The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-12-14

ceilence of the good samaritan, vowed to obedience and poverty,
 they have stripped themselves of all hope of emo1ument or reward
 such as the rest of us hold go dear land except the comforts of religion,
 their only satisfaction is the glory
 of deed well done.
 WhDIehearted Zeal
 When contemplate the cheer | fulhess and complete abandonment that mark the every day conduct
 of our hospital sisters, their en- l tI1usiasm and zeal over the most
 humdrum details of routine, the
 readiness and apparent joy that
 seems to dignify the monotonous
 and never ending grind of their
 work, I often think what a blessing | 1t would be, if these attributes could be more thoroughly ingrained into their pupil nurses. Of course,
 I concede that the example of our good sisters is of if1estimable value in a religious way, but the point am trying to make is, that gradu- ate nurse who could drown her. | self in her work in manner simi- lar to and somewhat to the same l degree, that comes so easy to the sisters, such a nurse would be a model of excellence and in a pure- lily material way would be immeas- ufably benefited. As I may have suggested before, in this great hu- man relations clinic, towards which ! the nation is fast moving those qualities that pertain to spiritual lenhancement, such. as broad sym pathy for ones nefghbor, a rational
 humility, a decent respect for hu- man equality, in short all the un- gainful aspirations and virtues that come so easy to our sisters, all these will be as needful to the fu- ture nurse as her bedside skill and technical knowledge.
 Infinite Pains
 I like to think of our sisters, in their careful training and prun- ing of their pupil nurses, in their eager solicitude for their welfare and success as somewhat like the Franciscan monks of old whose marvellous achievements in art and learning are the wonder of our present day. Forbidden the usual means of communication they wrought their great ideas in cathe- drals, books, sculptured marvels beautiful paintings and glorious music These devout anchorites made their prayer and sang their praise to God, in the imperishable models of truth and beauty that stand to this day as testimonials of their zeal and devotion.
 Among the many qualities that a graduate. nurse should possess, there is just one that would like to speak about and emphasize in a particular way.
 It is that wonderful capacity for taking infinite pains in the dis charge of all her duties and en- for taking pains is a natural abil- ity with most women and daresay it is one of the best reasons why the female is readily adapted for professional nursing.
 Along this line let me urge that you forever keep in mind that, in your endeavors in the sick room or in dealing with the sick, your problem is a sick person and not a case of sickness and that your principal concern should always be the person you are treating and not the disease.
 Attention
 The ailment may be grave or slight, never you mind. The pain 1 of a pin prick or the stabbing agony of appendicitis, a wet nap | kin or a postpartum hemorrhage, all alike call for the very best that is in you. Never forget that the measure of your fitness is often guaged by your attention to the minute details of commonplace case.
 I know a. nurse who worked to exhaustion over a delirious pa- tient and thinking him asleep left the room for a minute. When she returned she was aghast to learn that her patient had jumped through second story window which had been inadvertently left open.
 Before I conclude permit me to say a few words about infant and children nursing. It was the concept of some of the old philosophers and poets that an infant was born with all knowl. edge and was endowed with true sense of truth and beauty, and as it grew away from infancy it be- came nired in the evasions and ,deceits of life and in the crowd ing and crushing that attends bod fly growth lost most of it's spiritual
 beauty and sense of truth. Words
 worth had the same thing in mind when he wrote:
 Our birth is but a sleep and a for getting;
 The soul that rises with us, our
 life's star,
 Hath elsewhere had setting and
 cometh from afar, Not in utter nakedness, and not
 in entire forgetfulness,
 But trailing clouds of glory do we come
 From God who is our home. Sense of Truth I do not insist that you accept l this doctrine, but can assure you that if you use it as 8 sort of work ing hypothesis in dealing with | children your work will be much
 more agreeable both to yourself
 and the children.
 An infant has an unerring sense
 of truth and beauty, it is brave
 beyond comparison and it knows
 no danger for it knows no sin. Moo-moo, bow wow, meow is
 called child's prattle, but I leave | to you, whether it Is nearer the truth of the thing itself than when spoken of by grownups as COW, dog
 or cat. And surely the reactions
 of an infant to the wonders all
 around it, its gurgling laughter,
 crows of delight, it's instinctive
 quakes and shudderings are more consistent with truth than the eva
 sions and banalities of ordinary l polite conversation. If you doubt this watch an infant in the pres-
 ence of good music and beautiful flowers and contrast its rapturous
 delight with the darkening effects of raucous noises and discordant | shapes and colors.
 A child when it begins to walk | ia the holdest adventllrer and thH