The evening times., 1898-05-11
TEACHING OF
NUR8EMHIDS
Practical Views Concerning
the Care Of Children.
Absolute Need 81 Instruction ia
Young wo&eS to Whom the
Young Are COnAded.

woman. says a boston letter writer, even
though she be fashionable and more or
less a lover of the world and its vanities,
takes pretty good care of her children. In
| Boston l know she Is very devoted to the
nursery. and could give many an old-time
doctor points on the care and feeding Of
babies. Boston women, in fact, take the
care of their children SO seriously that 1
am not surprised, that the first school in
the country intended exclusively for the
instruction Of nursemaids should have
been started in Boston. In New York they
have school for nursemaids connected
with one of the hospitals. But this is in
tended entirely for instruction In the care
of sick children.
The Boston School Of Nursery Maids is
under the patronage of a group Of rich
women. who have become discontented
with the only kind of girls at present to
be had-the elderly, fat, experienced kind,
| or the young. pert and careless. What Is
true of Boston is true of Chicago and
| of every other city. The nurses of the
| first class are often good in their way.
| careful and kind, but unwilling to take
advice from the mother. Such nurses are
apt TO be weak on the Intellectual side,
| and the wise mother usually hastens to
supplant them with a nursery governess
or Kindergarten. Girls in the second class
| do not always refuse to take advice, al
though often they seem TO forget to follow
| 1t.
The School for Nursery Maids is intend
| ed to train the younger girls. and in its
| first year Of existence 1t has proved the
| need of such an institution. Altogether
there are about twenty girls in the school,
| and they live In pleasant house, the
Nursemaids' Home, connected with the
West End Day Nursery. About half the
girls, are Roman Catholics and half
Protestants, and they range In age from
eighteen to thirty-the limit fixed by the
| committee in charge of the work
As In the new school in Boston for
! training housework girls. the effort Is
/ made to attract to the work of nursery
maid rather high type of girl. This
effort has been fairly successful for 1t
1 is not hard to make girls see that wage.
| of s. a week and board in family where
| nursery maid is treated with consider
i a:ion Is far better than 50 week in ID
I shop. where little regard Is shown for
the personality of the girl
Every girl who enters the school mus,
! promise to give ten months to the course
| of study. She must bring as equipment
| a good moral character. a common school
| education. and.' to descend to the more
| material. two wash dresses, ten white
aprons. laundry and shoe bags and plain
underclothing. The nursemaid during
! her ten months course Is boarded and
| lodged at the expense of the school. and
Is paid $ month";
Without the day nurseries with which
| Boston is well provided / doubt that the
school would be possibility. But the
four day nurseries supported by Mrs
Quincy A. Shaw. and two others main
tanned by general subscription offer n
| field for the nursemaids TO practice In
At each Of these six nurseries one of tn.
girls has her permanent home during the
course. going to the school for lectures
and for other instruction. The other
fourteen girls reside at the Nursemaids'
Home. The school has at its head
director of nurses. and there is also
| medical director. These two decide on
the fitness of the candidate during
month of probation and. later. II it
becomes necessary they can send any girl
away from the school.
To give the details of the course of in
struction might be wearisome. though In
its outlines it includes just what would
be expected. The nursemaids are taught
everything that pertains to the care of
well children-their diet. their bathing.
! their clothing. No nursemaid is con-
sidered expert unless she can do plain
| sewing and mending as well as wash
more elaborate laundry work which nat
uraliy would not devolve on a nursery
maid
The nursemaids' school adjoins an in
fants' hospital. i'm which under trained
nurses. the pupils of the school have an
opportunity to study cases of illness. No
nursemaid is allowed to think that she Is
perfectly capable of taking care of any
sick child without Doctors advice. but
81. ie,.a- 70, ha 1bI Ia to
little ailment on its first appearance. and
SO. II necessary. enable mother or doctor
to begin treatment at once. Part of the
term of study is spent at the summer
hospital for children established on one
of the islands in Boston harbor. and this
gives the girl some valuable experience.
The real teachers of the nursemaids
are the matrons at the different day nur-
series and the special lecturers. Among
the latter is Miss Laura Fisher. director
of kindergartens In the public schools.
and she talks on such practical subjects
as the need of trustfulness on the part
of nursemaids. the care they should take
| not to frighten child and similar things.
! She also gives them advice as to the kind
of stories they should read and tell chill
dren. and. indeed. the effort is constantly
made in the school to develop In the girls
a wholesome love of books The nurse
| ing. and of which they learn considerable
under the tuition of the matrons at the
day nurseries. Just imagine what a re-
lief IT would be to the average weary
mother to know that her nursery maid
can play Kindergarten games with little
Minnie or Bobbie.
AS the end of her course draws near a
place is found for the pupil of the school
in a private family. The wages paid for
her services by the family are given to
the school. and from the latter the nur-
sery maid still continues to receive her
s. per month. Reports of her general
ability are given by her new mistress to
the school during her two months of ser
vice All maids sent out in this way have
thus far been found satisfactory. and
some of the girls Of the class about to
graduate will be;taken permanently into
the households where they have served
well on probation.
A class of eight Is just about to be
graduated from the school. and after
passing an examination the pupils will
receive a certificate of proficiency. The
graduates. on leaving the school, are to
promise to ask no more than S per week
during their first year of service. This.
however. is a very fair rate. and 1t is to
be doubted. In the present state of the Ia
bor market, whether nursemaid ought
ever to expect much more than that.
The whole experiment. however will be
watched with considerable interest. Some
persons. for example, will hesitate about
employing the trained nursery maid lest
they should prove supercili0us and abuse
their position. But the majority of moth
erS will rejoice at, the possibility of put
ting their younger children under the care