Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-04-24

che who soothed many weary moment of
the dying-looking comfort and whispering
words of hope-suffers but complains not;
strength fails, but shs will work, John
Howard, in his day, visited oil lands to seek
out the misersble objects OF social ignorance
and civil tyranny he removed the felon's
chains, clesnsed the fetid prison, amelior-
ated the condition of the sick and mentally
suffering received the thanks of Parliament,
earned the abiding gratitude of the civilized
world-and died. That which John Howard
did in his day can not die. That which
Florence Nightingale has done and Is doing
will in its effects also be eternal.
ION Hpgland's annals, through the long
Hereafter Of her speech aud song,
From portals OF the past.
"a lady with lamp shall stand
In the great history of the land,
Heroic womanhood 7"
WHAT She IS DOING.
Our principal purpose, however, is, as we
have intimeted, less TO show what Miss
Nightingale has done than what she is doing.
The one is patent to the world of the other
very little is known. ...
In treating the subject the flow of the pen
Is grievously arrested by a knowledge that
TO write much would be distasteful-
than that-to the estimable lady whose days
and nights are nights and days of excessive
labor. We are withheld from any "notes "
concerning the work she is doing, not alone
for the military and civil hospitals of En-
gland, but for those of our colonies and
India Of her consultations with physicians,
of her interviews with architects, of the
visits of hospital committees of thought
and work for barTack improvement for
married soldiers qusrterS' improvement, for
hospital improvement in many ways, for
improvement connected with the Army
Medical Department, the Ambulance and
snd Land Transport Department, and the
Commissaristi in brief for all that con.
Germs the efficiency, health, comfort aud
we'll being of our soldiers; of labors, indeed,
any one of which would be heavy to per-
SON in strong health; but all of which are
performed under circumstances that would
render repose - even idleness - not only
| iusti6able, but almost duty.
Ii we are preeluded from touching on
| these Ioints--on tolls that must be known
in due time from the results that will follow
them--yse can not be forbidden the record
I CTS visit. 10 the Hospital of st. Thomss
where the Nursing system is In operation.
| and where the seed is planted of that !" "In-
stiiution for the Training, Sustenance, and
| Protection of Nurses and Hospital Attend
| ants" promised by Miss Nightingale, aud
| which society, in all its ranks and classes,
earnestly, anxiously, hopefully, and trust
| fully looks for at her hands.
Why Miss Nightingale selected the Hos.
pitsl of st. Thomas, in preference to other
hospitals, we can not say. No doubt she
had her reasons, and no doubt they were
| sound and wise but we do know that the
| choice was not made without minute ia
| quiry and very mature consideration.
TIE CURIOUS HISTORY OF THE HOSPITAL OF ST.
THOMAS.
'Tl,{a bosnstoI IL No oil o,s T.ondon raoda.,
| know, situate on the Surrey side of London
| Bridge. A few words concerning it may
not be amiss. In the year I2l3-65S years
ago-it was fret established as an Almonry
for INDECENT Children and Necessitous Pros
elytes." Still earlier, however--soon after
the Oonquest--a convent was erected close
| to its present site. 1t was the work of a
pious UonldH-a virgin-who had accumu-
lated large fortune by the heritage Of q
boat to convey passengers across the Thames
before any bridge was built. Her name was
Mary, and, from her vocation, she bore the
| Saxon sppellation of Over.rie-that ia, over
| the river. 1t was destroyed by fire A. D..
| 1912. A good Bishop OF Winchester, how
! ever, took a small edifce which had been
erected by the monks of st. Savior, and
which really stood on the exact spot where
the present st. Thomass Hospital stands :
| he is said to have preferred 1t for the salu-
brity of the air and the purity of the water |
Notwithstanding the present aspect of South
wark, 1t was, in the good Bishops time, most
pleasantly situate. A reference to ancient
maps proves that it was surrounded by high
| trees, and that on the side of the Thames the
meadows were sweet and abundant. The
| hospital then and there founded consisted of
q Master and Brethren; there were also
"Sistersn TO nurse and attend on the poor.
The hospital that "cared for poor pilgrims
in the year 1918 still cares for 'poor pill.
| grimsn in the year 1861.
The gifts and leRsOies of good men and
| women aided and enlarged II from time to
! time. AS resources increased, the means Of
ministering relief augmented; and now st.
| Thomas Hospital contains 500 beds for pa.
| tients, and seventy for sisters and nurses I;
having admitted the enormous number of
1867 in.patients in 1860, and relieving AZ, GA
out-patients during the year.
REoUIREARSTs.
After conversation with Mrs. Wardroper
! (the matron), in whose high worth and large
/ experience Miss Nightingale has much con-
! fdence, proceeded to inspect the wards and
! the "bsud of fifteen" already in training.
had obtained two papers drawn up by Miss
/ Nightingale-on a code of Negotiations as
/ to the training of nurses under the Nightin-
gale Fund" the other, list of the 'Duties of
| Practitioners under the Nightingale Fund"
1t ia impossible to imagine documents more
clear or comprehensive. The "dutiesh OF
'probationers" under the Nightingale Fund
1 commence thus:
"You are required to be sober, honest,
truthful, trustworthy, punctual, quiet and
orderly cleanly and neat"
''You are expected to become skillful.n
And then follows list Of Requirements,
by which system is adopted, that not only
| educates these women into the highest pos.
sible intelligence, but demands for them on
the part of thoae who require their services
respect and consideration. Miss nightingale
has re elevated a class that in " old times I
was eraced by high born ladies, who dee mel
il a privilege to attend to the wounds o
those who did battle for their country. Tbs
Hleech was the Lady of the castle; and I
was the duty Of the proudest matron and th'
gentlest maiden 10 minister 70 the sick. fhl
claas, however, from various causes, sanl
into disrepute. Miss Nightingale's plans q
they extend, win open the door 70 womel
of mind and good educstion, who will fin,
here a true sphere for the exercise of tina
useful industry which Is the safest road \
happiness; in fact, when Miss Nightingale
training Is faithfully carried out, ID
"Nurse,n either in the hospital ward, or th
domestic siek-ohAmbsr, win be considered
Importance and utility only second to Il
} II would be- impossible to frame any COO
!. oflaws more distinctly, or with grsyer COZ
i sideration Tor the patients and nurses. III
8 women under the control Of the Nightinga
Fund have a suit Vf rooms entirely aeyOt'