Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-03-23


But there In another reason why the
No young girl who enters this noble
profession is morally and spiritually
safe unless she enters 1t with the di-
vine arm Of protection encircling her.
We talk about the temptations which
confront an average actor and actress.
Mary Anderson, once the uncrowned
queen of the American theater, 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 the
stage have their counterpart in the per-
Ills. more subtle and no less menacing,
of the nurses career. The breaking Of
the home ties, the silence of the sick
room, the evils of the hospital, the un-
principled 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 1 speak have far
reaching and overpowering meaning;
therefore, if you are going to enter this
profession in your own strength l beg
of you to stop before it is too late. Bet
ter scrub In the kitchen, stand behind
the counter, be chambermaid or any
thing that is honorable, however hum
BILE, rather than attempt to be trained
nurse without Christ by your side. AS
a noble, Christian woman a trained
nurse has the grandest opportunities
for usefulness; as one who is not di-
vinely protected she is in weekly and
daily-aye, perhaps in hourly-danger
of spiritual overthrow.
The ideal nurse should be 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 enemy's breaStwOrkS is
| looking death in the face with no brav-
err eye than the uniformed nurse who
| times the pulse of the smallpox patient
or the young girl who offers to go 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 l
read an account of 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: 81 would not cut
my throat with such a dull knife as
that if were you. Let me have it; j
know where to get sharper one.'
The delirious patient hesitated a mo-
ment. Then he handed it to her. Then
J she calmly turned and threw it out OF
the open window as she said, Now go
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 Albemarle
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
| fn N
to fulfill the trying duties of their no
BILE profession.
Moral Courage Necessary.
But there is another way in which
l. the ideal trained nurse must prove bel
bravery. That is when she has the
moral courage to refuse to work for al
incompetent physician. Some time agt
one of the training schools for nurse:
gave this question in an examination
paper: "Supposing you positively knew
that if you obeyed the doctors or
ders to give to your patient a Ger
| tain medicine that act would kill tht
patient, would you give it?" Most o
J the students answered NO" Some an
) swered Yes l myself believe tina
neither answer fully covered the dut,
| in the case If there should come
! | time-and that time will come-when
2 competent nurse knows that her pa
$ tient is being cared for by an incompe
b tent physician. then that nurse shoul
: 60 to that doctor and tell him plainl
j what she knows and then and Their
0 refuse to work any longer under his OF
e ders. She should do as an officer in th
United States army ought to do. A
/ an officer in the army | must obey m
t commanders orders. If do not, the
g am punished, but if l know that m
= commander is drunken incompeter
d or is following fatally wrong polio
= then / should have the moral courag
G to hand in my resignation or to prote:
4. to the higher authorities. That is e:
% actly what certain officers in the Spal