

 for general disputation and party strife to all their com- 

 rades. This relieves an otherwise intolerable monotony. 



Meanwhile the remedy for all this mischief is at hand. 

 Only unite these refuges .for the aged. poor with orpha- 

 nages and another character is at once imparted to the 

 charity. Of course not all the inmates of the former 

 establishments are fitted to play the part of nurse; there 

 is always about 20 % f infirm and invalids. These 

 again, should be placed apart in hospitals and waited on 

 by those with stronger health to whom for such services 



