The Central Nevadan. [volume] (Battle Mountain, Nev.) 1885-1907, 1889-08-08
To fulfill her duty wherever she ma,

To fulfill her duty wherever shs may
find herself, and to give satisfaction to
all, nurse must possess Infinite tact
and patience, be a rapid observer, and
quick to read the characters of those
with whom she comes in contact.
The cheerfulness which may brighten
one patient may be regarded as OBJ
truslve chatter by another; the con.
slant attentions which will soothe one
viii. irritate the next. The nurse who
p,eases all must indeed be wonder.
1t is reported that celebrated physi-
clan remarked to patient whom a
constant succession of nurses had failed
to satisfy. "You had better send to
heaven, my dear sir, and demand
hospital-trained angel with cast iron
back. The financial circumstances
OF these nurses are little better than
those Of their hospital sisters, but
their duties are every whit as trying
When the doctor lives far away the
responsibility they incur in cases of
Danger is great, and often their periods
OF rest are constantly broken by
/ anxious friends. And frequently,
when the patient gets better, the nurse
is regarded as nuisance, and her
former devotion is forgotten. 1t is to
be regretted that some institutions,
which are merely business specula
tions choose their nurses with so little
discrimination that discreditabk speci-
mems are sometimes met with who
throw disgrace on the entire commun-
ity. As a matter of fact, perfection is
no more TO be found among nurses
than other human beings, and yet
these women must be sustained by
worthy motives to labor so diligently
for So scant an earthly reward 1t
will indeed be blessing to many to
think that the nurses are to have the
practical benefit of charitable scheme
and that the cases of destitution and
misery in their ranks. of which every
matron has had cognizance. will now
be tales Of the past 1t is these heroic
women who find their way into every
household, from the castle to the
cellar tenement; who, wherever pain
and sickness are rife, come with skill
ful hands and syinpathizing hearts tc
heal and bless. Facing without fear
the risk of infection, nurse will
make her home in fever hospital; or,
beside the dying bed Of some poor
wretch, will risk contagion Of an even
more fearful nature. These are the
women who never bow down to what
Mr.. Stevenson calls the. "bsstial god
dess of comfort and respectability;
who can perform the most menial ser.
vices with dignity, and to whom
nothing is common or unclean.
These are the women who carry,
wherever they 60, an atmosphere OF
noble labor and unselfsa enterprise
which brings 70 this work a day
world a CLEAN of the glory to come.
1t is the nurse whose purity and truth
breaks through the crust of skeptlcism
with which our souls were crusted
over, and opens once more tho stream
Of love aud faith which flooded our
being in our youth. Before the keen
light of earnestness in nurses eyes
the froth and frivollty of social life
dries up to nothing, and in its stead
grow noble aspirations. The influence
exercised far anq wide by nurse is
almost unbounded, and if she be
actuated by the fervent love of human
ity which urges many women to under
take this work she can carry every
where with her glorious torch to
light all upward toward more Sublime
and unsslfsh aims, lifting them for
awhile above the trivial common
placeness of which too many of US are
liable to allow our lives to consist
Westminster Review.