The Republican journal., 1881-11-03
An open Door.
RY FRANCES j. DYER

Mrs. Browning; "be sure it's better than
what you work to get" "But where 2"
cry fifty thousand female voices from
| Massachusetts alone, 'all the places are
filled" Not all one door Of usefulness
stands wide open, and no jostling crowd
surging thither, and from whence issues
a continual cry for help. "Housework,
suppose" eXclams some young woman,
ambitious to pose ten hours day behind
a counter, or who besieges her political
friends for "place" at Washington. No,
neither house nor office work, nor ste
biography, nor telegraphy, nor teaching,
nor dress making as they all
are-but nursing.
Through the courtesy of the superin-
tendent Of the City Hospital, | was per-
mltted recently to make tour through
| that institution, visiting particularly the
| Training School for Nurses, and came
away more than ever impressed with the
dignity and usefulness of their calling
Few women reach middle life without
seeing the time when they would sacrifice
all other knowledge for skill in dressing
a wound, or for familiarity with the
technics Of nursing. There is a fallacy
at1oat that if one has light step, a gem
tie touch and sympathetic manner, she
is thereby fitted to minister in a sick
, room. These are excellent adiuncts, but
the essential qualifications are developed
only by training which cannot be secur-
ed outside of hospital. Florence Night
lngale, after twenty-five years expert
ence, writes: "Nursng is an art, and
if it is to be made an art, requires as ex-
elusive devotion, as hard a preparation,
as any painters or sculptor's work"
! Thirty years ago no woman, either in our
| land or in Europe, could have obtained
this preparation, no matter how strong
her desire, or how marked her fitness for
the service, unless she agreed to become
q ''sister" for life. All this is now chang
ed; partly because of the incompetency,
and 0ttentimeS the moral delinQuencv of
male nurses.
In 1873 the first school for training w0-
men II this country was opened at the
Bellevue Hospital, New York, and the
matrOn of the Boston City Hospital is
graduate OF that institution. Under her
guidance | went through dozen wards,
and saw the nurses at work. Each wore the
hospital uniform a scersucker gngham
dress, a big white apron and dainty
tients, others taking their temperature,
and all keenly alive to the comforts of
their charge. Everything was conducted
with military precision. Each nurse had
q basket containing scissors, pins, band
ages, ointments and whatever would be
needed IN dressing wound ready to
snatch up at moments notice. Open
ing out OF the wards was a closet contain
ing bottles Of medicine, hot and cold
water, and a few simple instruments.
Also another with snowy piles Of sheets
and blankets, SO arranged as to be count
ed at a glance.
Cleanliness is everywhere rigidlv en-
forced, but the walls are rather bare of
ornament Calling his attention to the
fact, the practical superintendent re-
piled: "a man may recover without
Madonna over his head, OF a rose bud by
his Side, but he will surely die from foul
Od0rs or imperfect drainage Over each
bed is 4 chart on which the patients
pulse, temperature, and respiration is
registered, according to the physicians
directions.
"Did they treat the President in that
way Z" | asked, as Il nurse shook Il small
glass tube, placed it in apatents mouth,
noted the figures and marked the result.
''Precisely,' was the answer
No orders are recognized unless writ
ten, and one of the most interesting feat
ures of the visit was an examination of a
night nurses book, in which were copied
her orders from the physician, and the
report of how they had been carried out
during the night IL was noticeable that
certain things were to be done "if need
ed, or ''if the patient requires" showing
the absolute need of Judgment and train
ing on the part Of the person in charge.
Sleeping ut ones post is as much of
misdemeanor as for soldier to do so, but
the excellent discipline which keeps the
corps Of day and night workers entirely
distinct, almost precludes this possibility.
Patients are spoken of by the number of
the beds in the ward For instance, G
- had the misfortune to lose a leg, and
the clothes were lifted that we might see
chow nicely the stump is doing" This
statement took on faith, while my eyes
We're riveted on the skiltul bandaging,
on the appliance for keeping the weight
OF the clothes from the suffering member,
and on the fracture bed which can be
changed without disturbing the limb
Most women, and a few men, can make
an ordinary bed, but a hospital bed is
quite different affair To roll out the
soiled sheets and roll in the clean ones,
as deity as these young women did, was
marvellous sight. No amount of femi-
nine "instinct" could serve in such
case there must be trained hands.
Another curiosity was the diet lists
II, to ~, -4l
baked apples, dry toast and zee cream.
Printed lists of the dishes to be served
for the day are sent to the stewards de
partment, and when prepared, the food
is forwarded to the various wards. 1t is
the nurses business to see that the supply
corresponds with her written order, and
then to feed her patients. The cooking
of the food is also part of her educa-
ton. 1t is no unusual thing for a physi-
clan in private families to 90 to the
kitchen and make poultice or some
cruel, because no one in the house can do
such simple things, and it would we'll re-
pay a girl to go to this hospital Just to be
taught how to prepare food and delicacies
for the sick.
Perhaps the late scenes at the White
House gave a peculiar interest to the
operating room. Here were rows of seats
rising one above another, where the doc
tors and medical students sit and watch
the surgeons at their work, cases Of ugly
looking instruments, and an operating
chair, costing 5000, adjustable to every
possible position of the human body.
Some poor fellow meets with a railroad
accident, and is brought, all covered
with blood and filth, to this room, where
his wounds are dressed, and he is then
assigned to one Of the cool, white beds
The surgeons have done their work
faithfully and well, but small would be
the chances for life if there were no com
petent nurse to supplement it. A wo-
mans presence and a womans touch are
mere pOetlcal terms in such cases, unless
her nerves are steady and her hands can |