The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-13

the cats seemed really lost and distracted.
Where did l get them? From friend
at Cedarhurst, on Long island, where /
spend each summer. They were tiny kit
tens when they were given to me. When
we move to Cedarhurst they go along with
me in the train, in two baskets. They are
used to the trip now.
The parrot and have quite long argu-
ments," continued Mrs. Sage 'particu-
larly when she thinks her room is not
warm enough. Mrs. Sage! Mrs. Sager she
protests, In an indignant tone and then |
have to go and put her In a good humoF.
She Is a good deal spoiled. I'm afraid, and.
she is exacting. But she is very interesting
when she wants to be"
Mrs. Sage is an interesting
figure. Though alert and &C
tive, she is far more the intel
lectual and spiritual than the material
type of woman There is character in the
pale oval face in the firm mouth and
chin and the clear blue eyes that look
kindly forth She wears her abundant gray
hair in soft coils and crimps and there Ia
a dignity of presence about her that one
feels would be hers If she occupied an OBJ
scure rather than a conspicuous niche In
life. She usually dresses in black or some
sober color but this morning there is
touch of pink about the wrists and collar
of her gown and a bit of delicate lace that
is becoming. Her face kindles with inter-
est when a subject appeals to her.
what do / think about the higher edu-
cation of women she says, repeating the
visitors question with an inscrutablc
smile about the lips. They have advanced
the standard of womanly attainment
much during the past twenty years, but
to my mind there is something lacking yet.
/ believe in our young women having all
the strengthening and broadening infiuen-
tbat pft nd
but | hold that they must be trained first
in the humanties of life. A girl education
as now almost universally sought and be-
slowed, gives her a taste for art, for the
refinements of personal appointments ana
surroundings for dainty coloring, subtle
effects and the like, but 1t blunts her sense
of the practical | doubt seriously II the
modern higher education OF woman Is an
unqualified good. 1t tends to develop the
mind very often at the expense OF the
heart
Before | was married" went on Mrs
Sage, Il had relatives with whom l might
have lived after my fathers losses. but !
always believed in the dignity of labor and
/ searched round for position as teacher
and got one | lived in the house where
the School was held. My room was small,
no bigger than a New York hall bedroom
now is and there We're two other girls
who shared IL with me. | had been an
had been taught that unless one could give
expression to ones knowledge could inn
part it to others, she could not be fully
mistress of what she knew / worked ear
nestly as a teacher, always going into the
classroom with the lesson In my head mot
to be heard mechanically out OF text
book, and / rarely thought much about
my creature comforts l believe we three
girls had quite a good deal of fun in that
little room.
II don't recolect the exact salary / re-
ceived, but il was not much as such things
are considered now, only | know that the
trained nurse or the stenographer or clerk
of higher education influences would de-
mand twice as many luxuries as / had
then. She might do her work better FOR
IT, and she might not. A trained nurse
making $40 or $25 a week nowadays has as
many silver-back brushes and silver-eteh-
ed bottles and hand-painted toilet april
ances on her dressing table as does any
spoiled woman of leisure. The tendency Is
all toward luxury and personal ease and
indulgence Look at the private rooms
fitted up for the nurses at the newer hos
pitfalls; they are models of elegance, COM
bining every appurtenance Of boudoir'
bed-chamber reception and drawing room.
Il think / should allude to the manage
ment of the present decade, regarding
these matters, as the eIaggeration Of lux
ury II a human being has soft, warm
bed to sleep on and plenty of good whole
some food and comfortable, even pretty
clothes to wear why should her environ
ment be hampered with lot of stuff that
Is certainly a tax to take care OF and ne
cessitates additional expense in the way OF
help to keep in order?
"In one hospital | know Of" she went
on, there are at present ninety-flve pa
tients, a number paying only a nominal
price for their board, medicines and at
tendance being provided for, and there are
1872 people employed to wait upon them.
1t is nice for those employees to have oc-
cupatlon, but ] think Institutions estab-
lished ostensibly for the purpose of doing
the greatest good to the greatest number
could get along with less exuberance Of
help in a domestic way.
1--WE want the most intelligent labor. A
nurse must have the educated, refined
sense and delicate touch of gentlewo-
man to attend critical case, and high
y educated woman demands good deal
In the way Of personal ease and appli-
ances. We must have these comforts for
her. say the managers, and the next new
hospital that goes up makes the nurses
drawing room bigger gets more expensive
vases and bric-a-brac for its adornment
and puts a shade more Of fine finishing In
the bath rooms and a few more mirrors
and long ones, for her, the nurse, to put
on her cap and tie her apron by.
II will give you an Instance or where
the demand for personal indulgence out
ranks the main business of woman's
profession, In her thoughtless estimation.
A friend OF mine az a hotel here, who
was recovering nicely from a severe Ill
ness was all upset the other day because
her nurse left suddenly. and for what2
Because she could not get tomato for
lunch When the patients tray came up
there was a tomato on Il, and when the
nurse went down to lunch she asked for
a tomato.
There isn't any tomato served to-day.
ahe was told. But there is tomato; Mrs.
p. had tomato for her lunch, and l wish
tomato for mine. she declared; ana al
though the head walter explained that
they had sent hither and yon 70 get that
tomato for Mrs T., the nurse got out OF
sorts and left, and then created more
confusion by wanting to have her trunk
carried away on the patients private car
rage.