The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-04-24
In the Sick-room.

! MOST people are at JlmeS called to do
duty in the sick-room. 1t has been nv
fortune for the last fortnight to write.
! read and work by the side of a HELPLESS
friend, while not far off, separated onlv
by hall, lies another person, sick Of a
I fever. AS write, however, the Great
Healer has written signs of returning
health on each pallid cheek, and we and
our invalids are making up our minds to
have good time. Bulletins pass bour-
ly; little delicacies are sent from one to
the other, and weak voices occasionally
bridge the chasm of silence that has
been so painful.
Yesterday invalid No. 2 paid short
visit to No. /, and it was very comical
to see them both laugh at each others
altered appearance. The next occasion
was visit from No. L, and the matter
was made pleasant by sundry baskets of
fruit paraded on every thing that could
hold them; goblets of jelly, and all the
nice things sent by considerate friends
to tempt the fastidious palate. There
is no need of making the sick-room a
place of gloom, where every BODY walks
on tiptoe, and whispers, and mods. and
lugubrious faces hint at possible
death and the grave. have noticed in
some places where have called a pa
rade of feeling that was simply DISGUST
ing. To attempt to walk tiptoe on
creaking shoes makes noise more or
less diabolical, while the contortions
necessary to such an unnatural gait dis
tress even the least sensitive patient. If
you can not have good easy slippers, or
shoes that make no noise at all, you had
better walk in your stocking feet, for
| sick persons notice more than you i'm
agine, and though they may FAY nothing,
yet they are distressed at any thing out
OF the usual course. 1t is better not to
talk at all than to whisper. A low
voice, well modulated, never distresses
the most sensitive patient while the
| kissing consequent on the effort to be
heard, or to be distinct in whispering, is
very unpleasant. Besides, the patient
is often suspicious and distressed for
fear something is being told that he or
she is not to hear-sometling relating
to their danger, perhaps, and it worries
them sometimes into danger.
A person should cultivate good taste
and delicacy of perception, no less than
a good touch. Some persons rattle the
dishes while washing them in such a
way as to set the healthiest nerves on
edge. Now it is very possible to wash
and wipe dishes noiselessly, and it is
sheer indifference to the comfort of 9TH
ers to strike dish on dish, when care
full touch would obviate all unpleasant
sounds. So in sick-room, one who
has practiced the gentle and refined
way OF doing very common things has
an experience that will make her most
welcome in the presence of suffering.
Refinement will never allow soil of any
kind in the sick-room. 1t has dish of
cold water to receive the spoons as soon
as they are used, and the more tasteful
and elegant that dish, the better. 1t
sets unsightly bottles out of sight, and
keeps medicine and nourishment apart.
1t garnishes the plain dishes, and makes
them look appetizing; it keeps every
thing spotlessly clean; it has a bright
and cheerful word for the patient at all
times, and way of touching and sooth-
ing the irritable nerves that very few
paid nurses ever attain to.
1t is to daughters and mothers Lam
writing now. Some time theirs must
be the half-painful, half-pleasant task to
minister to the sick whom they love.
ALI are not born nurses, but all may
learn to be neat, quick, gentle, efficient.
Let me introduce you to two sick-rooms.
A young girl busters in, bringing some
friend. The invalid is languid, and not
inclined to talk, hut the thoughtless
nurse appeals to him to say if this or
that is so. On the bureau there is a
mass of bottles. In finding the medi-
cine, she searches noisily for the right
one, and knocks down two or three
during the operation. This, of course,
is distressing. Then the spoon is hunted
for, and not being in its holder of clean
water, may be nice, and may be not.
The sugar has no cover, and is full of
flies; she has not taken the pains to
wrap the ice carefully in flannel, so that
the point of pin would split it, and
consequently it has all melted away.
The pillows are uncomfortably placed.
Instead of deity turning and shaking
them, almost without the patients
niOWiOuSO, ouc stuOWS Illc dCulilS ucetu
to rest upon a lump or stone, and
because he does not cry out, thinks there
is no need of a change.
But step into this room. Every thing
is cheerful with the light of order and
cleanliness. The best is made of every
little ornament. There is nothing con-
strained or cherries. The young nurse
talks naturally, has her basket Of woods
or sewing near by-there is no parade
of sickness. The patient always looks
comfortable, is always spoken to with
smile, is always sure of the most tender
and kindly consideration. Though she
is very young, scarcely more than
schoolgirl, father never could be'easy
with any one else to wait upon him.
One other little matter will speak of
here-the often cleansing of the hands
where there is illness, that they may be
always cool and soft and white. There
are many other minor things which /
have not space to write about now
Cor. Youths Companion.