The things we do!

"[45]
Many of the communities have no means of subsistence other than the
work of their own hands and the small dowries the nuns have brought
with them on entering the convent. So great, however is their
frugality and economy, that the total expenditure of each nun does
not surpass 250 livres a year. The Annonciades of Saint-Amour say,
"We, thirty-three nuns, both choristers and those of the white
veil, live on 4,400 livres net income, without being a charge to our
families or to the public. . . If we were living in society, our
expenses would be three times as much;"
and, not content with providing for themselves, they give in
charity.
Among these communities several hundreds are educational
establishments; a very great number give gratuitous primary
instruction. -- Now, in 1789, there are no other schools for
girls, and were these to be suppressed, every avenue of instruction
and culture would be closed to one of the two sexes, forming one-
half of the French population.


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