The San Francisco call., 1896-04-06
DR.. Stable Sees No Wrong in
Nurses Going to Theaters
With InterneS.
THEY DO NOT NEED WATCHING
But Miss Patton Insists That Propriety
Demands Earlier Hours and
Less Escorting.

When Chauncey Depew remarked. after
crossing the Oakland Ferry and registering
at the Palace Hotel, that he had not seen
a pretty woman since his arrival in Cali
1ornla, every one knew at once that he had
not visited the City and County Hospital
and seen the nurses of the training school
there. There are twenty-seven of them.
Some have the melting brown eyes and
long dropping lashes of the gazelle, with
complexions just dark enough to show
that fatherly old Sol had kissed them.
Others have bewitching eyes as blue as
Callfornia's summer skies and cheeks and
lips OF strawberries and cream. No wonder
so many sick men get well when the cold
moisture is wiped from their brows by
hands SO soft. SO white and SO dainty.
The internes are fine-looking young
gentlemen, but there are only thirteen OF
them, an unlucky number when it is con-
sldered that there are twenty-seven nurses
Just twice and one too many to go
around. Such an unnatural condition of
things must be expected to provoke dis
content on the part of the lone and left
fourteen.
Some months ago Miss Patton, superin-
tendent of the training school, heard that
several of the prettiest nurses were being
escorted to and from the theaters by the
aforesaid internes, of whom DR.. Rummle
and DIR. Hull are the flower. DR.. Rummle,
however, denies that he is an escorter Now,
while there is nothing wrong in going to
the theater and having good time, and
while the integrity of the pretty nurses is
above suspicion, Miss Patton thought that
fha ont fsi do ,i,b ,o@ Ioo1 =
matter in the same light, because theaters
seem to be connected with wine, beer,
oysters, tamales and late suppers.
Again, the hospital is so far out and the
cable-ears are so slow that on several oc-
cas;ons some of the theater parties did not
return to the hospital until long after mid
night-say or 3 o'clock in the morning
This of itself, while perfectly innocent
and meaning no harm, was looked upon
by Miss Patton as not the proper thing.
She reasoned naturally that it might lead
to gossip by outsiders which would reflect
more or less upon her management.
Hence she made an order to the effect that
the practice should be stopped.
The order came very near causing a riot
The nurses and internes, at whom it was
aimed, protested Indignantly. They con-
strued the order as reflection ON their
integrity. They said that they were of
age and knew how 10 take care of them
selves; that they were ladies and the in
ternes gentlemen, and that so long as they
behaved themselves as ladies and associ-
ated themselves with respectable people it
was not the affair of Miss Patton how they
enjoyed life after working hours. They
voted her to be hateful old maid.
Miss Patton, who is one of the most
successful and conscientious superintend-
ents on the Pacific Coast, was not to be
moved either by Indignation or re-
proaches. The dreamy brown eyes and
the beaming blue ones of the pretty girls
under her charge had no hypnotic effect
upon her. She was Inexorable and re-
fused to rescind the rule.
In the midst of their disappoint III ent
the pouting girls and frowning internes
found an ally in Mrs. Stable, wife of the
superintendent of the hospital. She did
not think that they required to be watched.
DR.. Stable, the superintendent, did not in
terfere. In response to a request for adj
vice he said that he could not see any,
thing wrong in a hospital nurse being
brother, for instance, or some other girls
brother. He could not understand how
any one could see any impropriety in a
nurse getting into streetcar in which an
inferno happened to be sitting and being
escorted home by him. He declared that
he would not allow in the institution a
nurse who required watching.
Having received encouragement from
such high quarters, and from the addi-
tional fact that Miss Pattons order had
not been signed by the superintendent or
the Board of Health. some Of the young
women availed themselves of their rights
to do as they pleased during their off
hours.
DR.. Rummle and DR.. Hull were very in
dignant over the Patton order. The for
mer declared solemnly that he had never
gone out with any of the nurses. and yet
he is the best looking of all the internes.
DR.. HulPs language regarding Miss Pat
tons order was so strong as to lead to the
suspicion that he was a frequent attendant
at the theaters.
1t is understood that Misses Doedt, Mel
son and Morgan, the prettiest nurses in
the institution, are the leaders of the
moral revolution against Miss Patton's
order, while Misses Beasley and Pierce,
equally as handsome, champion Miss
Patton's side.
The hospital people are divided into two
hostile forces, and much bitterness Of feel
ing prevails among the anti-fatton fac
ton. DIR. Stable, while not condemning
the order, except indirectly, stands neu-
tral.
The bad feeling eliminated day or two
ago in lively fight between clerk and
one of the internes, the cause being gos-
sip, but the details have not been made
public by the hospital authorities. DR..
Stable promptly suspended the offenders,
and the Board of Health will be asked to
decide upon the merits of the encounter.
DR.. Stable, when asked yesterday as to
the internal dissension, so to speak. replied
that he thought the newspapers were too
sensational about the matter. He paid a
compliment TO Miss Patton's ability as
head nurse and superintendent of the
training school.
She had given complete satisfaction.
Nobody had made any complaint OF her,