Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-03-26

| It Is high time that the standard Of our
training schools for nurses should be
raised, that unworthy institutions
should be crushed out and that the
question of trained nurses efficiency
should not be decided by her ability to
buy Bingham dress ana to read n
thermometer. It Ia high time that the
state legislatures should place laws up
on the statute books. SO that the gradu.
ates of these different institutions
should be compelled to pass examina-
tons for licensure, as the doctor, the
pharmacist the lawyer or the locomo.
tive engineer is compelled to do. In
competent nursing has involved the
loss Of many a life and caused many
an agonizing pain. Some time ago a
dear friend Of mine, brother minis
ter, had his little five-year-old son near
| ly burned to death. The only way to
save the child's life was by grating
human skin upon the little ones stom-
ach and chest. The father and the
child's two brothers volunteered to let
the doctor peel the skin from their bod
les to save the baby's life. After one
Of the brothers--a noble lad about ten
years Of age--had had the skin cut off
his arms and shoulders and chest the
surgeon turned to the nurse and said,
"Nurse, where did you get that knife"
"Out Of the alcohol" she answered.
ibid you then place the blade In sterile
water before you gave 1t to me?" NO."
she answered.; II did not know you
wanted me to do it." "Then," said the
surgeon, I'VE have cut all the skin Off
from this boys body for nothing. Your
criminal ignorance is to blame for this
useless suffering. You should have
known enough to place that knife in
sterile water. You profess to be a
trained surgical nurse and a graduate
Of a nurses college"
Thus, yOu women about to become
trained nurses, 1t Is Of vital impor-
lance that you are intelligent and ell
cient. 1t is Of vital importance that
you should know the value of fresh air
and Of proper dietetics. 1t is of vital
Importance that you obey the laws Of
cleanliness and not allow your patient
to become infected. The ignorance OF
incompetent nurses has sent many n
patient to the grave. If you volunta-
rly enter your noble profession intel
lectually unqualified, you are commit
ting sin against the human race just
as surely as is the ignorant switcbman
who throws open the wrong switch
and sends the passenger train crashing
into the freight train which has been
sidetracked. II did not know" in the
sickroom is about rs criminal as IL did
not think" or IL forgot" In this age
of fine training schools for nurses 1t is
just as much every nurses business to
learn how to think right as it is to
learn how to do right.
Cure Soul and Body.
The ideal nurse should be Christian
woman. During the dark night, when
ing, wing and wing. beside the white
winged birth angel. or when in the
crisis Of pneumonia or typhoid the life
seems to be hanging by slender
thread. no intelligent nurse is so COM
petent to bend over the bed as the one
who believes in God and prayer and
the one who can ask for the divine
blessing when she pours out the medi-
cine or places the ice bag on the fe-
vered brow. A great deal of Florence
Nightingale's power over her patients
was due to the fact that she could tell
the physically helpless and the dying
about the Good Physician, who was
able to cure the sufferers soul as well
as his body. The Crimean soldiers had
better chance for getting well in this
world when Florence Nightingale's
mere presence made these rough men
stop their swearing and influenced
many Of them to turn their lips toward
heaven with a beseeching prayer. We
know that one of the beneficent tasks
peace of mind and Of heart. There
fore, is not the ideal nurse doubly fitted
for her work when she can impart to
the sufferers soul knowledge Of the
peace that passeth understanding?
Was that nurses practical useful
ness marred by her faith in God, about
whom DR.. Banks relates this thrilling
incident? During one Of the bloody
battles Of the civil war a wounded
youth was carried into the field hos
pital. He tossed upon his cot crying
and moaning: do not let me die! Oh,
am afraid to die! Oh, am afraid to
die! The Christian nurse walked up
to his side and placed her hands firmly
upon his shoulders. Then she said:
''Boy, if you have to die. don't be a
coward. Die like manw Then, after
she had quieted him little, she sat by
his side and began to tell him of that
Christ who was waiting to be his
Saviour, whether he lived or died
After awhile tears of penitence rolled
down the lads cheeks. He put his
faith in Christ. Then, with perfect
confidence and trust in the divine for.
giveness, like little child. he went to
sleep In his Saviour's arms. Do you
not feel that a Christian nurses prac
teal usefulness is enhanced when, dur.
ing the convalescing hours, she can
talk upon the higher. the spiritual
themes of life and send her patient
forth from the sickrOom with noble
aspirations to do right? You know as
well as I know that much of the sick
ness of this world is due to the direct
results of sin. Therefore, Is 1t not in
one sense essential for an ideal nurse
to be a Christian woman, SO that she
hay fight against the cause as well a.