Stockton, Frank Richard, 1834-1902 / 2008-07-19 00:00:00

I know that he gave the matter the most
earnest consideration, and two days after my late secretary and her
husband had left me he came into my study, his face shining with a new
idea.
"Mr. Vanderley," said he, "to find you an amanuensis who will exactly
suit you, and who will be willing to come here into the country to work,
is, I think you will admit, a very difficult business; but I do not
intend, if I can help it, to be beaten by it. I have thought of a plan
which I believe will meet all contingencies, and I have come to propose
it to you. You know that institution just outside the village,--the
House of Martha?"
I replied that I knew of it.
"Well," he continued, "I did not think of it until a day or two ago, and
I have since been inquiring into its organization and nature. That
sisterhood of Martha is composed of women who propose not only to devote
themselves to a life of goodness, but to imitate the industrious woman
for whom they have named themselves. They work not only in their
establishment, but wherever they can find suitable occupation, and all
that they earn is devoted to the good of the institution. Some of them
act as nurses for the sick,--for pay if people can afford it, for
nothing if they cannot.
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