The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-03-26
may fight against the cause as well as
the results of many sicknesses?
Wbv NurSes ShoU1G Re Chr;stians

may fight against the cause as well as
the results of many sicknesses?
Why Nurses Should Be Christians.
But there is another reason why tie
nurse should be Christian woman
| No young girl who enters this noble
profession is morally and spiritually
| safe unless she enters it with the ui-
vine arm of protection cncircling her
We talk about the temptations which
confront an average actor and actress.
/ Mary Anderson, once the uncrOWL"l
queen Of the American theatrr. has
warned young girls against the temp
| tations Actors like Edwin Booth
would never allow their daughters to
follow in their footsteps. Some Of us
would rather see our daughters dead
than hear that they were going upon
| the stage. But the temptations of th,n
stage have their counterpart in the per-
| lis, more subtle and no less mcnacing,
of the nurses career. The breaking Of
| the home ties, the silence of Che sick
room. the evils of the hospital, the I'M
principcd lives of many physicians
and the perils which must necessarily
arise in the discussion of certain cases
all conspire to overthrow the spirit
ual life Of one who may have entered
the nurses profession with the highest
and noblest of purposes. All, nurse,
you realize only too well that the words
of warning which @ speak have a ear
reaching and OvcrpOWering mCaninG:
therefore, if you are going to "nscr this
profession in your own strength be-,
of you to stop before it is too late. Bet
ter scrub in che Kitchen, stand behind
the counter, be a chambermaid or any
thing that is honorable, however hum
BILE, rather than attempt to be a trained
nurse without Christ 10y your side. A9
a noble, Christian woman q trained
nurse has the grandest opportunities
for usefulness; as one who is not Ill
vinely protected she is in weekly and
daily-aye, perhaps in hourly-danger
of spiritual overthrow.
The ideal nurse should be a brave
woman. The battlefield, with its storm
Of shot and shell, shows no greater per
centage of loss of life than that found
among the trained nurses in our conta-
gious hospitals. The soldier who
charges the encmy5 breastW0rkS is
looking death in the face with no BRAY.
CT eye than the uniformed nurse who
times the pulse of the smallpox patient
or the young girl who offers to 20 with
the physicians into the Quarantined
city affected with yellow fever. Then
there are the dangers which may affect
the patients as well as the nurse, which
result from delirium. The other day
read an account Of a case in which the
quick witted bravery Of a nurse saved
the life Of a raving patient committed
to her charge. Having stepped out Of
the room for little, when she returned
she found the patient standing by his
bed with a knife in his hand, ready to
cut his throat. Instead of screaming or
running away. she fixed her eye calmly
upon his as she said: Il would not cut
my throat with such a dull knife as
that If | were you. Let me have it; |
know where to get sharper one
The deiirious patient hesitated Mo.
ment: Then he handed it to her. Then
she calmly turned and threw it out of
the open window as she said. Now 90
back to bed or else | will call for help to
put you there" All, that was bravery.
That was bravery as great as Lieu
tenant Gushing exhibited when he tried
to blow up the ironclad ram Albemarlp
at Plymouth. n. c., or as General Fun
ston exhibited when, with handful of
followers. he invaded Aguinaldo's head
quarters and captured the chief of the
Filipino armies. That is the kind of
physical and moral courage which
many nurses have to possess i'll order
to fulfill the trying duties of their no
Bile profession.
Moral Courage Necessary.
But there is another way in which
the ideal trained nurse must prove her
bravery. That is when she has tie
incompetent physician. Some time ago
one Of the training schools for nurses
gave this question in an examination
paper: Surprising you positively knew
that if you obeyed the doctors or
ders to give to your patient GER
tain medicine that act would kill the
patient, would you give it," Most Of
the students answered No" Some an
swered Yes" I myself believe that
neither answer fully covered the duty
in the case. If there should come a
time-and that time will come-when Il
competent nurse knows that her pa
tient is being cared for by an incompe
tent physician, then that nurse should
go to that doctor and tell him plainly
what she knows and then and there
refuse to work any longer under his Or
ders. She should do as an officer in the
United States army ought to do. As
an officer in the army / must obey MY
commanders orders. If | do not, then
am punished but if | know that my
commander is a drunken incompetent
or is following a fatally wrong policy
then | should have the moral courage
to hand in my resignation or to protest
to the higher authorities. That is eX-