Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-07-12

IeranCe- however, so HSeu was Une QIsDe-
lief in woman's ability to do anything
requiring strong nerves and self control
The Crimean war experiment was
the entering wedge of the innovation.
1t was triumphantly successful. From
that day ON the profession of the trained
nurse became second in dignity and i'm
portance only to that of the medicine
itself Honor is due to Florence Night
ingaie above almost all women who
have lived She opened new profess
sion to her sex. one that was at the
same time of noble service to the hu
man race.
Only few government nurses came
here in the beginning The first ones
reached Manila Dec. % No fight was
on then The regular hospital corps of
the army attended mostly to the sick
So the young women had time to get
accustomed to their new quarters
With the outbreak of the insurgents,
Feb. 4, the girls began to have plenty
of work. They are now occupied in the
hospitals all day long, those that are
here, and more are expected and needed.
The regular army nurses have made
record for their country women-yes
and men, too--to be proud of. You can
judge how their services are appre
ciated by the fact that their pay has
been nearly doubled by the United
States government since they started
in. At first they were hired by the
month. They received $50 month and
quarters and food. Now they sign
contract for a year and receive $50 a
month As steady thing that is not
bad Fay even for trained nurse The
quarters of the army nurses are among
the cleanest, cheeriest places l have
visited in this town. The ladies gather
about them pretty bamboo furniture
and artistic belongings, so that their
home is spot which rests the eye.
OF women nurses in the island there
are now 20. Two are in the hospital at
Cavite. two on the island of Corregidor,
in the convalescent hospital the others
are all in Manila. at the First and
Second Reserve hospitals
The First Reserve hospital is the
principal one. Here at times there have
been as many as 800 sick and wound
ed The lady who has charge of all the
other nurses at the First Reserve hos
pitsl is Miss Mona Bowman of Port
land, Or She is called chief nurse.
Since Feb. she has been in attend
ance in the operating room of the hos
pital without losing day.
The women nurses that come here
are of three classes. One division is sent
by the United States government
These are called contract nurses Then
come the Red Cross ladies, supported
by Red Cross organizations in their
respective states. Finally comes the
third division. called Auxiliary Red
Cross nurses These are sent by the
private philanthropy of ladies at home
who wish to do something for their
country Miss Helen Gould and Mrs
Whitelaw Reid are at the head of the
enterprise that maintains here the third
auxiliary branch of Red Cross nurses.
The women do not go ont on the
field of battle In battle members of
the hospital corps dart out under fire
and bring in the wounded TO the field
surgeons at the dressing stations and
regimental hospitals. Then so soon as
general hospital. where they can re-
ceive the attention that it is impossible
to give them on the field. You will
see, therefore. that it is not necessary
for the women nurses to accompany an
army actually on the field in fight
Indeed this would not be wise or advis
s5le The argument against it is that
If the soldiers saw half dozen nice
ladies under fire they would all think
they must be saving the lives of the
women instead of shooting down the
enemy and giving their undivided at
tention to him
The brave nurses here have been un-
der fire, however, some of them more
than once. AT the time of the historic
episode of Feb. and bullets fell like
hail upon the rocf Of the Second Re
serve hospital, in which Miss Bist and
Miss Fenwick two of the government
nurses, are. If one of them had nap-
pened to be standing at a certain win
dow at particular moment, she would
have been killed. That was the fata
which overlook one Of their patients, a
convalescent who was looking out.
watching the fight
A curio belonging to the ladies.of the
Hecond Reserve hospital is slim little
Mauser ball that flashed in where one