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Previous to our visit to the Schweister-house, we had inspected the church, a plain unadorned hall, fitted up with benches, two galleries, and a sort of table or altar.
The Schweister-house is their home; which they are free to quit, however, at pleasure; and they all live on a footing of perfect equality.
Not that the inmates of these well-regulated abodes are all paupers. On the contrary, you meet in the Schweister-house persons belonging to every class of life, from the decayed or friendless gentlewoman down to the poor worn-out laundress; and the state of the Broder-house is, in every respect, the same.
We found it furnished with great taste, and the lady herself, well-bred and intelligent; yet the humblest person in the house called her only schweister, and she did not appear to desire or to look for more. The Schweister-house contains one hundred and thirty females, of all ages, from seventy and eighty down to twelve.
When, for example, the portress opened the door of the Schweister-house to us, and found that we were foreigners, she stated that Sister Handman could speak French, and to Sister Handman's apartment we were forthwith conducted, nothing loth to follow.
It may be worth while to add, that the principle which has established a Broder-house and Schweister-house apart from one another, operates in the temple of the Hernhuters, the men and women occupy distinct sets of benches, with a considerable space between them. The pastors or clergy of this singular sect, inhabit apartments connected with the church, and adjoining to it.
Foremost among these are the Broder-house, the Schweister-house, and the Predecher-house, the latter being the name which the Hernhuters think fit to bestow upon their church, or house of public worship. The Broder and Schweister-houses are, as their names denote, asylums, within which a certain number of men and women, members of the church of Hernhut, find shelter.