Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1885-04-30
YOUNG LADY NURSES.
A STOLEN GLIMPSE AT THEIR TRAIN
ING SCHOOL IN NEW YORK.
One of the Most Useful Institutions In the
Country-Girl> Attend the Sick i'm the
Wards of bellevue Hospital. and
Are Taught ia Earn "a Living.


NEW YORK. April l5.-Have you any
idea what il is like 10 face a dragon. II not.
attempt 10 interview the admirable small
woman who is superintendent Of the New
York Training School tor Nurses. For this
reason, because il il such formidable under
taking, the public have comparatively little
knowledge Of one of the most useful and
worthy of New York's many beneficent in
stitutious. Indeed 50 far as is known. this
will be the first description of il ever given "a
newspaper The extremely elevated. not to
say stuck-up. persomages who are at the head
thereof, have set their foot down that the in
tereSting young women nurses shan't get
into the newspapers. Whether this is done
10 keep down the pride OF the young women,
or % bolster up the pride Of the lady man
ayers and superintendent, is not plain. But
in either case, hereby take especial salts
faction i'm thwarting their intentions. People
have a right "a know what is worth know
ing.
Suffice TO say, the New York Training
wrought a revolution in sick attendance. Ii
has given a death-stab To the Sairey CAMPS
and Betsy Priggs % the profession.
Florence Nightingale, of blessed esteem,
was the founder of the idea of a nurses
school The New York institution was es-
tabliShed eleven years ago by thirteen be
nevolent women It is directly connected
with the famous old Bellevue hospital on
Twenty-sixth street. In the wards of this
great camp Of ailing humanity the girls get
their instruction. Like young doctors,
they practice on charity patients preliminary
10 undertaking those who paw. AZ the
bedside of the patient they are given leftures
on how 10 take care Of sick persons. The
course Of instruction Is two years long. II
includes everything pertaining to the care Of
humanity out OF health, from cleaning ami
disinfecting a sick room and it, belongings 20
stopping hemorrhage and preparing diet.
The instruction is given by the hospital do,'-
tors, who are men, and by the superinueud-
eat, assistant supsrintendent and heai nurse
OK the school, who are women. BY referen s.
10 the last report one perceives that during
the past year the young ladies were givep
twenty lectures by learned medical proies-
sors Oh surgery. diseases. etc-the whole of
twenty-which is n trifle over one lecture H.
three weeks. II is pleasing 10 know, per
haps, that there is no immediate danger of
the young women Icing crammed 10 death
intellectually.
The school admits only ~ pupils, and it is
always full. Application for vacancy
pust be made months beforehand Ii is al
ways in session, and pupils are received at
any time when there u a vacancy The 81
girls live in a snug home, which has been
built for them opposite the college. Here
they must stay for two years. except when
they 60 out nur lng private patients. To be
received they must lie Of perfect physical
health, good moral character, he acquainted
with reading writing. arithmetic. and have.
besides. general ''gamptionn enough TO take
notes Of the lectures they hear They must
also know how 10 read aloud we'll, which
every woman ought To do. whether a ntlr~.
or not.
The above is all that is absolutely re-
quired Of applicants in the way OF education
But il has been found that the better the
education Of a woman the better nurse she
makes There are such throngs Of appi-
cants, too, that n considerable room for
choice is given the superintendent in their
selection. Other things being equal, the
preference is always gwen to the woman with
the best learning. So that here, as every
where else. higher education for a woman
pays.
The acceptable age for q candidate is from
twenty five TO thirty-five. In putting the
age SO well along the management show
their wisdom, and have always contended
that girls have precious little common sense
before they are twenty-five. The precocious
development II intellect in girls is one OF
the superstitions that will have to go. along
with planting turnip seed in the moon. The
average girl Of eighteen does not begin to
have the practical use of her brains that
boy Of the same age does, and | defy any
body to prove it is otherwise. SO therel
The training school, at home and in the
hospital. Is pervaded by AN air of strict, not
to say stiff. propriety. To a visitor with the
sense of hnmor there viii be-Heaven forgive
me for saying it but there will be-conveyed
an impression of a good deal of solemn hum
bug. Not in the training Of the nurses or in
the good they do after they are trained BY
no means. That is real enough and thor
ougll from inside out, aud too mach cannot
he said in its praise.
The solemn humbug comes in in the way of
petty and pompous airs ON the part of some
of those who manage the establishment.
There il n superior female atmosphere
about the thing that Is infinitely amusing.
Even the elderly person on guard somewhere
about the door of the house gathers three
fallen pine needles upon the tip Of her dust
pan with this superior female air There is
no doubt but the graduates who have lis
tened to ~ medical lectures year 90 out
Of the school tremendously impressed that
they are peg or two higher and more
learned than the rest of womanklnd. They
cannot well magnify the importance and
worth Of their work On the other hand, it
= very easy for people to magnify them
selves. But this is republic, where one
person i as good as another, and where ones
duty IS 10 be polite and gentle to all. This
fact Should not be lost sight Of Not re-
ferring to anybody in particular,
The pupil nurses have nothing TO complain
of in the terms under which they are re
ceived. They are required to give all their
time to their work and instruction, except