284 A Short History of Nursing ing, but had not yet united together. There was then a progressive group in touch with the German "Free Sisters." Feudal survivals were extant in Germany, such as the aristocratic nursing orders of St. John of Jerusalem; religious orders were main- Germany . . , , . , , . tammg the best nursmg that was bemg done, and ill-paid illiterates were being oppressed in big secular hospital wards as men and women attendants, when the Kaiserswerth order of dea- conesses amended the old and revived a better system, as we have seen. When the Red Cross arose, its nursing system spread with great prestige over Germany, rivalling the deaconess orders. Many hospitals came under the direct control of the Red Cross, and it trained nurses who were bound by contract to its service for life, if they would so promise, or as long as they wished. While they so remained, they were en- tirely under its control as well in peace times as in war. The Red Cross had some training schools of unquestioned excellence in Germany. It also had many whose deplorable defects were obvious. In spite of its military form and discipline, the Red Cross was, from the standpoint of nursing evolution, freer than the deaconess orders. It accepted pupils of all religions, and allowed the
