The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-06-07

were once of necessity fatal, are con.
stantly treated with success. We yield
our loved ones to the firm but tender
care of the physician and his assist
ants, with confidence in their skill.
We know of the successful precautions
that will be taken to prevent septic
poisoning. We know that their suffer-
ings will be assuaged to the utmost
by the proper and careful administra-
ton of blessed pain-destroying anes-
thetics. We receive them back re-
stored to health, and we thank the
Great Giver of all Good for the mag
nifcent development of such a science,
and for the splendid characters who
devote their lives to it's pursuit. But,
without in any way detracting from
this wondrous science, it must in
truth be said that the profession of
medicine and surgery would be lame
and halt without the sister profession
of nursing. No one realizes this so
thoroughly as the skillful physician,
and the most skilled and successful
among the profession are the warmest
in their appreciation, admiration,
friendship and praise for their sisters
of the white cap and gown. Nursing,
as we now understand it, is a new
profession. The trained nurse of
today was something unknown and
scarce dreamed of fifty years ago.
Even great wealth could not command
the skill and training with which we
are now familiar. The seriously i'll
received only the utterly inadequate,
though we'll intentioned, care of rela-
tives and friends. Paid nurses were
too often of the illiterate and brutal
type depicted by Dickens, in his
characters of Betsy Prig and Sairey
Camp; nurses who administered
the patients medicine by the simple
process of clutching his windpipe to
make him gasp, and Immediately
pouring it down his throat.'' And
should such heroic measures result in
his turning faint, in order to revive
him, they would "bite PERSONS
thumb, or turn their fingers the wrong
way" said Mrs. Camp smiling.
Smiling! Think of a nurse who could
tell you such a thing, and say it
smiling! X + It is matter upon
which we, at Princeton, may we'll
congratulate ourselves, that we are
not obliged to go beyond the limits of
our own little city for the most modern
and thoroughly up-to-date hospital
arrangements; and that we have in
our own midst a nurses training
school that for efficiency and excel
lence of it's work cannot we'll be
beaten, even by the larger institutions
Of the great cities. We are proud of
the graduates presented to US today
by our local school. We are proud to
send them forth in the world as repre-
sentatives of Princeton institution.
We could wish they were more in num-
Der, but we remember that valuable
products frequently go in small
quantities; and it is characteristic of
the nurses profession "that many be
called, but few chosen" = \ X
Following Mr.. McMillan's address
was another overture by the orches-
ira, when Miss NJ. Inez Nicholson. of
the graduating class, gave an Grafton
entitled, ''The Ideal Nurse" The
Grafton showed careful preparation
and was highly instructive. Miss
Michelson's address is given in cur
tailed form below:
We all have our ideals of life,
Many of US from want of will power
and other human weaknesses fall far
below them. But no man or woman.
whatever his or her vocation in life
may have been, has ever risen above
them. Therefore, we realize the great
factor in the education of a nurse, as
in that of all lines of education, is
the building upon foundation of
broad principles with superstructure
of high ideals, and that the end of all
education is character. The nurse
should not only be a woman of heroic
fancy, high moral resolutions and
nobility of character, but one educated
in the broad school of philosophy and
human nature. The qualifications for
a good nurse demand rarer qualities
of heart and mind than are necessary
to insure success in any other field of
woman's work: Perfect physical
health, an intelligent and educated
mind, a pure and noble character
pleasant manners, ready sympathy,
tact, gentleness, patience, truthful
ness. All of these and more are
necessary. The ideal nurse should
also have self control. Her emotions.
her temper, her physical discomforts
and her fatigues must all be subdued.