The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1888-11-16
TIE HOSPITAL GIRL.
AN INTERESTING INSIGHT INTO HER
RESPONSIBLE DUTIES.

RESPONSIBLE DUTIES.
Alono All Night In . Gloomy Ward with
Score or More of Sick and Dying
Patients-The Claas Of the Ambulance
Gong.
At the end of three months the novice is
put on night duty in either the medical or
surgical ward, and then it is that all the
into action One nurse is put in charge Of
two wards, each containing, when full,
twenty patients The lights are turned down
until dusky silence hovers over the white
cots. In the surgical ward the doctor leaves
his orders, often supplemented by tho infor-
nation that patient in one ward has just
passed through severe operation, there is
danger Of hemorrhage, and the nurse must
not leave her alone. Perhaps in the other
ward patient is very low. The doctor says
she must be watched constantly, for she is
liable to die at any moment Then he goes
away, and the young girl fits about in the
gloom from cot to cot, administering medi-
cines and treatment, hurrying from the side
Of one sufferer to the other, half fearful to
gaze into the quiet face lest it be already
still in death; afraid ths dangerously i'll pa
tient in one ward will die while she goes to
see tho dying sufferer in the other.
Suddenly the dread clang that all nurses
fear with namelcss horror strikes upon her
eur through the dreadful stiffness. It draws
nearer and nearer, and stops at the doorway.
Every nurse knows the portent of the ambu-
lance bell Every nurse fears the arrival Of
some new patient If there is an empty cot in
her ward. then comes the sound of slow,
measured footsteps drawing nearer and
nearer, and she flies to make ready the empty
cot, only hoping no one will die while she is
engaged with the new conner. The men
come in with the stretcher and deposit its
burden on the bed Tho nurse washes the
blood from the wounds, if there be any;
determines the extent of the injury as
much as possible, and, If very serious,
calls the DOCTOR II only cut needing few
stitches and careful bandasing, the nurse per-
forms the operation herself; bathes her pa
tient and makes her comfortable, and then
hurries back, perhaps to witness for the first
time the last struggle of dying person.
When the last shuddering sigh falls from
;he stifening lips, the brave girl alone in the
gloomy ward closes the eyes, folds the life
'ess hands, and taking Gown the card bear
ing the name of the dead from over the bed,
nurries down through the long dim corridors
10 tell the orderly to prepare for the burial
If the patient be heavy, the nurse calls the
helper, woman from prison, one of which
is kept to do the cleaning in each ward, and
together they edo up the corpse" as it is
:alled in the hospital If, on the other hand,
the dead woman is slender, the nurse bathes
and shrouds her alone, all Of which must be
accomplished within an hour after her death.
Then the men enter with the box and she is
borne out, the nurse throws the bedding out
On the fire escape and returns to her duties.
Many a girl has met her first experience OF
this kind alone in the dim wards of the hos
pital late at night, for deaths are likely to
occur between the hours of IL and a. IT,,
when vitality is at a low ebb.
A person who has watched at night by the
bedside of one who is very i'll can have
faint notion Of the responsibility of q person
in charge of forty patients in various degrees
Of danger A young woman who had known
nothing of sickness ard little of work re-
Iates one nights experience when all elderly
woman was apparently dying in great dis
tress and required constant attention. In
the cot adjoining lay another patient, who,
though not in imminent danger, was suffer-
ing terribly, and who had, as tho nurse ex.
pressed it, more things the matter with her
than any one ever had before or since" The
nurse had pulled the screens up around the
lying womans bed and was administering
such alleviating remedies as lay in her power,
when she suddenly heard great disturbance
in the adjoining ward, and Fastening there
found an immense fat woman, crazy with
fever, promenading up and down tho ward,
making havoc with everything movable
Coaxing, commanding and assisting her, she
was finally settled in bed again, but as the
uurse bent over her dying patient the same
connection was heard in the other ward
again. and she went back, and after coaxing
The woman into her cot, she tied her feet to
the iron bars at the foot of the bed. Once
more she hurried to the other ward only to
ind one patient writhing in pain, the other
with clenched hands tossing in the death
struggle. As the quivering features Gained
20 peacefulness and the grcans vere hushed
20 silence, she heard the l.o:so Ct gToans and
creams in the other ward, and found the
lat woman on the floor, with her feet still
tied to the bed. By the help of all the force
in the ward she was lifted to her place,
strapped down to the bed, and in tho gray
icht of the dawn the dead woman was pre-
Jared for her burial, while the living nloaned
II pain.
In another cot perfect specimen CT wo-
manhood lay dying. The doctors, with mis-
directed zeal, had prolonged her agony by
the operation Of tracheotomy, and sho lay
STRUGGLING with death in ell the freshness and
strength Of her early womanhood. There
had been another Gre horror, and to save her
children she had dashed backed into the
burning building. inhaling heat and smoke
tha: had injured her internally past all re-
covery. The round curvng limbs were like
sculptured marble, majestic in their white
beauty: the sweet, fair face was unscorched
bv the flames aud unfaded by disease; the
white statuesque arms were tossed above her
head in agony. Just as she gave her last
spasmodic shiver the little babe she had saved
so heroically moaned cut, "Ma-ma-ma-ma,"
the first time it had spoken since it was
brought there, and with a smile the mother
reached out her hands toward the voice, and
was dead. The nurses wept softly as they
bathed the beautiful form, thoug b they are
20 accustomed to death it has little terror or
sorrow for them.
One nurse who has been practicing her pro-
fession for some time says she doesn't believe
even now that she could go back to the hos
pital and live through those night watches
again, though she loves her work and feels
ali its responsibility and sacredness. Many
of the nurses, however, love their hospital
work with strange fascination, and either
accept situations in other hospitals when they
graduate or obtain some sslaried place in their
own. The orderly, systematic routine. the
precise automatic regularity of the hospital
service, the constant attendance of the ply
sicians, the convenience of arrangements,
and the society Of the nurses, together with
an infatuation for the excitement of rev
cases, and the universal love and gratitude
of the patients, endears hospital life to them.
What the college is 70 the physician the
training school is to the nurse, and as only
through the ghastly h.srrors of the dissecting
room IS an accurate ssrgical knowledge OBJ
tained, SO is it only through the experiences
of the hospital wards the. nurses learn the
strength, courage, skill self reliance and
patience requisite TO-: tine exigencies and
emergencies of their chosen occupations
New York Sun.
Making D Quick Trip.
The following conversation took place in
Detroit one day:
II would rather live in Paris than any
other city in the world"
"Why don't You 50 to Paris, then?'
mo money. If had ZOO would be in
Paris tomorrow"
How was that for rapid transit-Detroit