Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 433

Chambers's Edinburgh Journal,
No. 433

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Title: Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 433 Volume 17, New Series,
April 17, 1852
Author: Various
Editor: Robert Chambers and William Chambers
Release Date: May 12, 2006 [EBook #18382]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH ***

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CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS,
EDITORS OF 'CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,'
'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.
No. 433. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1852. PRICE
1-1/2d.

THE DINGY HOUSE.
London is like a large company, where it is necessary for the master or
mistress of the house to introduce a great many people to each other.
Everybody in that overgrown metropolis has things within a few doors
of his residence, which, if they were suddenly described to him, he
would hear of with deep interest or extreme astonishment. There is a
plain back street near the Haymarket, bearing the title of Great
Windmill Street, in which there is a large, dingy-looking house
standing somewhat detached, and not appearing to be in the hands of
ordinary tenants. Very near this, is a distinguished haunt of gaiety, very
well whitened, and looking very smart, but which would be no index to
the character or purposes of the dingy mansion. A group of dirty
children will be found disporting at marbles or pitch-and-toss on the
paved recess in front; but neither would that scene be found in any kind
of harmony with the house itself. It is evidently a house with a mystery.
Very few people would be found in the course of a day to pass out of or
into that house. A blind would seldom be raised. A fashionable carriage
would not once in a twelvemonth be seen rolling up to the gloomy
portals. Supposing, however, that any one were to be so curious as to
watch the house for an afternoon, he would probably see two women in
extraordinary dresses come up to the door, apparently laden with some
heavy packages, shrouded under their wide black cloaks. He would see
the door opened with some caution, and the two women would then
walk in, and be seen no more for that day. He might speculate for hours
about the business in which these women had been engaged, but in vain.
He might make inquiries in the neighbourhood, but probably with as
little result; for, in London, it must be an extraordinary family indeed

which provokes any inquiry among neighbours, and most undoubtedly
the inmates of the mansion would never think of proclaiming what they
were, or how they lived.
Having perhaps by this time excited some curiosity, we must
endeavour to satisfy it. We happened by mere chance, when spending
an evening with a friend in a distant part of the town, to hear of this
house and its tenants; and the doings and character of its inmates struck
our mind as something so extraordinary, and in some respects so
beautiful, that we resolved, if possible, to pay it a visit. We did so a few
days thereafter, under the conduct of a young friend, who kindly
undertook to smooth away all difficulties in the way of our reception.
We can, therefore, give some account of the dingy house, with a
tolerable assurance that, strange as the matter may appear, it is no more
than true.
This dingy house is possessed by ten women, chiefly natives of France,
who form a branch of a religious society of recent origin in that country,
entitled, Les Petites Soeurs des Pauvres (_Little Sisterhood for the
Poor_). They have been in this house only for a few months, but are
already fully engaged in the business to which they have devoted
themselves--which is the care and nurture of infirm and destitute old
women. The extraordinary thing is that the Sisters, though most of
them are in their education and previous habits ladies, literally go about
begging for the means of maintaining these poor people. Everything is
done, indeed, by begging; for on entering the sisterhood they renounce
all earthly possessions. They have begged the means of furnishing their
house, and paying their rent, which is not an inconsiderable sum; they
daily beg for the food, clothes, and cordials required for themselves and
the objects of their charity. What is even more singular, these ladies in
all respects serve the old women,