The evening times., 1898-06-07
NURSES
In JAPAN
Miss Fraser's Experience in
the Kioto Training School,
Customs and Habits That Make the
PrcJudicesf Being Overcome.

| The world does move. The little chrys-
anthemum ladies over in Japan are at
tending lectures. They are learning how
to disinfect theif toy houses. and instead
of sticking little fans through their ar
chitectural hair they are covering it up
with nurses caps.
The first and only successful training
school for nurses in Japan was the one
established in connection with the Doshi-
\ sha Hospital in Kloio. As was stated in
| the New York Sun the other day. the
Doshisha colleges. hospital. and training
school were starfel and kept going by
American money. Two or three years
ago. however. the japanese seemed to
| think that they could run things them
selves. They made sEch point of this
| that all the American professors. physi-
clans, and teachers resigned. At present
| the Japanese are indeed running things
to suit themselves. At any rate they are
not running them to suit the American
Board of Foreign Missions. The Japs
have concluded TO ''Kirsuto kyo no kam-
BAN" which, being interpreted, means
that they are going to take down the
Christian sign" The board has conse-
quently written TO them and demanded
the return of some large gifts of money,
which were made with the understanding
that the Christian Sign was going to stay
up.
Among those who resigned two years
ago was Miss Fraser, Bellevue gradu-
ate who was in charge of the kioto
training school for five years. When she
left Japan Miss Fraser returned to Amer
lea and is now engaged in hospital work
in New York city.
"As a rule" said Miss Fraser to Sun
reporter, '.the Japanese women make
very good nurses. They are light and
quick of foot and very deft with their
fingers. Before our school was opened.
twelve years ago, there were no trained
nurses in Japan There Were old wo-
men, who took care OF sick people. and
there were men nurses. of the same de-
gree of ability, for the male patients in
the hospitals.
'In the ten years during which we
Americans had charge Of the kioto school
we had seventy graduates. At first it
was not easy to get good class OF wo-
men. The Japanese looked upon nurs-
ing as a mer;al form of labor, and the
educated women felt that they were above
such a calling. In time. however. they
found out that nursing was profession
requiring skill and intelligence and that
it was regarded by foreigners as dis
tinctly creditable. They form their
it wasn't long before We We're able to pick
our students from higher grade of wo-
men. Many of them We're graduates of
the Doshisha school for girls. They re-
ceive what seems here TO be slight COM
pensation, but over there. where living
is so cheap, 1t is very good pay. They
have 40 cents a day for any time under
two weeks. There is a slight reduction
for a longer time.
O,,, 4 ntcc h1x-
in all the principal cities of Japan and
have trained the nurses there. so that at
present the number of those trained ac-
cordng to the teaching of the k1oto
school has Increased very considerably
Private nursing was not popular at first
The people had their Old women nurses.
whom they thought quite as good as any
body else. But now the trained nurses
are in such demand that there are not
enough to fill the supply. The Red Cross
has nurses who were trained by our grad
yates. l suppose that, In case of sickness
in the imperial household. one Of the Red
Cross nurses would be called in, for the
society is under the patronage of the
high nobility. The Countess Ito. / be-
lieve, is one of those who are especially
interested in the Red Cross.
when we first went to Japan, of course.
their methods were totally unlike ours;
but many of their physicians have studied
of recent years in this country and in
Germany. so that they have made great
progress. The most common ailments are
skin diseases and drcoDsumption. They have
a good many eye troubles. too. You see.
their food is not nourishing. and has not
been SO for generations. so that their con-
stitutions are not strong. They do not
have enough warmth in Winter. either. It
is really cold in Winter. and their houses.
which are mere shells. are scarcely warm
ed by the little bit of charcoal in the mid
die of the room.
I'VE took stoves with US and a great
many other foreign comforts and conven-
fences. But you have 10 idea how difii-
cult 1t was to teach the Japanese nurses
how to care for the sick. had to begin
my teaching from point entirely diff
ferent from the one I was accustomed to
the whole scheme was different: the
houses the heating arrangements, the
clothing. the beds, the diet-everything.
OF course. in the hospital we arranged
most of these things to suit ourselves. but
when it came to private nursing It really
was like entering a strange country
Even In the hospital ~c had pretty
hard work to arrange diet for the sick
The people there eat almost r.--ling but