Sister Dora.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3144, 17 March 1879, Page 3

Sister Dora.

Fourteen years ago Sister Dora was sent by the Sisterhood of the Good Samaritans to nurse in the town of Walsall, which then numbered about 35,000 inhabitants. A small accident hospital was set up, of which she took sole charge. At first she was looked upon by some with suspicion and by others with bitter mistrust. She was hooted, and even stoned in the streets, where her plain black dress was considered sufficient cause for ill-treating her. Through these same streets, filled with silent crowds, her body was borne on Saturday • by eighteen railway servants, between whom and herself the accidents on the line had made a special bond of sympathy, followed by representatives from every class of society, from the highest to the lowest, to the very scum of the population of WaiBall and the neighbouring towns. A* the need for it increased, so the hospital grew, and every year brought more experience, more work, and more responsibility to Sister Dora. A new hospital was built, with twenty-six beds and with arrangements for receiving the crowd of out-patients, who daily applied to be treated there. During twelve years Sister Dora, under many difficulties and discouragements, both public and private, labored in the spirit of her Master, and in His strength, to heal the bodieß, and through them to reach even to the souls, of the many thousands who came to her. She worked almost alone. Her helpers werejgw, and she hardly ever took a holidayt for hers was a work which could not be left—-there was nobody else who could do it. When the hospital was overflowing, and no more beds could be made up, she silently sacrificed her own night's rest, and went to nurse those left at their homes. The smallpox broke out about five years ago, and with one accord the Mayor and all the leading citizens of the town prayed Sister Dora to leave her work, and go and nurse the epidemic hospital for them, as by no other means could they hope to stop the spread of the disease in the place. For no other consideration would the people have sent their friends who were attacked to a nopital; but when they found that their dear Sister Dora had agreed to nurse them, the cases poured in, and in three weeks the epidemic was over, and the town was saved. Two years ago it was found necessary again to enlarge the hospital to meet the ever-increasing needs of the larger population. It was pulled to the ground, and while the new house was being built, Sister Dora's labours were doubled —nay, trebled, or multiplied tenfold. There was room for very few in-patients in the small, temporary house which was engaged, and those who could not be admitted she nursed at their own homes—going out at all hours of the night, in all weathers, to all places, not only in Walsall, but in the towns round about, sometimes carrying with her a heavy load of necessary instruments and dressings. For nearly two years she

carried on this work, till at length, in Juno last, the temporary hospital wns of necessity closed, and as 1 the new building could not be opened for three months, Sister Dora's one long holiday began, and, little as anybody thought it, her work ended. She burst a blood-vessel on the lungs almost immediately on her return to the midland counties, and flio begged to be taken to Walsall, " to die among her own people." The funeral took place on Saturday afternoon. A procession was formed at the Hospital, and consisted of a body of police, the choristers, physicians, surgeons, and clergy, of whom there was a large \ number. Then came the officiating clergy, j who were the vicar of Walsall (the Rev. < W. Allen), the Rev. J. Fenwick Laing, j the Rev. E. M. FitzGerald, the Rev. A. C. Irvine, the Right Rev. Dr Abraham, and the Right Rev. John Selwyn (Bishop of Melanesia). After these followed the bearers, who were railway employes, at the special request of Sister Dora, and then her brother as chief mourner. The members of the executive committee of the Hospital closed the procession, which proceeded to the house in which Sister Dora lived since her return to Walsall. There the bearers reoeived the body, which had been placed in a plain polished oak coffin, covered with a purple pall. The procession returned to the Hospital, after which it was joined by the mayor, magistrates, and council, the Governors of Queen Mary's School, members of the Board of Guardians and the School Board, representatives of the Walsall Young Men's Christian Association, Sunday School teachers, Foresters, and Friendly Societies, old patients and others, the line being brought up by another body of police. Round the gites of the hospital a dense crowd of the general public was assembled, and along the route, which was Bradford-street, Park-street, Stationstreet, Bridgeman-street, and Queenstreet, the road was lined with people. In most of the houses the blinds were drawn, and all the tradesmen in the streets through which the procession passed put up their shutters. After the body had gone through the gates of the cemetery, and wag being taken to the chapel, the hymn, " O Paradise, O Paradise," was sung by the choir. The office having been said by the officiating clergyman, the hymn, "Now the labourer's task is o'er," was sung, and the benediction was pronounced by Bishop Abraham. Upon the coffin two wreaths and three crosses of flowers were laid.

On Sunday morning the Bishop of the diocese occupied the pulpit of S. Matthew's •—the parish church, and |made special allusion to Sister Dora, and references to her were made by Nonconformist ministers.