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Miss Briggs has no intention of increasing her household further. If more nurseships are endowed, she will open a new cottage in another congested district and have the benefits of two homes, rather than of one larger institution.
In viewing the result of Miss Briggs's work, one must consider
the character of the people among whom she dwells. The nurs- ing necessarily extends in all directions and to all people of need. The most intimate social relations are with the neighbors on her block, numbering over two hundred families. These people are mostly re- spectable, and disor- derly characters are not welcomed to their midst. All are of the lowest wage-earning class and live from pay-day to
pay-day. Some families of eight crowd into three small rooms, and a number receive help from established charities. There is nothing of the abject squalor that we hear of in the larger eastern cities, for the California climate, demanding less fuel and less clothing, and allowing more regular work, makes life easier for the laborer.
When Miss Briggs first went among them, from the Associated Charities, she found that many people who accepted the nurse from an institution expected further help from it, as coal, food, clothing, and rent; and they had a slightly supercilious bearing toward its servant, the nurse. Since she has gone simply as a friend, ready to help, but with no financial reserve behind her, she has been received in a better spirit, and the people, instead of losing their independence, seem anxious to return what service they can.
WOMEN'S SEWING CIRCLE.
