The Portland daily press., 1901-02-23
FOR NURSES.
FRAMING school Advocated ny Mas
saehnsetts Physician.


TO sneak upon a subject in which am so
interested. am however under one uis,
advantage that / must acknowleuge ahu
ask indulgence for. l know so little ABOUT
the conditions of nursing in Portland
that 1 must cover my ignorance regarding
the conditions here by asking you to fol
low with me the development Of nursing
elsewhere.
May / begin by reading Bradford's s
description of the nursing at Plymouth
that first winterg
..But that which was most~sadd q
lamentable was, that in . or 3. monetns
time halle of their company u9eu,
esretialy in Jan. a February, oeins "a
depth Of winter, and wantln0 "ou.sS -
other comforts; being lnieetsu III io3c
scurvie & other diseases, when t5,.ia,ss tuis igs
voyage and their inacomodate Son.'i.Io5 . aIo5
had brought upon them, so as tner u!S55
some times 9 or 8 of a day, in ye loreStlu lo
time: that of 100. & odd persons, go se.ai ~
go remained. And OF these IN ye 'iis'u la',, ~
persons. who to their great cofnibenu,a.
lions be it spoken. spared no pains, niSnI ..I
nor day. but with abundance of toyle anu /
hazard of their owne health, ieteheu at lhei"
woode. made them fires, drest theih inea',
made their beads, washed their lothsome
cloeths cIoathed and uncloathed them; IN
a word did all We homly and neeesSaIle
offices for them w dainty " quesie stondks
cannot endure to hear named ana an lhis
willingly and cherfully, without any
gIudging in we least, showing hereih theIr
true love unto their friends Il bretheren.
A rare example & worthy to be remem-
bered Tow of these Z, were Mr.. william
Brewster, ther reverend Elder, * Miles
Standish ther Captein & military com
mander, unto whom my selte, many
Others. were much beholden in our lowe
& sicke condition And yet the LORD SO
upheld these persons, as in this general
calamity they were not at all injected
either with sicknes, or lamnes. AND
what | have said of these, | may say OF
many others who dyed in this general
visitation, & others yet living. that
whilst they had health, yea, or any
strength continuing, they were not want,
ing to any that had need OF them. Ana
/ doute not but their lecempenee is win
We Lord. THE Bradford History oil the
Plymouth Plantation.
This is the way nursing began in New
England in that awful first winter, and
certainly in our old New England villages
there was a lovely kind of nursing In
direct sequence. In olden times when
man was sick his neighbors came to watch
with him, and perhaps TO gather in his
4 crops. and if the mother was sick in the
I house. the neighboring women would
come and do all her work for her as well
as take care of her. Such were the condi-
tions In Waltham village where was
born. remember my mother saying how
proud she was when my great grand
mother first suggested that she should do
some of this night watching, for my
great grandmother had become quite noted
as a neighborhood nurse, and my mother
was proud enough to follow her; and
when began practising there, l, too, had
to depend on night watchers. There was
something lovely about it. The night
watchers brought with them that neigh
borly love, without which this world
would be bare and barren indeed. But
there were many disadvantages: the night
watchers changed every night or two;
they did not report to the doctor; there
was no continuance of treatment; nor
was there any surety that the night
watchers knew what they were about.
The only one thing that could be asserted
in its favor was that neighborly kindness
in that system had full, free, splendid ex
preston.
Besides these volunteer night watchers
and day helpers there were other nurses
in our New England villages and Cities
women who, by force of circumstances
had been obliged to take up that vocation,
and some of them were excellent nurses
They were as they have called themselves
during the last few years, experienced
nurses, rather priding themselves that
they have had no education, and have not
been contaminated by any scientific train
ing. They were splendid. hard working
women Some still remain, but they are
fast disappearing in our New England
communities. But they did not express
the loving neighborliness that the volun-
teer nurses expressed; and it certainly is
worthy of attention to examine the rea-
sons for the disappearance of this old
time neighborliness.
1t seems at first thought as if something
very precious had been lost. | hardly
think l could be a pessimist if / tried to
be, and cannot help believing the reason
for the disappearance of this old time
neighborly service in cases of sickness is
to be found in the now general impression
that nursing is, and should be, special
profession. This is the age OF specialiZa-
tion. generation or two ago 1t was in
cumhent upon every strong man to be a
fireman, aud to run to the assistance of
his nelghboI, if his neighbours house
was on fire, so it was incumbent then
upon every man and woman in the COM
munity to rush to his neighbor, if his
neighbor was in danger of death OF laid
low with sickness. Now we are no less
neighborly but we realize that the kindest
thing in case our neighbours house is on
fire is to keep out of the way and let the
fireman have full field, and so in the same
way we think the kindest thing we can
do if our neighbors are sick is to keep out
of the way and let the professional attend
ants have full swing and we are certain
ly right in so thinking if professional at
tendants are at hand. But if there are no
firemen in the city it is the business of
the city to provide them, and if there are
no nurses at hand it likewise is the busi-
ness of the community to provide them.
In order to complete the history of ex-
listing conditions we must take into ac-
cuunt the introduction into this country