Nursed amid the sultry climes of India, where it periodically slays its thousands and tens of thousands, the cholera seems occasionally to take migratory and comet-like excursions to Europe, spreading on every hand sickness, death, lamentation, and dismay. In 1831, it suddenly appeared in Hamburg; and Miss Sieveking felt constrained to take a step which, in the eyes of the world, had something unusual in it, and was judged by that world accordingly. With the full consent of her adopted mother, she offered her gratuitous services as nurse in the French wards of the town hospital. She also inserted in a journal an appeal to other females to offer themselves for the same work, but her letter found no response. Our own Florence Nightingale had not yet set the example of a lady voluntarily consecrating herself to such an office.
The labours in which Miss Sieveking now engaged form a deeply interesting chapter in the history of philanthropy, but they must not be detailed here. Suffice it to say that her society was attended with the most blessed results. She at first found some difficulty in obtaining coadjutors, although she required nothing “beyond sound sense, a certain amount of bodily strength, and a knowledge of domestic matters—except love to the cause and a living principle of Christianity.”
Miss Sieveking’s robust bodily constitution and elastic spirits enabled her for many years to sustain the pressure of charitable work in its many branches. But in 1857, her strength began to fail; the physicians were unanimous in advising a journey to some watering-place, and Soden, near Frankfort-on-the-Maine, was recommended. In 1858, her active employments were gradually and with great reluctance given up, and for many months she had to learn the harder lesson of waiting patiently on the Lord in weakness and suffering.
On the 1st of January, 1859, she felt so ill, that she took leave of her servants with the words, “We part in tears, but we shall meet again with smiles.” Some time afterwards, her physician, at the request of her nephew, Dr. Sieveking, in London, examined the state of her lungs, and declared that he found things even worse than he expected; one half of the lungs was entirely gone, and only so much left as that, with entire silence and perfect rest, her life might perhaps be prolonged for a short time. Miss Sieveking thanked him, but remarked that as long as she was alive, she would act like a living person, and see and speak to her friends. On the 1st of April, after the reading of the psalm, “Like as the hart panteth after the water brooks,” she folded her hands, and said, “My Lord! my Lord!” Her work on earth was done, and she entered on the higher service above.
In order to conquer the prejudice of the poor people against a pauper funeral, she had desired to be buried as a poor person; and out of respect to her wishes, the plain coffin, made of four black boards, was carried by the two appointed pauper bearers, on the pauper’s bier, to the churchyard of the parish of Ham and Horn, and set down on the church path. It was soon covered with flowers and garlands, while a vast assembly, composed of all classes, flocked out of the city and the suburbs. Pastor Rautenberg spoke some impressive words, and the minister of the parish, Pastor Mumssen, uttered the concluding prayer and blessing. Then, as if from the depths, arose the chant of the brethren and the children, and amidst the sounds of the doxology and the apostolic benediction, the coffin was lowered into the vault of the Sieveking family.
AMATEUR TEACHING.
The children’s world was Miss Sieveking’s element, and she therefore felt happy among them. It was while attending confirmation classes that she began her career as a teacher. Among those who received the instructions of the clergyman, was a peasant girl, whom she found weeping under a tree, because unable to read aloud like the other scholars. Miss Sieveking offered to teach her, and for some time she came regularly for lessons, but after a while, probably finding the distance from home too great, she appeared no more. The impulse to work and make herself useful never slumbered in Miss Sieveking’s heart. She often fetched the little daughter of the family that lived in the same house into her room, to instruct her in knitting, and when the governess was leaving, she asked permission to educate the second girl. Finding that she could get on better if she had more pupils, and that no one had any objection to make, she took six others from families of her acquaintance, and at the age of eighteen began her little school. With what earnestness she set to work is shown in numerous letters to Miss Hösch. Madame Brünnemann’s married daughter had no children, and she had adopted a little girl, whom she was most anxious to place under Miss Sieveking’s tuition; and as the child was much younger than her other pupils, she was obliged to open a second set of classes. About this time, a small circle of ladies, of whom Miss Sieveking was one, established a school, in which twelve poor girls, afterwards increased to eighteen, received gratuitous instruction. She found increasing refreshment in her intercourse with her children, and as she had correct views on the subject of education, she aimed at something higher than the cultivation of the memory, viz., the development of the whole nature. Such training could not fail to sweeten domestic life, and realise the essential elements of a true home. If we would have security, virtue, and comfort in our dwellings, we must give our girls a thorough education.
SERVICES IN THE HOSPITAL.
When that new terror-inspiring spectre of our age approached Hamburg, Miss Sieveking put her services at the disposal of the board of the cholera hospital of St. Eric, on the Hollandisch Brook, and was summoned when the first female patient was brought in. We cannot conceive of a more engaging spectacle than a pious female, who, amid all the abstractions attendant on her rank in society and personal accomplishments, can find time to visit the sick and the dying. At the same time, we must remember that certain duties require certain qualifications. Many excellent women who would spend their fortunes in soothing the sick, cannot bear the sight of blood; and a “rank compound of villainous smells” is to others positive poison. We do not say this to detract from such philanthropic heroines as Miss Sieveking, but in justice to those who would do what she did if they could. To Miss Hösch she thus writes: “I have not the slightest fear of infection; and as far as this danger is concerned, I can enter the hospital as calmly as my school-room. This absence of all dread is unanimously said by the physicians to be the best preventative against illness, and hence, nurses, comparatively speaking, very rarely die from infection. So you see there is no need for you to feel any painful anxiety on my account.” The letters written during the eight weeks she spent in the hospital, given almost entirely by her biographer, present us with a most graphic picture of her life and labours. In the men’s ward, her special duty was to observe what diet was prescribed, and to draw up the daily bill of fare for the housekeeper. She had also charge of all the linen belonging to the attendants. She also occasionally took part in nursing the patients; but the general superintendence was of more importance even in the women’s ward. Although called to the work of Martha, when the hospital afforded her opportunities she gladly engaged in Mary’s work, and was the means of saving at least two young girls from utter ruin, and restoring the one to her aged mother, and the other to a married sister. There was a strong prejudice against her entering upon this kind of work, not only in the outside world, but in the hospital itself; and it required no little wisdom and self-control to take up and keep her right place. However, she was enabled to meet and overcome all difficulties, and when her work ceased to be an experiment and became a success, those who had blamed, praised. On the morning of the day that she left the hospital, she received a formal visit from Dr. Siemssen and Dr. Siemers, accompanied by three other gentlemen of the special commission, when Dr. Siemers, in the name of the rest, made a speech, and then handed her a written address of thanks; and another of a similar kind was sent to her in the afternoon by the General Board of Health.
PROTESTANT SISTERHOODS.