Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1894-09-01
AMATEUR NURSING.
little Arts the Careful Housewife should
Master,

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little Arts the Careful Housewife should
Master.
The service Of n professional Nurse
are very highly valued In eases OF seri'
Gus illness. or when there is the pres
ence in a family of the acute or perpleX'
ing malady which taxes the strength
and skill of the care-takers as wei as
the learning of the physician. In hos
pitals and asylums the presence OF the
trained nurse. with her deft hand,
practieed eve, GOODNESS OF nerve ana
restraint of emotion, has in these last
wears brought a change for the better
IA change that was greatly needed
Readers of Dickens remember Sairy
Camp, and people who In other days
visited charity hospitals recall blear'
eyed and red-faccd danes, of whom
| Mrs. Camp was hardly a caricature'
All this is now out of date, The pro
fessional nurse is young, strong, sell
assured, self-respecting, She knows
how to obey a doctors order, how to
nut on a bandage, to give medicine, to
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| make a bed, to care for Il patient in the
best way, If She have II danger, it is
| that her very facility may become me
| chanical, and that her womanly sensi'
| bilitics may be blunted; that she may
grow callous and indifferent in the
| stoicism which is at times her shield
| against an excessive and enfeebline
sympathy. Taking them by and large.
| however, nurses are womanly beings,
| who come to our homes in hours OF
| darkness like angels of comfort, whose
ministrations can scarcely be o high
" paid. and who deserve the recogni
ton they usually receive.
Aside from the professional nurse,
the amateur nurse may be esteemed in
her hour of opportunity. In every
family, or ut least in every group OF
kinsfolk, there are me or two women
who have a natural faculty for sooth'
ing and allcviating pain. They know
how to shake "A pillow. how to lift and
change the posture of a sufferer, how
to adjust the blinds and curtains, how
to walk across IA oom without up.
precisely as the physician says they
must be given. If the amateur nurse
of this order be one of IA large family
connection, and a spinster, she is al,
ways in demand. Amy's children come
down with the measles, or Ruth's brood
have scarlet fever. Ruth and Amy
send at once for Aunt Esther, and her
entrance within their doors is Il signal
for rejoicing. She does not lose her
head when somebody faints, or turn
pale herself at the sight of blood: and
if there be a hoy in the house, with a
boys usual tendency to accidents and
catastrophes, this uncatalogued Sister
of Mercy knows exactly what to dc
for him, let the emergency be what it
may.
There are certain elementary things
which a woman ought to master if she
can, S o that she may take upon her
self the role of amateur nurse upon
occasion.
First, a woman needs no professional
training to teach her the value of ac-
curacy, AS opposed to inconsequence
and haphazardness, in the sick-room.
Years ago a woman died-a woman in
a New England town-whosc life was
a benediction to a whole community.
The nurse made n mistake in the order
of two medicines, and calmly admins.
tered a %teaspoonful where she should
have given a few drops. Her blunder
was fatal. Amateur or professional
nobody is fit to be trusted with so deli
cate and so responsible "A duty as that
of nursing who is capable of making
this sort of mistake.
The amateur nurse should be able tc
spread a poultice, fill a hot-water bot.
tic, fan a heated patient, change the
clothing and sheets of a sick person
without subjecting the person to chill
and cold; she should have ~amiabilitv
capability and )mmon-scnsc. Indeed
the last quality takes precedence o.
almost every other. There are few sit
uations in life where it is not exceed
ingly valuable, and almost i%ndispensa
Bile.
Not long ago, in a paper widely read
there appeared this advertisement: -
sclf-taught nurse desires Il position a
care-taker of an invalid or elderly lady
She will relieve her patient Of all so
l~'citude." ! could not but hope tina
two persons were made happy by Thu
proposed conjunction-the self-taugh
or amateur nurse and the one whom
She sought to take beneath her wing
Harper's Bazaar.