The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-09-03

have examined carefully, and l beg
leave to offer the following suggestions,
requesting that you bear in mind that
was engaged by the Board to act as
Matron of the Home. and that do not
desire nor will allow myself to be
placed in the position or on the level OF
the lowest servant in the employ OF
the Board, and ii is on this point that
/ take the most decided objections to
certain sections of the rules, OF which
l will speak later on.
AS to Article 2: If you will consult
the minutes Of the Board, dated Novem-
ber IS, 1890 you will find the following,
which / copy verbatim: Moved and
seconded that Mrs. Lemon be asked to-
take the position of Matron OF the
Home, giving her the privilege of hav-
ing her children with her." 1t seems to
me that the above applies equally as
we'll to my son as it does to my young
er daughter. but as my objection to
this is based more particularly on the
inference that others have been board
ing at the Home at the expense of the
Board / would state that such is not
the case, as l have invariably bought
their food, as the bills of the Home. as
well as those of my own will clearly
show.
AS to Article g. To this object on
the ground that what. you call free
afternoon" is not really such as L
would be compelled to hire a substitute
at my own expense, provided desired
to take one afternoon off, something
that even the servants are not obliged
to do. and as to what the Board might
consider an efficient substitute do not
know, for / know of no one competent
to take my place at short notice. I
have now been acting as Matron for
nearly seven years, and in that time
do not remember time when I have
left the Home without leaving some
one in charge or that / have not been
within telephone call.
AS to Article z: This section will
work a great hardship on those women
whose husbands are laboring men, in
that it totally debars them from seeing
their husbands, who are employed be-
tween the hours of i a. m. and d. m,
and will react on the success OF the
Home to such an extent as to cripple
it, would suggest that the hours be
from II a. m. to 9 D. m. Furthermore.
this article prohibits me from having
any of my friends come in of an even
ing, matter that I feel obliged to in
sist on, and which you will readily per-
ceive is not unreasonable.
AS to Article 8: On the supposition
that even the light that I may require
in my own rooms is included in this, 1
ask that the matter of extinguishing
the light actually required by me be
left to my own discretion.
Finally, / would call to your atten-
ton the fact that I was employed as
Matron and not as a nurse and gen.
eral servant, but that / have ever since
my appointment, been acting as such,
and it occurs to me that perhaps IL
would be for the best interests OF the
Home if you would authorize me to
employ a nurse when required, or that
such extra compensation be allowed me
if / perform such work. AS it is at
present, I am obliged, when there are
patients in the Home, to be up many
nights, and the opportunity of resting
is very slight, particularly as / have
no one to leave in charge when / am
taking needed rest. Furthermore II
occurs to me that the most of these
rules and regulations are aimed at me
rather than made for the best conduct
of the Home, as l am not aware OF
single instance where / have not con-
Quoted the Home on practically the
lines as laid out by you, and IL you
have any information to the contrary
am ready for an investigation, and
feel that it is due me as a mere matter
of justice. / have been led to suppose
that there had been some dissatisfac-
ton with my management, but you
may remember that, on two separate
occasions have | rendered my resigna-
ton, which has never been acted upon.
The Home has always been open to in
spection by any member of the Board,
and if there has been any breach OF
any rules, it seems to me that should
have been informed of ii and given an
opportunity to explain, but such oppor-
tunity has not been allowed me, and
am in the dark as to what the trou-
Bile might be with my management.
Trusting that you will consider my
statement of my idea of these rules as