womanhood, and married, Marguerite successively
gives hospitality to an idiot, a crazy
person, a crétin, several paralytic patients,
orphans, strangers without resources, and even
drunkards (one would wish to see in their failing
an infirmity merely). Every creature unable
to take care of itself finds in her a ready
protector. Such are her lodgers, her clients, her
customers! Ever cheerful, she amuses them
by discourse suited to their comprehension. All
around her is in continued jubilation, and
Marguerite herself seems to be more entertained
than anybody else. It may be said, perhaps,
that a person must be born with a natural
disposition for this kind of devotedness. Granted;
but his claim to public gratitude is not a whit
the less for that.

Catherine Vernet, of Saint-Germain (Puy-de-Dôme),
is a simple lacemaker, who, after
devoting herself to her family, has for thirty years
devoted herself to those who have no one to
take care of them. Her savings having
amounted to a sufficient sum for the purchase
of a small house, she converted it into a sort
of hospital with eight beds always occupied.
Situated amongst the mountains of Auvergne,
this hospital is a certain refuge for perdus,
travellers who have lost their way. It is an
imitation of the Saint Bernard; and if it has
not attained its celebrity, it emanates from the
same source, charity.

In looking through the lists and comparing
the several departments of France, it would be
hard to say that one department is better than
another; because their population, and other
important influential circumstances, vary
immensely between themselves. But what strikes
one immediately, is the great preponderance of
good women—rewarded as such—over good
men. Thus, to dip into the list at hazard, we
have—Meuse, one man, five women; Seine,
thirty-one men, ninety-eight women; Loire, two
men, six women; Côte-d'Or, three men, eleven
women; and so on. The nature of the acts
rewarded—also taken by chance—are these:
reconciliation of families in vendetta (Corsica);
maintenance of deserted children; rescues from
fire and water; faithfulness to master and
mistress for sixteen years; adoption of seven orphans
for fifteen years; maintenance of master and
mistress fallen into poverty; devotion to the aged;
nursing the sick poor; killing a mad dog who
inflicted fourteen bites. When "inexhaustible
charity" and "succour to the indigent" are
mentioned, one would like to know whether
they consisted in mere alms-giving. Probably
not; because by "charity" Montyon understood,
not the momentary impulse which causes us to
help a suffering fellow-creature, and then dies
away, but the constant, durable affection which
regards him as another self, and whose device
is "Privation, Sacrifice."'

In the period, then, between 1819 and 1864
seven hundred and seventy-six persons received
Montyon rewards, two hundred and eleven of
whom were men, and five hundred and sixty five
women. In M. Demay's opinion, the
disproportion ought to surprise nobody; for if
Man is gifted with virile courage, which is
capable of being suddenly inflamed, and is
liable to be similarly extinguished, Woman only
is endowed with the boundless, incessant,
silent devotion, which is found in the mother,
the wife, the daughter, the sister. This dear
companion, given by God to man, is conscious
of the noble mission allotted her to fulfil
on earth. We behold the results in her acts,
and in what daily occurs in families. Abnegation,
with her, is a natural instinct. "She may
prove weak, no doubt; she may even go astray:
but, be assured, she always retains the divine
spark of charity, which only awaits an opportunity
to burst forth into a brilliant flame. Let
us abstain, therefore, from casting a stone at
temporary error; let us pardon, and forget.
Our charity will lead her back to duty more
efficaciously than all the moral stigmas we could
possibly inflict."

The years most fruitful in acts of devotion
appear to have been 1851,1852, and 1857, in
which twenty-seven and twenty-eight prizes
were awarded. Their cause is, that previously
the Academy received memorials from the
authorities only. But after making an appeal
to witnesses of every class and grade, virtue, if
the expression may be allowed, overflowed in
all directions. Lives of heroism and charity,
hidden in the secrets of the heart, were suddenly
brought to the light of day, to the great surprise
of their heroes and heroines. During the same
period there was distributed, in money, three
hundred and sixty-four thousand francs
(sixteen thousand pounds); in medals, four
hundred and eighteen thousand five hundred and
fifty francs (sixteen thousand seven hundred
and forty-two pounds); total, seven hundred
and eighty-two thousand five hundred and fifty
francs (thirty-two thousand seven hundred and
forty-two pounds). The Montyon prizes are
worth having, and not an insult to the persons
to whom they are offered. The sums of money
given range as high as one, two, three, and even
four thousand francs; the medals vary in value
from five and six hundred to a thousand francs:
but even a five-hundred franc or twenty-pound
medal is a respectable token of approbation and
esteem. In some few cases, both money and
a medal are bestowed.

It may be said that the persons to whom
these prizes are given would have done the
same deeds without any reward. True; and
therein lies their merit. And ought money to
be given to recompense virtuous acts? Yes,
most decidedly; because it will confer on its
recipients their greatest possible recompense—
the power of doing still more good. Money
gifts are not to be depreciated so long as there
are orphans to sustain, sick poor to nurse, and
infirm old age to keep from starvation.

Finally, is charity the growth of one period
of life rather than of another? On inspecting
the lists, we find children, six, twelve, thirteen
years of age, and close to them octogenarians,
one nonagenarian, one centenarian! If noble