Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1903-03-26
vou realize only too we'll that the words

reaching and overpowering meaning;
therefore, If you are going to enter this
profession In your own strength I 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
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 BRAY
err 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
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 case In which the
quick witted bravery Of a nurse saved
the life of 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 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: II would not cut
my throat with such dull knife as
that II l were you. Let me have it;
know where to get sharper one"
The delirious patient hesitated a mo-
ment. Then lie handed it to her. Then
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
many nurses have to possess in 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 the
moral courage to refuse to work for an
incompetent physician. Some time ago
one Of the training schools for nurses
gave this question in an examination
paper: "Supposing you positively knew
that il you obeyed the doctors or
ders to give to your patient n GER
tain medicine that act would kill the
patient, would you give IT." Most Of
the students answered NO" Some an
swered Yes" l myself believe that
neither answer fully covered the duty
in the case. II there should come a
time-and that time will come--whcn Il
competent nurse knows that her pa
tent 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
dcrs. She should do as an officer in the
United States army ought to do. AS
an officer in the army l must obey my
commanders orders. If do not, then
am punished, but if I know that my
commander is drunken incompetent
or is following a fatally wrong policy
then l should have the moral courage
to hand in my resignation or to protest
to the higher authorities. That is ex-
actly what certain officers in the Span
ish-American war did in reference to
their orders In Cuba. When the Wash
ington war department wanted to keep
the American army in Cuba after San
tiago had been captured, all the gener-
ais wrote public protest to the presi-
dent, and that protest brought the ar
my home. A trained nurse has no NOR
al right to work under an incompetent
physician. BY doing so she becomes a
party to his malpractice. She should
not disobey bis orders. Two wrongs
never make right She should refuse
to work for him at all
The ideal nurse should be a happy
woman. Happy! Why? Because. as
King Solomon wrote, "A merry heart
doeth good like medicine" The rip
ping laugh makes the croaking owls
and the bats and the verInin. which
love to fly or walk or crawl about in
the midnight gloom, flee for their lives.
Happy! Why? Because good cheer is
contagious as well as infectious. The
nurses smile In the sickroom has the
same curative qualities as the sun bath
or an alcoholic rub. And yet there are
eome nurses who go about their tasks
with the soured visage Of an undertake
er's assistant rather than with the ra-
diant face Of one who is trying to cheer
up those who are pain racked and de-
pressed. They never seem to realize
that true nurses facial expression
should be full of sunshine as we'll as
her fingers touch gentle and true.
But outside Of her duty toward the
patient there Is another reason why
the ideal nurse should be happy. Her
life is one Of self sacrifice. 1t is a life
which has in it n sweet consciousness
that she is trying to help her fellow
men. 1t Ia not a life of mere money
making. as many suppose. After the