Excerpt from The Testimony of an Escaped Novice From the Sisterhood of St. Joseph, Emmettsburg, Maryland, the Mother-House of the Sisters of Charity in the United States The history of this book is almost as remarkable as that of its subject. Shortly after Miss Bunkley had escaped from St. Joseph's in the manner she has stated in her narrative, the Superior of that convent published a defamatory letter against her. This decided Miss Bunkley not only to defend herself, but also to give an exhibition of convent life, as it had come under her observation, for the information and warning of her American countrymen; and, in coming to this determination, she did not act on her own judgment only, but availed herself of the advice of judicious friends, who believed that it was a sacred duty to the American community and the best interests of society to do so. In accordance with this resolution, she wrote a narrative of what she had seen and heard while in the institution of St. Joseph, and committed the same for revision, with other papers bearing on the subject, to a gentleman in Norfolk, Virginia, the city of her father's residence. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.