Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-03-27


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 I'm
sterile water. You profess TO be a
OF nurses college"
Thus, YOU women about to become
trained nurses, IL 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 a
patient to the grave. II you v0lunta-
rily enter your noble profession intel
lectually unqualified. you are commit
ting n sin against the human race just
as surely as is the Ignorant switchman
who throws open the wrong switch
and sends the passenger train crashing
into the freight train which has been
sidetracked. 81 did not know" in the
sickroom is about as criminal as 81 did
not think" or Il forgot" In this age
of fine training schools for nurses ii 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
the black winged death angel is hover
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 tine 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
a better chance for getting well I'm this
world when Florence Nigbtingale's
mere presence made these rough men
stop their swearing and influenced
many of them to turn their lips toward
heaven with beseeching prayer. We
know that one of the beneficent tasks
of nurse is to inspire patients with
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 married by her faith in God, about
whom DR.. Banks relates this thrilling
incident? During one of the bloody
battles of the civil war wounded
youth was carried into the field hos
pitaL He tossed upon his cot crying
and moaning: do not let me diet oh,
am afraid to diel oh. am afraid to
der The Christian nurse walked ND
TO his side and placed her hands firmly
upon bis shoulders. Then she said:
boy, If you have to die. don't be a
coward. Die like manw Then. after
she had quoted him n little. she sat by
his side and began TO tell him of that
Christ who was waiting to be his
Saviour. whether lie lived or died
After awhile tears OF penitence rolled
down the lads cheeks. He put bis
faith I'm Christ. Then. with perfect
confidence and trust I'm the divine for
glveness, like little child, he went to
sleep in his Saviour's arms. Do you
not feel that n 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 know that much OF the sick.
ness of this world is due to the direct
results OF sin. Therefore, is Il not in
one sense essential for an ideal nurse
TO be Christian woman. so that she
may hight against the cause as well as
the results OF many sicknesses?
why Nurses should be Chrfstfans
But there is another reason why the
nurse should be a Christian woman.
NO young girl who enters this noble
profession is morally and spiritually
safe unless she enters it 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 10
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. |
lis, more subtle and no less menacing.
or the nurses career. The breaking of |
the home ties, the silence OF the sick |
room, the evils OF the hospital, the I'M
principled lives OF many physicians |
ana 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 |
or warning which 1 speak have q far |
reaching and overpowering meaning: |
therefore, II you are going to enter this |
PROFESSION In your own strength ] beg |
OF you 10 stop before 1t 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
Tor usefulness; as one who is not d. |
yinely protected she is in weekly and |
daliy-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 centa- |
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 go with |
the physicians into the quarantined