The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-09-29
ATS HEAR FOULKE
LAUD NURSES WORK
AS five GRADUATE

Four hundred and seventy-five per-
sons thronged the Reid Memorial
church Wednesday evening when
diplomas were presented to five grad
uating nurses of Reid Memorial Hos
pital. The nurses were: Miss Irene
Burkhardt, Miss Joyce Miles, Miss
Thay Thurston, Miss Sara Shute, and
Miss Lucy Bousman.
There is no more dignifed and
honorable calling than that which you
have chosen" the Honorable William
Dudley FoulKe told the graduating
class in his address. There is no
more serviceable occupation than the
care of those who are in sickness he
continued, and the profession which
devotes itself to that task is entitled
to the highest respect of the world.
Common calamity is a great leveler,
and in times of emergency, as in the
late war, the duty of nursing is per-
formed as a patriotic service by the
most distinguished as well as the OBJ
scurest of women"
Interesting Calling.
st is not only highly honorable but
very interesting calling" the speaker
stated Indeed, all active and useful
life is interesting The women who
spend their lives in comparative idle
ness or in mere household occupations
do not and cannot develope their full
powers. 1t is only the active and de-
voted life which is really filed with
happiness.
There are few, if any, occupations
in which that activity and devotion
are greater than in nursing the SICK
1t is not an easy life, but it is fulI
life, and the full life is the only life
which is really satisfactory. You are
taking part in the work of profess
sion which represents better than any
other the progress of modern times
Profession Progresses
Mr.. Foulke said that, while in many
ways the world seems to be retro
grading, the medical profession has
made immense progress in the cure
and elimination of disease. The late
war, which had set us back in many
things, he pointed out, had pushed US
ahead in medical and surgical science.
Mr.. Foulke touched at some length
on the progress which medicine has
made in the last so years. In closing
he gave the illustration of Mira 5
vision of the bridge of human life.
The bridge consisted of arches three
score and ten, he said, with broken
arches beyond "Over it passed the
multitudes of earth and black cloud
hung over each end. At every arch
travellers fell through the invisible pit
falls beneath their feet Those pit
falls we're set thick at the entrance Of
the bridge, so that a great part OF
those who essayed to pass over it fell
at the outset. There were few who
reached the destined three score and
ten. and fewer still who tottered on
beyond il.
Gould this vision be cast forward
into the centuries to come, Mr. Foulke
said, lit would be greatly altered.
Many of the pitfalls will be closed
such at least" the speaker said lis
our dream of the final beneficent con.
summation of the medical art; Dis
ease will never be wholly banished
from the world, but it must hide in the
dark hooks and recesses which science
still fails to penetrate. Death will
come at last. but it will come shorn
of the terrors which attend the lop
ping off Of the young life which has
not yet borne its fruit.
Approaches Ideal
The science of medicine, like al
human things" Mr.. Foulke added
will never reach perfection. But Il
will draw closer and closer toward it:
great ideal and life under its benefi
cent influence will walk more securely
in the golden age which lies, not il
the past, but in the days that are t.
come"
The program opened with an organ
solo played by Miss Helen Nicholson
while the graduating class marched t
the front of the church and took thei
seats on the platform while other uni
formed nurses of the hospital fillet
the front pews of the church.
The invocation was delivered by tn
Rev. Mclean Work after which Mrs
Fred ]. Bartel sang 20 Lovely Night
accompanied by Miss Nicholson, AM
Miss Mary Jones played a violi,
number. Following the address by til
Hon. VIM. Dudley Foulke the nurse
we're presented their diplomas b
John L. Rupe, president of the boar
OF trustees, after they had repeate
the Florence Nightingale pledge afte
Clara B. Pound, R. ~, superintendent
OF the hospital.
The exercises closed with a due
by Mrs. Fred ]. Bartel and Ernest
Renk and the benediction by the Re,
MCLEAN Work