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THE PLAGUE IN EGYPT 33
back almost to the stage where Jesus of
Nazareth found it. Now, as in His time,
the woman in the East lolls about in secluded
idleness, dreaming of legends and, perhaps,
hoping against hope for a brighter future,
until, poor wretch, she is caught, and used,
and cast aside to fight the fearful battle of
her sex in a country where a horse or a dog
is better loved and better cared for than a
woman. It was the Christ, to Whom all
Christians pray, Who first publicly recognised
the awfulness of the position of woman
in the East. The Divine Master picked
up wretched women from the roadside, absolved
the harlot, and took women into
the administration of His religion and His
law. But when He died, the voices of
that pious band of women who followed
Him, even to the foot of the Cross, with
an inspired and lasting love, were hushed,
and for years remained silent. When Jesus
died women were thrust back into obscurity
and disappeared completely from the affairs
of the Church and from the public affairs of
Christianity.
Women in the East had, until Jesus lived,
been neglected and despised, they were
without hope and without order, rights,
or recognition. The disciples whom Jesus
left to preach His religion to mankind
formed the first Christian Order for women
it was the Order of the Deaconesses. Into
this Order were gathered deserted mothers,
deserted wives, widows, and young girls ;
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