The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-12-05
HE MISSIONARY NURSE.
Diversity of Occupation In the Lot Of One
Who Cares for the Poor.

Diversity OF Occupation In the LOT OF One
who Cares for the Poor.
MY working hours?" said the mis-
sionary nurse. "Why. bless you, nurs-
ing isn't matter of hours; it is one OF
endurance. One day out of six am al
lowed to rest, bu- during the other five
working days of the week am thankful
If / get five hours of sleep out of the
twenty-four.
"Why don't the sick poor GO to the hos
pitfalls? II you were to ask them they
would say that they are afraid of the
black bottle. They believe firmly that
when hospital nurses and doctors see
that patients case is hopeless they
put him out of his misery with dose
from black bottle. You would be sur
prised to find how common this kind of
talk is even among those of whom you
would expect better sense. They would
rather remain among their people who
encourage them in such foolishness,
though they themselves haven't time to
nurse their sick, even If they knew how.
OF course people brought up in the
slums don't mind the smells as do, and
the sight of vermin doesn't nauseate
them as it does me; but for all that their
sick would not only be much more COM
| Portable but in many cases their chances
of life would be doubled IL they could
be persuaded to go to some decent hos
pital.
What kind Of smells do 1 encounter?
All kinds except sweet ones. often
wish might leave my nose at home. for
while am cropping about in the dark
halls, trying to find my way to the
shaky staircases, it seems to me differ
ent bad smell comes with every breath
draw.
81 have sometimes almost gone down
on my knees to some poor rheumatic or
partially paralyzed woman, imploring
her to let herself be taken to the hospi-
tai where she could receive all the at
tention she ought to have, and the an
swer would be, 81 amt fittin to die yet
SO I'm a-goin' to keep out of the hos
pital as long as can One day the doc
tor said to case of this kind-she had
been a dressmaker, and had supported
herself comfortably as long as she was
able to work-that she would be sure to
die IL she stayed at home and let her
children expose her to dranghts as they
were always doing. Well, said she,
better die at home, when my time
comes, than at the hospital, before my
time comes, and where l will be cut
open before the breath is fairly out Of
my body. That's the way a friend of
mine was served last year. Her folks
didn't know no better than to let her be
| took to the hospital, and after her death,
which / s'pose was helped along by the
black bottle, them doctors, without ask
ing leave of nobody, slashed away at the
poor thing: and they botched her up
again, making great quicker in
the seam, such as l wouldn't allow
no little prentice girl Of mine to make.
Now, that dress-maker is fair speci-
men of the kind of people / work among.
Duties of m visionary nurse? Well,
besides giving medicine and sticking on
plasters and taking temperatures, /
sometimes have to cook and wash and
scrub and beg. Scarcely day passes
that don't broil Cruel and broil chops
for sick people, and often I have to roll
up my sleeves and wash dishes or scrub
the floor Then occasionally l have to
go to some depository where benevolent
persons send such things and present
a petition for sheets or blankets, or
whatever else is needed among my pa
tients, whom 1 sometimes find lying on
! piles of rags.
Salary? Forty dollars for the first
month, the month of probation, and
afterward fifty dollars month. If you
were to 60 the rounds with me some
day think you would say that am not
paid a dollar too much. Just now, be-
sides the case of rheumatism l have
been telling you about, l have con-
sumptive patient cancer to look after
and a bone felon to poultice and some
cases of malaria that tone or another of
them) are needing quinine at every
! hour of the day and can not be trusted
70 take it by themselves; these are only
few Of my patients."-N. Y. Tribune.