,,florence ,,nightingale ,,to ,,her ,,nurses ,illustration3 colophon ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,limited ,,london ,,bombay ,,calcutta ,,melbourne ,,the ,,macmillan ,,company ,,new ,,york ,,boston ,,chicago ,,dallas ,,san ,,francisco ,,the ,,macmillan ,,co4 ,,of ,,canada1 ,,ltd4 ,,toronto ,illustration3 ,photo of ,florence ,nightingale with her signature ,florence ,nightingale to her ,nurses ,a ,,selection ,,from ,,miss ,,nightingale',s ,,addresses ,,to ,,probationers ,,and ,,nurses ,,of ,,the ,,nightingale ,,school ,,at ,,st4 ,,thomas',s ,,hospital ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,limited ,,st4 ,,martin',s ,,street1 ,,london #aiad ,,copyright ,,preface ,between #ahgb and #aijj ,miss ,nightingale used1 when she was able1 to send an annual letter or address to the probationer-nurses of the ,nightingale ,school at ,st4 ,thomas' ,hospital1 8and the nurses who have been trained there40#a ,these addresses were usually read aloud by ,sir ,harry ,verney1 the chairman of the ,nightingale ,fund1 in the presence of the probationers and nurses1 and a printed copy or a lithographed facsimile of the manuscript was given to each of the nurses present1 8for private use only40 ,a few also were written for the ,nightingale ,nurses serving in ,edinburgh4 ,the letters were not meant for publication1 and indeed are hardly suitable to be printed as a whole as there is naturally a good deal of repetition in them4 ,since ,miss ,nightingale's death1 however1 heads of nursing institutions and others have asked for copies of the addresses to be read or given to nurses1 and her family hope that the publication of a selection may do something to carry further the intention with which they were originally written4 ,perhaps1 too1 not only nurses1 but others1 may care to read some of these letters4 ,there is a natural desire to understand the nature of a great man's or woman's influence1 and we see in the addresses something at least of what constituted ,miss ,nightingale's power4 ,her earnest care for the nurses1 her intense desire that they should be 8perfect10 speak in every line4 ,they do not1 of course1 give full expression to the writer's mind4 ,they were written after she had reached middle age1 as from a teacher of long and wide experience to pupils much younger than herself--pupils some of whom had had very little schooling and did not easily read or write4 ,the want of even elementary education and of habits and traditions of discipline which grow in schools are difficulties less felt now than in #ahgb1 when ,miss ,nightingale's first letter to nurses was written4 ,at that time it was necessary in addressing such an audience to write very simply1 without learned allusions 7though some such appear in disguise7 and without too great severity and concentration of style4 ,the familiar words of the ,bible and hymns could appeal to the least learned among her hearers1 and never lost their power with ,miss ,nightingale herself4 ,but through the simple and popular style of the addresses something of a philosophical framework can be seen4 ,when ,miss ,nightingale hopes that her nurses are a step further on the way to becoming 8perfect as our ,father in ,heaven is perfect10 she has in mind the conception she had formed of a moral government of the world in which science1 activity1 and religion were one4 ,in her unpublished writings these ideas are dwelt on again and again4 ,they are clearly explained in her note on a prayer of ,st4 ,teresa3-- 8,we cannot really attach any meaning to perfect thought and feeling1 unless its perfection has been attained through life and work1 unless it is being realised in life and work4 ,it is in fact a contradiction to suppose ,perfection to exist except at work1 to exist without exercise1 without #8working out4' ,we cannot conceive of perfect wisdom1 perfect happiness1 except as having attained1 attained perfection through work4 ,the ideas of the ,impassible and of ,perfection are contradictions4444 ,this seems to be the very meaning of the word #8perfect'--#8made through'--made perfect through suffering--completed--working out2 and even the only idea we can form of the ,perfect ,perfect 444 #8,god in us1' #8grieving the ,holy ,spirit of ,god1' #8,my ,father worketh and ,i work'--these seem all indications of this truth4444 ,we cannot explain or conceive of ,perfection except as having worked through ,imperfection or sin4444 ,the ,eternal ,perfect almost pre-supposes the ,eternal ,imperfect40 ,hence her deep interest in the 8laws which register the connection of physical conditions with moral actions40 ,she quotes elsewhere a scientific writer who delighted in the consciousness that his books were to the best of his ability expounding the ways of ,god to man4 8,i can truly say10 she continues1 8that the feeling he describes has been ever present to my mind4 ,whether in having a drain cleaned out1 or in ventilating a hospital ward1 or in urging the principles of healthy construction of buildings1 or of temperance and useful occupation1 or of sewerage and water supply1 ,i always considered myself as obeying a direct command of ,god1 and it was #8with the earnestness and reverence due to' ,god's laws that ,i urged them4444 ,for mankind to create the circumstances which create mankind through these ,his ,laws is the #8way of ,god4'0 99 99 99 99 99 ,the letters have needed a little editing4 ,miss ,nightingale had great power of succinct and forcible statement on occasion1 but here she was not tabulating statistics nor making a businesslike summary for a ,minister in a hurry4 ,certain ideas had to be impressed1 in the first place orally1 on minds which were not all highly trained2 and for this she naturally wrote in a discursive way4 ,she did not correct the proofs4 ,as readers of her ,life will know1 she was burdened with other work and delicate health1 and she found any considerable revision difficult and uncongenial4 ,it has therefore been necessary to make a few emendations1 such as occasionally correcting an obvious misprint1 adding a missing word1 and taking out brackets1 stops1 and divisions which obscured the sense4 ,a few of the many repetitions and one or two passages only interesting at the time1 have also been left out4 ,the object has been to change as little as possible1 and ,i hope nothing has been done that ,miss ,nightingale would not have done herself if she had corrected the proofs4 ,the first two addresses give perhaps the fullest expression of the main theme to which she returns again and again4 ,others have been chosen chiefly for the sake of characteristic illustrations of the same theme4 ,,rosalind ,,nash4 ,i ,,london1 ,may1 #ahgb4 ,for us who ,nurse1 our ,nursing is a thing1 which1 unless in it we are making progress every year1 every month1 every week1 take my word for it we are going back4 ,the more experience we gain1 the more progress we can make4 ,the progress you make in your year's training with us is as nothing to what you must make every year after your year's training is over4 ,a woman who thinks in herself3 8,now ,i am a #8full' ,nurse1 a #8skilled' ,nurse1 ,i have learnt all that there is to be learnt03 take my word for it1 she does not know what a ,nurse is1 and she never will know2 she is gone back already4 ,conceit and ,nursing cannot exist in the same person1 any more than new patches on an old garment4 ,every year of her service a good ,nurse will say3 8,i learn something every day40 ,i have had more experience in all countries and in different ways of ,hospitals than almost any one ever had before 7there were no opportunities for learning in my youth such as you have had72 but if ,i could recover strength so much as to walk about1 ,i would begin all over again4 ,i would come for a year's training to ,st4 ,thomas' ,hospital under your admirable ,matron 7and ,i venture to add that she would find me the closest in obedience to all our rules71 sure that ,i should learn every day1 learn all the more for my past experience4 ,and then ,i would try to be learning every day to the last hour of my life4 8,and when his legs were cuttit off1 ,he fought upon his stumps10 says the ballad2 so1 when ,i could no longer learn by nursing others1 ,i would learn by being nursed1 by seeing ,nurses practise upon me4 ,it is all experience4 ,agnes ,jones1 who died as ,matron of the ,liverpool ,workhouse ,infirmary 7whom you may have heard of as 8,una071 wrote from the ,workhouse in the last year of her life3 8,i mean to stay at this post forty years1 ,god willing2 but ,i must come back to ,st4 ,thomas' as soon as ,i have a holiday2 ,i shall learn so much more0 7she had been a year at ,st4 ,thomas'7 8now that ,i have more experience40 ,when ,i was a child1 ,i remember reading that ,sir ,isaac ,newton1 who was1 as you know1 perhaps the greatest discoverer among the ,stars and the ,earth's wonders who ever lived1 said in his last hours3 8,i seem to myself like a child who has been playing with a few pebbles on the sea-shore1 leaving unsearched all the wonders of the great ,ocean beyond40 ,by the side of this put a ,nurse leaving her ,training ,school and reckoning up what she has learnt1 ending with--8,the only wonder is that one head can contain it all40 7,what a small head it must be then67 ,i seem to have remembered all through life ,sir ,isaac ,newton's words4 ,and to nurse--that is1 under ,doctor's orders1 to cure or to prevent sickness and maiming1 ,surgical and ,medical1--is a field1 a road1 of which one may safely say3 ,there is no end-no end in what we may be learning every day4#b ,i have sometimes heard3 8,but have we not reason to be conceited1 when we compare ourselves to 444 and 44480 7naming drinking1 immoral1 careless1 dishonest ,nurses74 ,i will not think it possible that such things can ever be said among us4 ,taking it even upon the worldly ground1 what woman among us1 instead of looking to that which is higher1 will of her own accord compare herself with that which is lower--with immoral women8 ,does not the ,apostle say3 8,i count not myself to have apprehended3 but this one thing ,i do1 forgetting those things which are behind1 and reaching forth unto those things which are before1 ,i press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of ,god in ,christ ,jesus02 and what higher 8calling0 can we have than ,nursing8 ,but then we must 8press forward02 we have indeed not 8apprehended0 if we have not 8apprehended0 even so much as this4 ,there is a little story about 8the ,pharisee0 known over all ,christendom4 ,should ,christ come again upon the earth1 would ,he have to apply that parable to us8 ,and now1 let me say a thing which ,i am sure must have been in all your minds before this3 if1 unless we improve every day in our ,nursing1 we are going back3 how much more must it be1 that1 unless we improve every day in our conduct as ,christian women1 followers of ,him by whose name we call ourselves1 we shall be going back8 ,this applies of course to every woman in the world2 but it applies more especially to us1 because we know no one calling in the world1 except it be that of teaching1 in which what we can do depends so much upon what we are4 ,to be a good ,nurse one must be a good woman2 or one is truly nothing but a tinkling bell4 ,to be a good woman at all1 one must be an improving woman2 for stagnant waters sooner or later1 and stagnant air1 as we know ourselves1 always grow corrupt and unfit for use4 ,is any one of us a stagnant woman8 ,let it not have to be said by any one of us3 ,i left this ,home a worse woman than ,i came into it4 ,i came in with earnest purpose1 and now ,i think of little but my own satisfaction and a good place4 ,when the head and the hands are very full1 as in ,nursing1 it is so easy1 so very easy1 if the heart has not an earnest purpose for ,god and our neighbour1 to end in doing one's work only for oneself1 and not at all--even when we seem to be serving our neighbours--not at all for them or for ,god4 ,i should hardly like to talk of a subject which1 after all1 must be very much between each one of us and her ,god1--which is hardly a matter for talk at all1 and certainly not for me1 who cannot be among you 7though there is nothing in the world ,i should so dearly wish71 but that ,i thought perhaps you might like to hear of things which persons in the same situation1 that is1 in different ,training ,schools on the ,continent1 have said to me4 ,i will mention two or three3 #a4 ,one said1 8,the greatest help ,i ever had in life was that we were taught in our ,training ,school always to raise our hearts to ,god the first thing on waking in the morning40 ,now it need hardly be said that we cannot make a rule for this2 a rule will not teach this1 any more than making a rule that the chimney shall not smoke will make the smoke go up the chimney4 ,if we occupy ourselves the last thing at night with rushing about1 gossiping in one another's rooms2 if our last thoughts at night are of some slight against ourselves1 or spite against another1 or about each other's tempers1 it is needless to say that our first thoughts in the morning will not be of ,god4 ,perhaps there may even have been some quarrel2 and if those who pretend to be educated women indulge in these irreligious uneducated disputes1 what a scandal before those less educated1 to whom an example1 not a stone of offence1 should be set6 8,a thousand irreligious cursed hours0 7as some poet says71 have not seldom1 in the lives of all but a few whom we may truly call ,saints upon earth1 been spent on some feeling of ill-will4 ,and can we expect to be really able to lift up our hearts the first thing in the morning to the ,god of 8good will towards men0 if we do this8 ,i speak for myself1 even more perhaps than for others4 #b4 ,another woman#c once said to me3--8,i was taught in my ,training ,school never to have those long inward discussions with myself1 those interminable conversations inside myself1 which make up so much more of our own thoughts than we are aware4 ,if it was something about my duties1 ,i went straight to my ,superiors1 and asked for leave or advice2 if it was any of those useless or ill-tempered thoughts about one another1 or those that were put over us1 we were taught to lay them before ,god and get the better of them1 before they got the better of us40 ,a spark can be put out while it is a spark1 if it falls on our dress1 but not when it has set the whole dress in flames4 ,so it is with an ill-tempered thought against another4 ,and who will tell how much of our thoughts these occupy8 ,i suppose1 of course1 that those who think themselves better than others are bent upon setting them a better example4 ,,ii ,and this brings me to something else4 7,i can always correct others though ,i cannot always correct myself47 ,it is about jealousies and punctilios as to ranks1 classes1 and offices1 when employed in one good work4 ,what an injury this jealous woman is doing1 not to others1 or not to others so much as to herself2 she is doing it to herself6 ,she is not getting out of her work the advantage1 the improvement to her own character1 the nobleness 7for to be useful is the only true nobleness7 which ,god has appointed her that work to attain4 ,she is not getting out of her work what ,god has given it her for2 but just the contrary4 7,nurses are not children1 but women2 and if they can't do this for themselves1 no one can for them47 ,i think it is one of ,shakespeare's heroes who says 8,i laboured to be wretched40 ,how true that is6 ,how true it is of some people all their lives2 and perhaps there is not one of us who could not say it with truth of herself at one time or other3 ,i laboured to be mean and contemptible and small and ill-tempered1 by being revengeful of petty slights4 ,a woman once said3 8,what signifies it to me that this one does me an injury or the other speaks ill of me1 if ,i do not deserve it8 ,the injury strikes ,god before it strikes me1 and if ,he forgives it1 why should not ,i8 ,i hope ,i love ,him better than ,i do myself40 ,this may sound fanciful2 but is there not truth in it8 ,what a privilege it is1 the work that ,god has given us ,nurses to do1 if we will only let ,him have ,his own way with us--a greater privilege to my mind than ,he has given to any woman 7except to those who are teachers71 because we can always be useful1 always 8ministering0 to others1 real followers of ,him who said that ,he came 8not to be ministered unto0 but to minister4 ,cannot we fancy ,him saying to us1 ,if any one thinks herself greater among you1 let her minister unto others4 ,this is not to say that we are to be doing other people's work4 ,quite the reverse4 ,the very essence of all good organisation is that everybody should do her 7or his7 own work in such a way as to help and not to hinder every one else's work4 ,but this being arranged1 that any one should say1 ,i am 8put upon0 by having to associate with so-and-so2 or by not having so-and-so to associate with2 or1 by not having such a post2 or1 by having such a post2 or1 by my ,superiors 8walking upon me10 or1 8dancing0 upon me 7you may laugh1 but such things have actually been said71 or etc41 etc41--this is simply making the peace of ,god impossible1 the call of ,god 7for in all work ,he calls us7 of none effect2 it is grieving the ,spirit of ,god2 it is doing our best to make all free-will associations intolerable4 ,in 8,religious ,orders0 this is provided against by enforcing blind1 unconditional obedience through the fears and promises of a ,church4 ,does it not seem to you that the greater freedom of secular ,nursing ,institutions1 as it requires 7or ought to require7 greater individual responsibility1 greater self-command in each one1 greater nobleness in each1 greater self-possession in patience--so1 that very need of self-possession1 of greater nobleness in each1 requires 7or ought to require7 greater thought in each1 more discretion1 and higher1 not less1 obedience8 ,for the obedience of intelligence1 not the obedience of slavery1 is what we want4 ,the slave obeys with stupid obedience1 with deceitful evasion of service1 or with careless eye service4 ,now1 we cannot suppose ,god to be satisfied or pleased with stupidity and carelessness4 ,the free woman in ,christ obeys1 or rather seconds all the rules1 all the orders given her1 with intelligence1 with all her heart1 and with all her strength1 and with all her mind4 8,not slothful in business2 fervent in spirit1 serving the ,lord40 ,and you who have to be ,head ,nurses1 or ,sisters of ,wards1 well know what ,i mean1 for you have to be ,ward ,mistresses as well as ,nurses2 and how can she 7the ,ward ,mistress7 command if she has not learnt how to obey8 ,if she cannot enforce upon herself to obey rules with discretion1 how can she enforce upon her ,ward to obey rules with discretion8 ,,iii ,and of those who have to be ,ward ,mistresses1 as well as those who are ,ward ,mistresses already1 or in any charge of trust or authority1 ,i will ask1 if ,sisters and ,head ,nurses will allow me to ask of them1 as ,i have so often asked of myself-- ,what is it that made our ,lord speak 8as one having authority08 ,what was the key to ,his 8authority08 ,is it anything which we1 trying to be 8like ,him10 could have--like ,him8 ,what are the qualities which give us authority1 which enable us to exercise some charge or control over others with 8authority08 ,it is not the charge or position itself1 for we often see persons in a position of authority1 who have no authority at all2 and on the other hand we sometimes see persons in the very humblest position who exercise a great influence or authority on all around them4 ,the very first element for having control over others is1 of course1 to have control over oneself4 ,if ,i cannot take charge of myself1 ,i cannot take charge of others4 ,the next1 perhaps1 is--not to try to 8seem0 anything1 but to be what we would seem4 ,a person in charge must be felt more than she is heard--not heard more than she is felt4 ,she must fulfil her charge without noisy disputes1 by the silent power of a consistent life1 in which there is no seeming1 and no hiding1 but plenty of discretion4 ,she must exercise authority without appearing to exercise it4 ,a person1 but more especially a woman1 in charge must have a quieter and more impartial mind than those under her1 in order to influence them by the best part of them and not by the worst4 ,we 7,sisters7 think that we must often make allowances for them1 and sometimes put ourselves in their place4 ,and ,i will appeal to ,sisters to say whether we must not observe more than we speak1 instead of speaking more than we observe4 ,we must not give an order1 much less a reproof1 without being fully acquainted with both sides of the case4 ,else1 having scolded wrongfully1 we look rather foolish4 ,the person in charge every one must see to be just and candid1 looking at both sides1 not moved by entreaties or1 by likes and dislikes1 but only by justice2 and always reasonable1 remembering and not forgetting the wants of those of whom she is in charge4 ,she must have a keen though generous insight into the characters of those she has to control4 ,they must know that she cares for them even while she is checking them2 or rather that she checks them because she cares for them4 ,a woman thus reproved is often made your friend for life2 a word dropped in this way by a ,sister in charge 7,i am speaking now solely to ,sisters and ,head ,nurses7 may sometimes show a probationer the unspeakable importance of this year of her life1 when she must sow the seed of her future nursing in this world1 and of her future life through eternity4 ,for although future years are of importance to train the plant and make it come up1 yet if there is no seed nothing will come up4 ,nay1 ,i appeal again to ,sisters' own experience1 whether they have not known patients feel the same of words dropped before them4 ,we had in one of the ,hospitals which we nurse a little girl patient of seven years old1 the child of a bad mother1 who used to pray on her knees 7when she did not know she was heard7 her own little prayer that she might not forget1 when she went away to what she already knew to be a bad life1 the good words she had been taught4 7,in this great ,london1 the time that children spend in ,hospital is sometimes the only time in their lives that they hear good words47 ,and sometimes we have had patients1 widows of journeymen for instance1 who had striven to the last to do for their children and place them all out in service or at work1 die in our ,hospitals1 thanking ,god that they had had this time to collect their thoughts before death1 and to die 8so comfortably0 as they expressed it4 ,but1 if a ,ward is not kept in such a spirit that patients can collect their thoughts1 whether it is for life or for death1 and that children can hear good words1 of course these things will not happen4 ,ward management is only made possible by kindness and sympathy4 ,and the mere way in which a thing is said or done to patient1 or probationer1 makes all the difference4 ,in a ,ward1 too1 where there is no order there can be no 8authority02 there must be noise and dispute4 ,hospital ,sisters are the only women who may be in charge really of men4 ,is this not enough to show how essential to them are those qualities which alone constitute real authority8 ,never to have a quarrel with another2 never to say things which rankle in another's mind2 never when we are uncomfortable ourselves to make others uncomfortable--for quarrels come out of such very small matters1 a hasty word1 a sharp joke1 a harsh order3 without regard to these things1 how can we take charge8 ,we may say1 so-and-so is too weak if she minds that4 ,but1 pray1 are we not weak in the same way ourselves8 ,i have been in positions of authority myself and have always tried to remember that to use such an advantage inconsiderately is--cowardly4 ,to be sharp upon them is worse in me than in them to be sharp upon me4 ,no one can trample upon others1 and govern them4 ,to win them is half1 ,i might say the whole1 secret of 8having charge40 ,if you find your way to their hearts1 you may do what you like with them2 and that authority is the most complete which is least perceived or asserted4 ,the world1 whether of a ,ward or of an ,empire1 is governed not by many words but by few2 though some1 especially women1 seem to expect to govern by many words--by talk1 and nothing else4 ,there is scarcely anything which interferes so much with charge over others as rash and inconsiderate talking1 or as wearing one's thoughts on one's cap4 ,there is scarcely anything which interferes so much with their respect for us as any want of simplicity in us4 ,a person who is always thinking of herself--how she looks1 what effect she produces upon others1 what others will think or say of her--can scarcely ever hope to have charge of them to any purpose4 ,we ought to be what we want to seem1 or those under us will find out very soon that we only seem what we ought to be4 ,if we think only of the duty we have in hand1 we may hope to make the others think of it too4 ,but if we are fidgety or uneasy about trifles1 can we hope to impress them with the importance of essential things8 ,there is so much talk about persons now-a-days4 ,everybody criticises everybody4 ,everybody seems liable to be drawn into a current1 against somebody1 or in favour of every one doing what she likes1 pleasing herself1 or getting promotion4 ,if any one gives way to all these distractions1 and has no root of calmness in herself1 she will not find it in any ,hospital or ,home4 8,all this is as old as the hills10 you will say4 ,yes1 it is as old as ,christianity2 and is not that the more reason for us to begin to practise it to-day8 8,to-day1 if ye will hear my voice10 says the ,father2 8,to-day ye shall be with me in ,paradise10 says the ,son2 and ,he does not say this only to the dying2 for ,heaven may begin here1 and 8,the kingdom of heaven is within10 ,he tells us4 ,most of you here present will be in a few years in charge of others1 filling posts of responsibility4 ,all are on the threshold of active life4 ,then our characters will be put to the test1 whether in some position of charge or of subordination1 or both4 ,shall we be found wanting8 ,unable to control ourselves1 therefore unable to control others8 ,with many good qualities1 perhaps1 but owing to selfishness1 conceit1 to some want of purpose1 some laxness1 carelessness1 lightness1 vanity1 some temper1 habits of self-indulgence1 or want of disinterestedness1 unequal to the struggle of life1 the business of life1 and ill-adapted to the employment of ,nursing1 which we have chosen for ourselves1 and which1 almost above all others1 requires earnest purpose1 and the reverse of all these faults8 ,thirty years hence1 if we could suppose us all standing here again passing judgment on ourselves1 and telling sincerely why one has succeeded and another has failed2 why the life of one has been a blessing to those she has charge of1 and another has gone from one thing to another1 pleasing herself1 and bringing nothing to good--what would we give to be able now to see all this before us8 ,yet some of those reasons for failure or success we may anticipate now4 ,because so-and-so was or was not weak or vain2 because she could or could not make herself respected2 because she had no steadfastness in her1 or on the contrary because she had a fixed and steady purpose2 because she was selfish or unselfish1 disliked or beloved2 because she could or could not keep her women together or manage her patients1 or was or was not to be trusted in ,ward business4 ,and there are many other reasons which ,i might give you1 or which you might give yourselves1 for the success or failure of those who have passed through this ,training ,school for the last eleven years4 ,can we not see ourselves as others see us8 ,for the 8world is a hard schoolmaster10 and punishes us without giving reasons1 and much more severely than any ,training ,school can1 and when we can no longer perhaps correct the defect4 ,good posts may be found for us2 but can we keep them so as to fill them worthily8 ,or are we but unprofitable servants in fulfilling any charge8 ,yet many of us are blinded to the truth by our own self-love even to the end4 ,and we attribute to accident or ill-luck what is really the consequence of some weakness or error in ourselves4 ,but 8can we not see ourselves as ,god sees us80 is a still more important question4 ,for while we value the judgments of our superiors1 and of our fellows1 which may correct our own judgments1 we must also have a higher standard which may correct theirs4 ,we cannot altogether trust them1 and still less can we trust ourselves4 ,and we know1 of course1 that the worth of a life is not altogether measured by failure or success4 ,we want to see our purposes1 and the ways we take to fulfil such charge as may be given us1 as they are in the sight of ,god4 8,thou ,god seest me40 ,and thus do we return to the question we asked before--how near can we come to ,him whose name we bear1 when we call ourselves ,christians8 ,how near to ,his gentleness and goodness--to ,his 8authority0 over others4#d ,and the highest 8authority0 which a woman especially can attain among her fellow women must come from her doing ,god's work here in the same spirit1 and with the same thoroughness1 that ,christ did1 though we follow him but 8afar off40 ,,iv ,lastly1 it is charity to nurse sick bodies well2 it is greater charity to nurse well and patiently sick minds1 tiresome sufferers4 ,but there is a greater charity even than these3 to do good to those who are not good to us1 to behave well to those who behave ill to us1 to serve with love those who do not even receive our service with good temper1 to forgive on the instant any slight which we may have received1 or may have fancied we have received1 or any worse injury4 ,if we cannot 8do good0 to those who 8persecute0 us--for we are not 8persecuted03 if we cannot pray 8,father1 forgive them1 for they know not what they do0--for none are nailing us to a cross3 how much more must we try to serve with patience and love any who use us spitefully1 to nurse with all our hearts any thankless peevish patients6 ,we ,nurses may well call ourselves 8blessed among women0 in this1 that we can be always exercising all these three charities1 and so fulfil the work our ,god has given us to do4 ,just as ,i was writing this came a letter from ,mrs4 ,beecher ,stowe1 who wrote ,uncle ,tom's ,cabin4 ,she has so fallen in love with the character of our ,agnes ,jones 78,una07#e which she had just read1 that she asks about the progress of our work1 supposing that we have many more ,unas4 ,they wish to 8organise a similar movement0 in ,america--a 8movement0 of ,unas--what a great thing that would be6 ,shall we all try to be ,unas8 ,she ends1 as ,i wish to end1--8,yours1 in the dear name that is above every other10 ,,florence ,,nightingale4 ,,ii ,may #bc1 #ahgc4 ,,my ,,dear ,,friends1--,another year has passed over us4 ,nearly though not quite all of us who were here at this time last year have gone their several ways1 to their several posts2 some at ,st4 ,thomas'1 some to ,edinburgh1 some to ,highgate4 ,nearly all are1 ,i am thankful to say1 well1 and ,i hope we may say happy4 ,some are gone altogether4 ,may this year have set us all one step farther1 one year on our way to becoming 8perfect as our ,father in ,heaven is perfect10 as it ought to have done4 ,some differences have been made in the ,school by our good ,matron1 who toils for us early and late--to bring us on the way1 we hope1 towards becoming 8perfect40 ,these differences--,i leave it to you to say1 improvements--are as you see3 our new ,medical ,instructor having vigorously taken us in hand and giving us his invaluable teaching 7#a7 in ,medical and ,surgical ,nursing1 7#b7 in the elements of ,anatomy4 ,i need not say3 ,let us profit4 ,next1 in order to give more time and leisure to less tired bodies1 the ,special ,probationers have two afternoons in the week off duty for the course of reading which our able ,medical ,instructor has laid down4 ,and the ,nurse-,probationers have all one morning and one afternoon in the week to improve themselves1 in which our kind ,home ,sister assists them by classes4 ,and1 again1 ,i need not say how important it is to take the utmost advantage of this4 ,do not let the world move on and leave us in the wrong4 ,now that1 by the law of the land1 every child between five and thirteen must be at school1 it will be a poor tale1 indeed1 in their after life for ,nurses who cannot read1 write1 spell1 and cypher well and correctly1 and read aloud easily1 and take notes of the temperature of cases1 and the like4 ,only this last week1 ,i was told by one of our own ,matrons of an excellent ,nurse of her own to whom she would have given a good place1 only that she could neither read nor write well enough for it4 ,and may ,i tell you1 not for envy1 but for a generous rivalry1 that you will have to work hard if you wish ,st4 ,thomas' ,training ,school to hold its own with other ,schools rising up4 99 99 99 99 99 ,let us be on our guard against the danger1 not exactly of thinking too well of ourselves 7for no one consciously does this71 but of isolating ourselves1 of falling into party spirit--always remembering that1 if we can do any good to others1 we must draw others to us by the influence of our characters1 and not by any profession of what we are--least of all1 by a profession of ,religion4 ,and this1 by the way1 applies peculiarly to what we are with our patients4 ,least of all should a woman try to exercise religious influence with her patients1 as it were1 by a ministry1 a chaplaincy4 ,we are not chaplains4 ,it is what she is in herself1 and what comes out of herself1 out of what she is--that exercise a moral or religious influence over her patients4 ,no set form of words is of any use4 ,and patients are so quick to see whether a ,nurse is consistent always in herself--whether she is what she says to them4 ,and if she is not1 it is no use4 ,if she is1 of how much use1 unawares to herself1 may the simplest word of soothing1 of comfort1 or even of reproof--especially in the quiet night--be to the roughest patient1 who is there from drink1 or to the still innocent child1 or to the anxious toil-worn mother or husband6 ,but if she wishes to do this1 she must keep up a sort of divine calm and high sense of duty in her own mind4 ,christ was alone1 from time to time1 in the wilderness or on mountains4 ,if ,he needed this1 how much more must we8 ,quiet in our own rooms 7and a room of your own is specially provided for each one here72 a few minutes of calm thought to offer up the day to ,god3 how indispensable it is1 in this ever increasing hurry of life6 ,when we live 8so fast10 do we not require a breathing time1 a moment or two daily1 to think where we are going8 ,at this time1 especially1 when we are laying the foundation of our after life1 in reality the most important time of all4 99 99 99 99 99 ,and ,i am not at all saying that our patients have everything to learn from us4 ,on the contrary1 we can1 many a time1 learn from them1 in patience1 in true religious feeling and hope4 ,one of our ,sisters told me that she had often learnt more from her patients than from any one else4 ,and ,i am sure ,i can say the same for myself4 ,the poorest1 the meanest1 the humblest patient may enter into the kingdom of ,heaven before the cleverest of us1 or the most conceited4 ,for1 in another world1 many1 many of the conditions of this world must be changed4 ,do we think of this8 99 99 99 99 99 ,we have been1 almost all of us1 taught to pray in the days of our childhood4 ,is there not something sad and strange in our throwing this aside when most required by us1 on the threshold of our active lives8 ,life is a shallow thing1 and more especially ,hospital life1 without any depth of religion4 ,for it is a matter of simple experience that the best things1 the things which seem as if they most would make us feel1 become the most hardening if not rightly used4 ,and may ,i say a thing from my own experience8 ,no training is of any use1 unless one can learn 7#a7 to feel1 and 7#b7 to think out things for oneself4 ,and if we have not true religious feeling and purpose1 ,hospital life--the highest of all things with these--without them becomes a mere routine and bustle1 and a very hardening routine and bustle4 ,one of our past ,probationers said3 8,our work must be the first thing1 but ,god must be in it40 8,and ,he is not in it10 she added4 ,but let us hope that this is not so4 ,i am sure it was not so with her4 ,let us try to make it not so with any of us4 ,there are three things which one must have to prevent this degeneration in oneself4 ,and let each one of us1 from time to time1 tell1 not any one else1 but herself1 whether she has these less or more than when she began her training here4 ,one is the real1 deep1 religious feeling and strong1 personal1 motherly interest for each one of our patients4 ,and you can see this motherly interest in girls of twenty-one--we have had ,sisters of not more than that age who had it--and not see it in women of forty4 ,the second is a strong practical 7intellectual1 if you will7 interest in the case1 how it is going on4 ,this is what makes the true ,nurse4 ,otherwise the patients might as well be pieces of furniture1 and we the housemaids1 unless we see how interesting a thing ,nursing is4 ,this is what makes us urge you to begin to observe the very first case you see4 ,the third is the pleasures of administration1 which1 though a fine word1 means only learning to manage a ,ward well3 to keep it fresh1 clean1 tidy2 to keep up its good order1 punctuality2 to report your cases with absolute accuracy to the ,surgeon or ,physician1 and first to report them to the ,sister2 and to do all that is contained in the one word1 ,ward-management3 to keep wine-lists1 diet-lists1 washing-lists--that is ,sister's work--and to do all the things no less important which constitute ,nurse's work4 ,but it would take a whole book for me to count up these2 and ,i am going back to the first thing that we were saying3 without deep religious purpose how shallow a thing is ,hospital life1 which is1 or ought to be1 the most inspiring6 ,for1 as years go on1 we shall have others to train2 and find that the springs of religion are dried up within ourselves4 ,the patients we shall always have with us while we are ,nurses4 ,and we shall find that we have no religious gift or influence with them1 no word in season1 whether for those who are to live1 or for those who are to die1 no1 not even when they are in their last hours1 and perhaps no one by but us to speak a word to point them to the ,eternal ,father and ,saviour2 not even for a poor little dying child who cries3 8,nursey1 tell me1 oh1 why is it so dark80 ,then we may feel painfully about them what we do not at present feel about ourselves4 ,we may wish1 both for our patients and ,probationers1 that they had the restraints of the 8fear0 of the most ,holy ,god1 to enable them to resist the temptation4 ,we may regret that our own ,probationers seem so worldly and external4 ,and we may perceive too late that the deficiency in their characters began in our own4 ,for1 to all good women1 life is a prayer2 and though we pray in our own rooms1 in the ,wards and at ,church1 the end must not be confounded with the means4 ,we are the more bound to watch strictly over ourselves2 we have not less but more need of a high standard of duty and of life in our ,nursing2 we must teach ourselves humility and modesty by becoming more aware of our own weakness and narrowness1 and liability to mistake as ,nurses and as ,christians4 ,mere worldly success to any nobler1 higher mind is not worth having4 ,do you think ,agnes ,jones1 or some who are now living amongst us1 cared much about worldly success8 ,they cared about efficiency1 thoroughness4 ,but that is a different thing4 ,we must condemn many of our own tempers when we calmly review them4 ,we must lament over training opportunities which we have lost1 must desire to become better women1 better ,nurses4 ,that we all of us must feel4 ,and then1 and not till then1 will life and work among the sick become a prayer4 ,for prayer is communion or co-operation with ,god3 the expression of a life among his poor and sick and erring ones4 ,but when we speak with ,god1 our power of addressing ,him1 of holding communion with ,him1 and listening to ,his still small voice1 depends upon our will being one and the same with ,his4 ,is ,he our ,god1 as ,he was ,christ's8 ,to ,christ ,he was all1 to us ,he seems sometimes nothing4 ,can we retire to rest after our busy1 anxious day in the ,wards1 with the feeling3 8,lord1 into ,thy hands ,i commend my spirit10 and those of such and such anxious cases2 remembering1 too1 that in the darkness1 8,thou ,god seest me10 and seest them too8 ,can we rise in the morning1 almost with a feeling of joy that we are spared another day to do ,him service with ,his sick8-- ,awake1 my soul1 and with the sun1 ,thy daily stage of duty run4 ,does the thought ever occur to us in the course of the day1 that we will correct that particular fault of mind1 or heart1 or temper1 whether slowness1 or bustle1 or want of accuracy or method1 or harsh judgments1 or want of loyalty to those under whom or among whom we are placed1 or sharp talking1 or tale-bearing or gossiping--oh1 how common1 and how old a fault1 as old as ,solomon6 8,he that repeateth a matter1 separateth friends20 and how can people trust us unless they know that we are not tale-bearers1 who will misrepresent or improperly repeat what is said to us8 ,shall we correct this1 or any other fault1 not with a view to our success in life1 or to our own credit1 but in order that we may be able to serve our ,master better in the service of the sick8 ,or do we ever seek to carry on the battle against light behaviour1 against self-indulgence1 against evil tempers 7the 8world10 the 8flesh10 and the 8devil071 and the temptations that beset us2 conscious that in ourselves we are weak1 but that there is a strength greater than our own1 8which is perfected in weakness08 ,do we think of ,god as the ,eternal1 into whose hands our patients1 whom we see dying in the ,wards1 must resign their souls--into whose hands we must resign our own when we depart hence1 and ought to resign our own as entirely every morning and night of our lives here2 with whom do live the spirits of the just made perfect1 with whom do really live1 ought really as much to live1 our spirits here1 and who1 in the hour of death1 in the hour of life1 both for our patients and ourselves1 must be our trust and hope8 ,we would not always be thinking of death1 for 8we must live before we die10 and life1 perhaps1 is as difficult as death4 ,yet the thought of a time when we shall have passed out of the sight and memory of men may also help us to live2 may assist us in shaking off the load of tempers1 jealousies1 prejudices1 bitternesses1 interests which weigh us down2 may teach us to rise out of this busy1 bustling ,hospital world1 into the clearer light of ,god's ,kingdom1 of which1 indeed1 this ,home is or might be a part1 and certainly and especially this ,hospital4 ,this is the spirit of prayer1 the spirit of conversation or communion with ,god1 which leads us in all our ,nursing silently to think of ,him1 and refer it to ,him4 ,when we hear in the voice of conscience ,his voice speaking to us2 when we are aware that ,he is the witness of everything we do1 and say1 and think1 and also the source of every good thing in us2 and when we feel in our hearts the struggle against some evil temper1 then ,god is fighting with us against envy and jealousy1 against selfishness and self-indulgence1 against lightness1 and frivolity1 and vanity1 for 8our better self against our worse self40 ,and thus1 too1 the friendships which have begun at this ,school may last through life1 and be a help and strength to us4 ,for may we not regard the opportunity given for acquiring friends as one of the uses of this place8 and ,christian friendship1 in uniting us to a friend1 as uniting us at the same time to ,christ and ,god8 ,christ called ,his disciples friends1 adding the reason1 8because ,he had told them all that ,he had heard of the ,father10 just as women tell their whole mind to their friends4 ,but we all know that there are dangers and disappointments in friendships1 especially in women's friendships1 as well as joys and sorrows4 ,a woman may have an honourable desire to know those who are her superiors in education1 in the ,school1 or in ,nursing4 ,or she may allow herself to drop into the society of those beneath her1 perhaps because she is more at home with them1 and is proud or shy with her superiors4 ,we do not want to be judges of our fellow-women 7for who made thee to differ from another871 but neither can we leave entirely to chance one of the greatest interests of human life4 ,true friendship is simple1 womanly1 unreserved3 not weak1 or silly1 or fond1 or noisy1 or romping1 or extravagant1 nor yet jealous and selfish1 and exacting more than woman's nature can fairly give1 for there are other ties which bind women to one another besides friendship2 nor1 again1 intrusive into the secrets of another woman1 or curious about her circumstances2 rejoicing in the presence of a friend1 and not forgetting her in her absence4 ,two ,probationers or ,nurses going together have not only a twofold1 but a fourfold strength1 if they learn knowledge or good from one another2 if they form the characters of one another2 if they support one another in fulfilling the duties and bearing the troubles of a ,nursing life1 if their friendship thus becomes fellow-service to ,god in their daily work4 ,they may sometimes rejoice together over the portion of their training which has been accomplished1 and take counsel about what remains to be done4 ,they will desire to keep one another up to the mark2 not to allow idleness or eccentricity to spoil their time of training4 ,but some of our youthful friendships are too violent to last3 they have in them something of weakness or sentimentalism2 the feeling passes away1 and we become ashamed of them4 ,or at some critical time a friend has failed to stand by us1 and then it is useless to talk of 8auld lang syne40 ,only still let us remember that there are duties which we owe to the 8extinct0 friend 7who perhaps on some fanciful ground has parted company from us71 that we should never speak against her1 or make use of our knowledge about her4 ,for the memory of a friendship is like the memory of a dead friend1 not lightly to be spoken of4 ,and then there is the 8,christian or ideal friendship40 ,what others regard as the service of the sick she may recognise as also the service of ,god2 what others do out of compassion for their maimed fellow-creatures she may do also for the love of ,christ4 ,feeling that ,god has made her what she is1 she may seek to carry on her work in the ,hospital as a fellow-worker with ,god4 ,remembering that ,christ died for her1 she may be ready to lay down her life for her patients4 8,they walked together in the house of ,god as friends0--that is1 they served ,god together in doing good to ,his sick4 ,for if ever a place may be called the 8house of ,god10 it is a ,hospital1 if it be what it should be4 ,and in old times it was called the 8house0 or the 8hotel0 of ,god4 ,the greatest and oldest ,central ,hospital of ,paris1 where is the ,mother-house of the principal ,order of ,nursing ,sisters1 is to this day called the ,htel ,dieu1 the 8,house of ,god40 ,there may be some amongst us who1 like ,st4 ,paul1 are capable of feeling a natural interest in the spiritual welfare of our fellow-probationers--or1 if you like the expression better1 in the improvement of their characters--that they may become more such as ,god intended them to be in this ,hospital and ,home4 ,for 8,christian friendship is not merely the friendship of equals1 but of unequals0--the love of the weak and of those who can make no return1 like the love of ,god towards the unthankful and the evil4 ,it is not a friendship of one or two but of many4 ,it proceeds upon a different rule3 8,love your enemies40 ,it is founded upon that charity 8which is not easily offended1 which beareth all things1 believeth all things1 hopeth all things1 endureth all things40 ,such a friendship we may be hardly able to reconcile either with our own character or with common prudence4 ,yet this is the 8,christian ideal in the ,gospel40 ,and here and there may be found some one who has been inspired to carry out the ideal in practice4 8,to live in isolation is to be weak and unhappy--perhaps to be idle and selfish40 ,there is something not quite right in a woman who shuts up her heart from other women4 ,this may seem to be telling you what you already know1 and bidding you do what you are already doing4 ,well1 then1 shall we put the matter another way8 ,make such friendships as you will look back upon with pleasure in later life1 and be loyal and true to your friends1 not going from one to another4 ,the friends thou hast1 and their adoption tried1 ,grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel2 ,but do not dull thy palm with entertainment ,of each new-hatched1 unfledged comrade4 ,and do not expect more of them than friends can give1 or weary them with demands for sympathy2 and do not let the womanliness of friendship be impaired by any silliness or sentimentalism2 or allow hearty and genial good-will to degenerate into vulgarity and noise4 ,and as was once truly said1 friendship perhaps appears best1 as it did in ,st4 ,paul1 in his manner of rebuking those who had erred1 8transferring their faults in a figure to ,apollos and to himself40 8,no one knew how to speak the truth in love like him40 ,it has been said of ,romans xii43 8,what rule of manners can be better than this chapter80 8,she that giveth1 let her do it with simplicity02 that is1 let us do our acts of ,nursing and kindness as if we did not make much of them1 as unto the ,lord and not to men4 8,like-minded one towards another02 that is1 we should have the same thoughts and feelings with others4 8,rejoicing with them that rejoice1 and weeping with them that weep02 going out of ourselves and entering into the thoughts of others4 ,and have we ,st4 ,paul's extraordinary regard for the feelings of others8 ,he was never too busy to think of these4 8,if meat make my brother to offend1 ,i will eat no more meat while the world standeth10 he says1 though he well knew such scruples were really superstitions4 ,if the spirit of these words could find a way to our women's hearts1 we might be able to say1 8,see how these ,christians 7,nurses7 love one another60 ,then the courtesy we owe1 one woman to another3 8for the happiness and the good0 of our work and our ,school is not simply 8made up of great duties and virtues1 nor the evil of the opposite40 ,but both seem to consist also in a number of small particulars1 which1 small as they are1 have a great effect on the tone and character of our ,school1 introducing light or darkness into the 8,home10 sweetness or bitterness into our intercourse with one another4 ,and1 as to our ,wards3 ,christ1 we may be sure1 did not lose authority1 or dignity and refinement1 8even in the company of publicans and harlots10 just as we may observe in the ,wards1 that there are a few of us whose very refinement makes them do the coarsest and roughest things there with simplicity4 ,a ,sister of ours once remarked this of one of her ,probationers 7who was not a lady in the common sense of the word1 but she was the truest gentlewoman in ,christ's sense71 that she was too refined 7most people would have said1 to do the indelicate work of the ,wards1 but she said7 to see indelicacy in doing the nastiest thing2 and so did it all well1 without thinking of herself1 or that men's eyes were upon her4 ,that is real dignity--the dignity which ,christ had--on which no man can intrude1 yet combined with the greatest gentleness and simplicity of life4 ,,ii ,and let me say a word about self-denial3 because1 as we all know1 there can be no real ,nursing without self-denial4 ,we know the story of the ,roman soldier1 above fourteen hundred years ago1 who1 entering a town in ,france with his regiment1 saw a sick man perishing with cold by the wayside--there were no ,hospitals then--and1 having nothing else to give1 drew his sword1 cut his own cloak in half1 and wrapped the sick man in half his cloak4 ,it is said that a dream visited him1 in which he found himself admitted into heaven1 and ,christ saying1 8,martin hath clothed me with this garment03 the dream1 of course1 being a remembrance of the verse1 8,when saw we thee sick or in prison1 and came unto thee80 and of the answer1 8,inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren1 ye have done it unto me40 ,but whether the story of the dream be true or not1 this ,roman soldier1 converted to ,christianity1 became afterwards one of the greatest bishops of the early ages1 ,martin of ,tours4 ,we are not called upon to feed our patients with our own dinners1 or to dress them with our own clothes4 ,we are comfortable1 and cannot make ourselves uncomfortable on purpose4 ,but we can learn ,sick ,cookery for our ,patients1 we can give up spending our money in foolish dressy ways1 and thus squandering what we ought to lay by for ourselves or our families4 ,on one of the severest winter days in the late war between ,france and ,germany1 an immense detachment1 many thousands1 of wretched ,french prisoners were passing through the poorest streets of one of the largest and poorest ,german towns on the way to the prisoners' camp4 ,every door in this poor 8,east ,end0 opened2 not one remained closed2 and out of every door came a poor ,german woman1 carrying in her hand the dinner or supper she was cooking for herself1 her husband1 or children2 often all she had in the house was in her hands4 ,and this she crammed into the hands of the most sickly-looking prisoner as he passed by1 often into his mouth1 as he sank down exhausted in the muddy street4 ,and the good-natured ,german escort1 whose business it was to bring these poor ,french to their prison1 turned away their heads1 and let the women have their way1 though it was late1 and they were weary too4 ,before the prisoners had been the first hour in their prison1 six had lain down in the straw and died4 ,but how many lives had been saved that night by the timely food of these good women1 giving all they had1 not of their abundance1 but of their poverty1 ,god only knows1 not we4 ,this was told by an ,englishman who was by and saw it2 one of our own 8,aid ,committee40 ,and at a large ,german station1 which almost all the prisoners' trains passed through1 a lady went every night during all that long1 long1 dreadful winter1 and for the whole night1 to feed1 and warm1 and comfort1 and often to receive the last dying words of the miserable ,french prisoners1 as they arrived in open trucks1 some frozen to the bottom1 some only as the dead1 others to die in the station1 all half-clad and starving4 ,some had been nine days and nights in these open trucks2 many had been twenty-four hours without food4 ,night after night as these long1 terrible trainsful dragged their slow length into the station1 she kneeled on its pavement1 supporting the dying heads1 receiving their last messages to their mothers2 pouring wine or hot milk down the throats of the sick2 dressing the frost-bitten limbs2 and1 thank ,god1 saving many4 ,many were carried to the prisoners' hospital in the town1 of whom about two-thirds recovered4 ,every bit of linen she had went in this way4 ,she herself contracted incurable ill-health during these fearful nights4 ,but thousands were saved by her means4 ,she is my friend4#f ,she came and saw me here after this2 and it is from her lips ,i heard the story4 ,smallpox and typhus raged among the prisoners1 most of whom were quite boys4 ,many were wounded2 half were frost-bitten4 ,sometimes they would snatch at all she brought2 but sometimes they would turn away their dying heads from the tempting hot wine1 and gasp out1 8,thank you1 madam2 give it to him1 who wants it more than ,i40 ,or1 8,i'm past help2 love to mother40 ,we have not to give of our own to our sick4 ,but shall we the less give them our all--that is1 all our hearts and minds8 and reasonable service8 ,suppose we dedicated this 8,school0 to ,him1 to the ,divine ,charity and ,love which said1 8,inasmuch as ye do it unto one of the least of these my brethren0 7and ,he calls all our patients--all of us1 ,his brothers and sisters7 8ye do it unto me0--oh1 what a 8,kingdom of ,heaven0 this might be6 ,then1 indeed1 the dream of ,martin of ,tours1 the soldier and ,missionary-,bishop1 would have come true6 ,,iii ,may ,i take this opportunity of saying what ,i think really very much concerns us8 ,first of all1 that you have1 or might have1 directly and indirectly1 a great deal to do with maintaining a supply of good candidates to this ,school4 ,you know whether you have been happy here or not2 you know whether you have had opportunities given you here of training and self-improvement4 ,many1 very many of our old ,matrons and ,nurses have told me that their time as probationers with us was 8the happiest time of their lives40 ,it might be so with all1 though perhaps all do not think so now4 ,it is in your power to assist the ,school most materially in obtaining fresh and worthy recruits4 ,there is hardly one of you who has not friends or acquaintances of her own4 ,you ought to advertise us4 ,we ought not to have to put one advertisement in the newspapers4 ,if you think this is a worthy life1 why do you not bring others to it8 ,i tried to do my part4 ,when ,agnes ,jones died1 though my heart was breaking1 ,i put an article in ,good ,words1 such as ,i knew she would have wished1 in all but the mention of herself2 and for years her dear memory brought aspirants to the work in our ,schools1 or others' ,schools4 ,to reform the ,nursing of all the ,hospitals and ,workhouse ,infirmaries in the world1 and to establish ,district ,nursing among the sick poor at home1 too1 as at ,liverpool--is this not an object most worthy of the co-operation of all civilised people8 ,in the last ten years1 thank ,god1 numerous ,training ,schools for ,nurses have grown up1 resolved to unite in putting a stop to such a thing as drunken1 immoral1 and inefficient ,nursing4 ,but all make the same complaint2 while the outcry of 8employment for women0 continues1 why does not this most womanly employment for all good women become more sought after8 ,i hope to hear that my old friends in ,st4 ,thomas' have each done their part2 and ,i feel quite sure that if it is once placed before them1 as a thing they ought to do1 they will be found in the front4 ,you who are assembled in this room1 and who are each connected with some circle1 directly or indirectly1 may do a good work for the civilisation of the ,workhouses and ,hospitals of the world4 ,if you inform yourselves on the subject1 and if you set yourselves to work1 to deal with it1 as we do with any other great evil that tortures helpless people1 you will be able to act directly upon your friends outside1 and ultimately get up an amount of public opinion among women capable of becoming ,nurses1 which will be of the greatest possible aid to our efforts in improving ,hospital and ,workhouse ,nursing4 ,every one can help--every one--better than if she were a 8newspaper10 better than if she were a 8public meeting40 ,i believe that within a few years you can make it a thing that will be a disgrace to any ,hospital or even ,workhouse to be suspected of bad ,nursing1 or to any district 7in towns1 at any rate7 not to have a good ,district ,nurse to nurse the sick poor at home4 ,those who have made the right use of all the training that came in their way in this ,school1 if they would write to their own homes for the information of their friends outside1 an immense help on its way could be given to the work we have all so much at heart4 ,and ,i look upon it as a certainty that you will each be able1 in one way or another1 whether purposely or almost unconsciously1 to take a great part in reforming the ,hospital and ,workhouse ,nursing systems of our country1 perhaps of our colonies and dependencies1 and perhaps of the world4 ,,iv ,may ,i pay ourselves even the least little compliment1 as to our being a little less conceited than last year8 ,were we not as conceited in #ahgb as it was possible to be8 ,you shall tell4 ,are we1 in #ahgc1 rather less so8 ,and1 without having any one particularly in my head--for what ,i am going to ask is in fact a truism--is not our conceit always in exact proportion to our ignorance8 ,for those who really know something know how little it is4 ,would that this could be a 8secret0 among us6 ,but1 unfortunately1 is not our name 8up0 and 8abroad0 for conceit8 ,and has it not even been said 78tell it not in ,gath073 8,and these conceited #8,nightingale' women scarcely know how to read and write80 ,now let no one look to see our blushes4 ,but shall we not get rid of this which makes us ridiculous as fast as we can8 ,but enough of this joke2 let us be serious1 remembering that the greatest trust which is committed to any woman of us all is1 herself2 and that she is living in the presence of ,god as well as of her fellow-women4 ,to know whether we know our ,nursing business or not is a great result of training2 and to think that we know it when we do not is as great a proof of want of training4 ,the world1 more especially the ,hospital world1 is in such a hurry1 is moving so fast1 that it is too easy to slide into bad habits before we are aware4 ,and it is easier still to let our year's training slip away without forming any real plan of training ourselves4 ,for1 after all1 all that any training is to do for us is3 to teach us how to train ourselves1 how to observe for ourselves1 how to think out things for ourselves4 ,don't let us allow the first week1 the second week1 the third week to pass by--,i will not say in idleness1 but in bustle4 ,begin1 for instance1 at once making notes of your cases4 ,from the first moment you see a case1 you can observe it4 ,nay1 it is one of the first things a ,nurse is strictly called upon to do3 to observe her sick4 ,mr4 ,croft has taught you how to take notes2 and you have now1 every one of you1 two leisure times a week to work up your notes4 ,but give but one-quarter of an hour a day to jot down1 even in words which no one can understand but yourself1 the progress or change of two or three individual cases1 not to forget or confuse them4 ,you can then write them out at your two leisure times4 ,to those who have not much education1 ,i am sure that our kind ,home ,sister1 or the ,special ,probationer in the same ,ward1 or nearest in any way1 will give help4 ,the race is not always to the swift1 nor the battle to the strong2 and 8line upon line0--one line every day--in the steady1 observing1 humble ,nurse has often won the race over the smarter 8genius0 in what constitutes real ,nursing4 ,but few of us women seriously think of improving our own mind or character every day4 ,and this is fatal to our improving in ,nursing4 ,we do not calculate the future by our experience of the past4 ,what right have we to expect that1 if we have not improved during the last six months1 we shall during the next six8 ,then1 we do not allow for the changes which circumstances make in us--the being put on ,staff duty1 when we certainly shall not have more time1 but less1 for improving ourselves1 or the growing older or more feeble in health4 ,we believe that we shall always have the same powers or opportunities for learning our business which we now have4 ,our time of training slips away in this unimproving manner4 ,and when a woman begins to see how many things might have been better in her1 she is too old to change1 or it is too late1 too late4 ,and she confesses to herself1 or oftener she does not confess--8,how all her life she had been in the wrong40 ,we are all of us1 as we believe1 passing into an unknown world1 of which this is only a part4 ,we have been here a year1 or part of a year4 ,what are we making of our own lives8 ,are we where we were a year ago8 ,or are we fitter for that work of after-life which we have undertaken8 ,do our faults1 and weaknesses1 and vanities1 tend to diminish8 ,or are we still listless1 inefficient1 slow1 bustling1 conceited1 unkind1 hard judges of others1 instead of helping them where we can8 ,there is no greater softener of hard judgments than is the trying to help the person whom we so judge1 as ,i can tell from my own experience2 and in this you will tell me whether we have been deficient to each other4 ,there is a true story told of ,captain ,marryat when a boy2 that he jumped overboard to save an older midshipman who had made the boy's life a misery to him by his filthy cruelties4 ,and the boy ,marryat wrote home to his mother 8that he loved this midshipman now--and wasn't it lucky that his life was saved--even better than his own darling mother40 ,do we keep before our minds constantly the sense of our duty here1 of our duty to others--,nurses1 ,sisters1 ,matron--as well as to ourselves1 our fellow ,probationers1 and our ,home ,sister1 and to the whole ,school of which we are members8 ,if we thought of this more1 we might hope to attain that quiet mind and self-control1 which is the 8liberty0 spoken of by ,st4 ,paul4 ,we might learn how truly to use and enjoy both our fellow ,probationers1 and this ,home and our ,school1 if we were more anxious about following the example of ,christ than about the opinion of our 8world40 8,we are the #8world1' which we often seem to think includes every one but us40 ,but few comparatively have the power of disengaging themselves1 even in thought1 from those about them4 ,they take the view of their own set4 ,if it is the fashion to conceal1 they conceal2 if to carry tales1 they carry tales4 ,there are a few who never allow themselves to speak against others1 and exercise such a kind of authority as to prevent others being spoken against in their hearing4 ,these are the 8peacemakers0 of whom ,christ speaks4 ,these are they who keep a ,home or ,institution together1 and seem more than any others in this our little world to bear the image of ,christ until ,his coming again4 ,do we ever do things because they are right1 without regard to our own credit8 ,when we ask ourselves only 8,what is right80 or 7which is the same question71 8,what is the will of ,god80 then we are truly entering ,his 8kingdom40 ,we are no longer grovelling among the opinions of men and women4 ,we can see ,god in all things1 and all things in ,god1 the ,eternal ,father shining through the accidents of our lives--which sometimes shake us more1 though less conspicuous1 than the accidents we see brought into our ,surgical ,wards--the accidents of the characters of those under whom we are placed1 and of our own inner life4 ,one of the greatest missionaries that ever was1 wrote more than #cjj years ago to his pupils and fellow-missionaries3 8,self-knowledge0--7the knowledge by which we see ourselves in ,god7--8self-knowledge is the nurse of confidence in ,god4 ,it is from distrust of ourselves that confidence in ,god is born4 ,this will be the way for us to gain that true interior lowliness of mind which1 in all places1 and especially here1 is far more necessary than you think4 ,i warn you also not to let the good opinion which men have of you be too much of a pleasure to you1 unless perhaps in order that you may be the more ashamed of yourselves on that account4 ,it is that which leads people to neglect themselves1 and this negligence1 in many cases1 upsets1 as by a kind of trick1 all that lowliness of which ,i speak1 and puts conceit and arrogance in its place4 ,and thus so many do not see for a long time how much they have lost1 and gradually lose all care for piety1 and all tranquillity of mind1 and thus are always troubled and anxious1 finding no comfort either from without or within themselves40 8,come unto me1 all ye that labour and are heavy laden10 says our ,lord1 8and ,i will give you rest40 ,but ,he adds immediately who those are to whom ,he will give this 8rest0 or quietness of mind--namely those1 who1 like ,himself1 are 8meek and lowly of heart40 ,these words may seem in a ,hospital life 8like dreams40 ,but they are not dreams if we take them for the spirit of our ,school and the rule of our ,nursing4 8,to practise them1 to feel them1 to make them our own10 this is not far from the 8kingdom of ,heaven0 in a ,hospital4 ,pray for me1 as ,i do for you1 that 8piety0 and a 8quiet mind0--but these always and only in the strenuous effort to press forwards--may be ours4 ,,florence ,,nightingale4 ,,iii ,july #bcrd1 #ahgd4 ,another year has passed over us1 my dear friends4 ,there have been many changes among us4 ,we have each of us tasted somewhat more of the discipline of life4 ,to some of us it may have been very bitter2 to others1 let us hope1 not so4 ,by all1 let us trust1 it has been put to heroic uses4 8,heroic80 ,i think ,i hear you say2 8can there be much of #8heroic' in washing porringers and making beds80 ,i once heard a man 7he is dead now7 giving a lesson to some poor orphan girls in an ,orphan ,asylum4 ,few things1 ,i think1 ever struck me so much1 or them4 ,it was on the 8heroic virtues40 ,it went into the smallest particulars of thrift1 of duty1 of love and kindness2 and he ended by asking them how they thought such small people as themselves could manage to practise those great virtues4 ,a child of seven put up its little nib and chirped out3 8,please1 my lord1 we might pick up pins when we don't like to40 ,that showed she understood his lesson4 ,his lesson was not exactly fitted to us1 but we may all fit it to ourselves4 ,this night1 if we are inclined to make a noise on the stairs1 or to linger in each other's rooms1 shall we go quietly to bed1 alone with ,god8 ,some of you yourselves have told me that you could get better day sleep in the ,night ,nurses' ,dormitory than in your own 8,home40 ,is there such loud laughing and boisterous talking in the daytime1 going upstairs to your rooms1 that it disturbs any one who is ill1 or prevents those who have been on night duty from getting any sleep8 ,is that doing what you would be done by--loving your neighbour as yourselves1 as our ,master told us8 ,do you think it is we who invent the duty 8,quiet and orderly10 or is it ,he8 ,if our uniform dress is not what we like1 shall we think of our ,lord1 whose very garments were divided by the soldiers8 7,but ,i always think how much more becoming is our uniform than any other dress ,i see47 ,if there is anything at table that we don't like1 shall we take it thankfully1 remembering ,who had to ask a poor woman for a drink of water8 ,shall we take the utmost pains to be perfectly regular and punctual to all our hours--going into the wards1 coming out of the wards1 at meals1 etc48 ,and if we are unavoidably prevented1 making an apology to the ,home ,sister1 remembering what has been written about those who are in authority over us8 ,or do we think a few minutes of no consequence in coming from or going to the wards8 ,do we carefully observe our ,rules8 ,if we are what is printed at the top of our ,duties1 viz43 ,trustworthy1 ,punctual1 ,quiet and orderly1 ,cleanly and neat1 ,patient1 cheerful1 and kindly1 we scarcely need any other lesson but what explains these to us4 ,trustworthy3 that is1 faithful4 ,trustworthy when we have no one by to urge or to order us4 8,her lips were never opened but to speak the truth40 ,can that be said of us8 ,trustworthy1 in keeping our soul in our hands1 never excited1 but always ready to lift it up to ,god2 unstained by the smallest flirtation1 innocent of the smallest offence1 even in thought4 ,trustworthy1 in doing our work as faithfully as if our superiors were always near us4 ,trustworthy1 in never prying into one another's concerns1 but ever acting behind another's back as one would to her face4 ,trustworthy1 in avoiding every word that could injure1 in the smallest degree1 our patients1 or our companions1 who are our neighbours1 remembering how ,st4 ,peter says that ,god made us all 8stewards of grace one to another40 ,how can we be 8stewards of grace0 to one another8 ,by giving the 8grace0 of our good example to all around us4 ,and how can we become 8untrustworthy stewards0 to one another8 ,by showing ourselves lax in our habits1 irregular in our ways1 not doing as we should do if our superiors were by4 8,cripple leads the way40 ,shall the better follow the worse8 ,it has happened to me to hear some of you say--perhaps it has happened to us all--8,indeed1 ,i only did what ,i saw done40 ,how glorious it would be if 8only doing what we saw done0 always led us right6 ,a master of a great public school once said that he could trust his whole school1 because he could trust every single boy in it4 ,oh1 could ,god but say that ,he can trust this ,home and ,hospital because ,he can trust every woman in it6 ,let us try this--every woman to work as though success depended on herself4 ,do you know that1 in this great ,indian ,famine1 every ,englishman has worked as if success depended on himself8 ,and in saving a population as large as that of ,england from death by starvation1 do you not think that we have achieved the greatest victory we ever won in ,india8 ,suppose we work thus for this ,home and ,hospital4 ,oh1 my dear friends1 how terrible it will be to any one of us1 some day1 to hear another say1 that she only did what she saw us do1 if that was on the 8road that leadeth to destruction06 ,or taking it another way1 how delightful--how delightful to have set another on her journey to heaven by our good example2 how terrible to have delayed another on her journey to heaven by our bad example6 ,there is an old story--nearly six hundred years old--when a ploughboy said to a truly great man1 whose name is known in history1 that he 8advised0 him 8always to live in such a way that those who had a good opinion of him might never be disappointed40 ,the great man thanked him for his advice1 and--kept it4 ,if our ,school has a good name1 do we live so that people 8may never be disappointed0 in its ,nurses8 ,obedient3 not wilful3 not having such a sturdy will of our own4 ,common sense tells us that no training can do us any good1 if we are always seeking our own way4 ,i know that some have really sought in dedication to ,god to give up their own wills to ,his4 ,for if you enter this ,training ,school1 is that not in effect a promise to ,him to give up your own way for that way which you are taught8 ,let us not question so much4 ,you must know that things have been thought over and arranged for your benefit4 ,you are not bound to think us always right3 perhaps you can't4 ,but are you more likely to be right8 ,and1 at all events1 you know you are right1 if you choose to enter our ways1 to submit yours to them4 ,in a foreign ,training ,school1 ,i once heard a most excellent pastor1 who was visiting there1 say to a nurse3 8,are you discouraged8--say rather1 you are disobedient3 they always mean the same thing40 ,and ,i thought how right he was4 ,and1 what is more1 the ,nurse thought so too2 and she was not 8discouraged0 ever after1 because she gave up being 8disobedient40 8,every one for herself0 ought to have no footing here3 and these strong wills of ours ,god will teach4 ,if we do not let ,him teach us here1 ,he will teach us by some sterner discipline hereafter--teach our wills to bend first to the will of ,god1 and then to the reasonable and lawful wills of those among whom our lot is cast4 ,i often say for myself1 and ,i have no doubt you do1 that line of the hymn3 ,tell me1 ,thou yet wilt chide1 ,thou canst not spare1 ,o ,lord1 ,thy chastening rod4 ,let ,him reduce us to ,his discipline before it is too late4 ,if we 8kick against the pricks10 we can only pray that ,he will give us more 8pricks10 till we cease to 8kick40 ,and it is a proof of ,his fatherly love1 and that ,he has not given us up1 if ,he does4 ,for myself1 ,i can say that ,i have never known what it was1 since ,i can remember anything1 not to have 8prickly0 discipline1 more than any one knew of2 and ,i hope ,i have not 8kicked40 ,to return to ,trustworthiness4 ,most of you1 on leaving the ,home1 go first on night duty4 ,now there is nothing like night duty for trying our trustworthiness4 ,a year hence you will tell me whether you have felt any temptation not to be quite honest in reporting cases the next morning to your ,sister or ,nurse3 that is1 to say you have observed when you have not observed2 to slur over things in your report1 which1 for aught you know1 may be of consequence to the patient3 to slur over things in your work because there is no one watching you3 no one but ,god4 ,it has indeed been known that the ,night ,nurse had stayed in the kitchen to talk2 but we may trust such things will not happen again4 ,and1 for all1 let us all say this word for ourselves3 everything gets toppled over if we don't make it a matter of conscience1 a matter of reckoning between ourselves and our ,god4 ,that is the only safeguard of real trustworthiness4 ,if we treat it as a mere matter of business1 of success in our career in life1 never shall we give anything but eye-service1 never shall we be really trustworthy4 ,orderly3 ,let us never waste anything1 even pins or paper1 as some do1 by beginning letters or resolutions1 or 8cases10 which they never take the trouble to finish4 ,cheerful and ,patient3 ,let us never wish for more than is necessary1 and be cheerful when what we should like is sometimes denied us1 as it may be some day2 or when people are unkind1 or we are disregarded by those we love3 remembering ,him whose attendants at ,his death were mocking soldiers4 ,i assure you1 my friends1 that if we can practise those 8duties0 faithfully1 we are practising the 8heroic virtues40 ,patient1 cheerful1 and kindly3 ,now1 is it being patient1 cheerful1 and kindly to be so only with those who are so to us8 ,for1 as ,st4 ,peter tells us1 even ungodly people do that4 ,but if we can do good to some one who has done us ill1 oh1 what a privilege that is6 ,and even ,god will thank us for it1 the ,apostle says4 ,let us be kindest to the impatient and unkindly4 ,now let me tell you of two ,nurses whom we knew4 ,one was a lady1 with just enough to live upon1 who took an old widow to nurse into her house3 recommended to her by her minister4 ,one day she met him and reproached him4 ,why8 ,because the old widow was 8too good02 8anybody could nurse her40 ,presently a grumbling old woman1 never contented with anything anybody did1 who thought she was never treated well enough1 and that she never had 8her due10 was found4 ,and this old woman the lady took into her house and nursed till she died2 because1 she said1 nobody else liked to do anything for her1 and she did4 ,that was something like kindness1 for there is no great kindness in doing good to any one who is grateful and thanks us for it4 ,but my other story is something much better still4 ,a poor ,nurse1 who had been left a widow1 with nothing to live upon but her own earnings1 inquired for some tedious children to take care of4 ,as you may suppose1 there was no difficulty in finding this article4 ,and from that day1 for twenty years1 she never had less than two1 three1 or four orphans with her1 and sometimes five1 whom she brought up as her own1 training them for service4 ,she taught them domestic work1 for she herself went out to service at nine years old4 ,she never had any difficulty in finding places for them1 and for twenty years she had thus a succession of children4 ,but she taught them something better4 ,she taught them that they had 8nothing but their character to depend upon40 8,i tell them10 she said1 8it was all ,i had myself2 ,god helps girls that watch over themselves4 ,if a girl isn't made to feel this early1 it's hard afterwards to make her feel it40 ,these girls1 so brought up1 turned out much better than those brought up in most large ,union schools1 for asylums are not like homes4 ,of the children whom ,nurse took in1 one was a girl of such bad habits and such a mischief-maker that no one else could manage her4 ,but ,nurse did4 ,she soon found she could not refuse boys4 ,one was a boy of fourteen1 just out of prison for bad ways1 whom she took and reclaimed1 and who became as good a boy as can be4 ,these are only two specimens4 ,they called her 8,mother40 ,and ,god1 she used to say1 gave them to her as her own4 ,you will ask how she supported them4 ,the larger number of them she supported by taking in washing1 by charing one day a week1 and bye and bye1 by taking in journeymen as lodgers4 ,now and then a lady would pay for an orphan4 ,once she took in a sailor's five motherless children for #es4 a week from the father3 but she has taken in apprentices as lodgers1 whose own fathers could not afford to keep them for their wages4 ,all this time she washed for a poor sick ,irishwoman1 who never gave her any thanks but that 8the clothes were not well washed1 nor was anything done as it ought to be done40 ,yet she took in this woman's child of two years old as her own1 till the father came back1 when he gave up drink and claimed it4 ,every ,friday she gave her earnings to some poor women1 who bought goods with the money1 which they sold again in the market on ,saturday1 and returned her money to her on ,saturday night4 ,she said she never lost a penny by this3 and it kept several old women going4 ,she must have been a capital manager1 you will say4 ,well1 till she took in lodgers1 she lived in a cellar which she painted with her own hands1 and kept as clean as a new pin4 ,afterwards she let her cellar for #bs4 a week1 though she might have got #bs4 #f;d4 or #cs4 a week for it1 because1 she said1 8the poor should not be hard on one another40 ,milk she never tasted2 meat seldom1 and then she always stewed1 never roasted it4 ,she lived on potatoes1 and potato pie was the luxury of herself and children4 ,on ,sundays she filled her pot of four gallons and made broth3 sometimes for six or eight poor old women besides her own family1 as she called her orphans4 ,these must be satisfied with what she provided1 little or much4 ,she never let them touch what was sent her for her patients4 ,sometimes good things were sent her1 which she always gave to sick neighbours2 yet she has been accused of keeping for herself nice things sent to her care for others4 ,she never owed a penny1 for all her charity4 ,if this ,nurse has not practised the 8heroic virtues10 who has8 ,i mentioned this ,nurse merely as an instance of one who literally fulfilled the precept to 8do good0 to them that 8despitefully use you03 to be 8patient1 cheerful1 and kindly40 ,there is no time to tell you how she was left a widow with two infants and a blind and insane mother1 whom she kept till doctors compelled her to put her mother into a lunatic asylum3 how one of her sons was a sickly cripple1 whom she nursed till he died1 working by day and sitting up with him at night for years3 how the other boy was insane1 and ran away3 how1 to ease her broken mother's heart1 she returned to sick-nursing1 chiefly among the poor1 nursed through two choleras1 till her health broke down1 and1 by way of taking care of herself1 then took up the 8tedious0 orphan system1 which she never ceased4 ,she felt1 she said1 as if she were doing something then for her 8own dear boy40 ,as soon as she lived in a poor house of four rooms and an attic1 she has had as many as ten carpenters' men of a night1 who had nowhere but the public-house to go to4 ,she gave them a good fire1 borrowed a newspaper for them1 and made one read aloud4 ,they brought her sixpence a week1 and she laid it all out in supper for them1 and cooked it4 ,she gave the only good pair of shoes she had to one of these1 because 8he must go to work decent60 ,she was a famous sick cook1 often carrying home fish-bones to stew them for the sick1 who seldom thanked her2 and the remains of damsons and currants1 to boil over again as a drink for fever patients3 who sometimes accused her of keeping back things sent for them4 8,how much more the ,lord has borne from me10 she used to say4 ,and of children she used to say3 8,we never can train up a child in the way it should go till we take it in our arms1 as ,jesus did1 and feel3 #8,of such is the kingdom of heaven'2 and that there is a #8heavenly principle' 7a #8little angel1' ,i think she said7 in each child to be trained up in it40 ,she said she had learnt this from the master in a factory where she had once nursed4 7,how little he knew that he had been one means of forming this heroic ,nurse47 ,,ii ,and now ,i have a word for the ,ladies1 and a word for the ,nurse-,probationers4 ,which shall come first8 ,do the ladies follow up their intellectual privileges8 ,or1 are they lazy in their hours of study8 ,do they cultivate their powers of expression in answering ,mr4 ,croft's examinations8 ,ought they not to look upon themselves as future leaders--as those who will have to train others8 ,and to bear this in mind during the whole of their year's training1 so as to qualify themselves for being so8 ,it is not just getting through the year anyhow1 without being blamed4 ,for the year leaves a stamp on everybody--this for the ,nurses as well as the ,ladies--and once gone can never be regained4 ,to the ,special ,probationers may ,i say one more word8 ,do we look enough into the importance of giving ourselves thoroughly to study in the hours of study1 of keeping careful ,notes of ,lectures1 of keeping notes of all type cases1 and of cases interesting from not being type cases1 so as to improve our powers of observation--all essential if we are in future to have charge8 ,do we keep in view the importance of helping ourselves to understand these cases by reading at the time books where we can find them described1 and by listening to the remarks made by ,physicians and ,surgeons in going round with their ,students8 7,take a sly note afterwards1 when nobody sees1 in order to have a correct remembrance47 ,so shall we do everything in our power to become proficient1 not only in knowing the symptoms and what is to be done1 but in knowing the 8,reason ,why0 of such symptoms1 and why such and such a thing is done2 and so on1 till we can some day ,,train ,,others to know the 8reason why40 ,many say3 8,we have no time2 the ,ward work gives us no time40 ,but it is so easy to degenerate into a mere drudgery about the ,wards1 when we have goodwill to do it1 and are fonder of practical work than of giving ourselves the trouble of learning the 8reason why40 ,take care1 or the ,nurses1 some of them1 will catch you up4 ,take ten minutes a day in the ,ward to jot down things1 and write them out afterwards3 come punctually from your ,ward to have time for doing so4 ,it is far better to take these ten minutes to write your cases or to jot down your recollections in the ,ward than to give the same ten minutes to bustling about4 ,i am sure the ,sisters would help you to get this time if you asked them3 and also to leave the ,ward punctually4 ,and do you not think this a religious duty8 ,such observations are a religious meditation3 for is it not the best part of religion to imitate the benevolence of ,god to man8 ,and how can you do this--in this your calling especially--if you do not thoroughly understand your calling8 ,and is not every study to do this a religious contemplation8 ,without it1 ,may you not potter and cobble about the patients without ever once learning the reason of what you do1 so as to be able to train others8 7,i do not say anything about the 8cards10 for ,i take it for granted that you can read them easily47 ,our dear ,matron1 who is always thinking of arranging for us1 is going to have a case-paper with printed headings given to you1 and to keep this correctly ought to be a mere every-day necessity1 and a very easy one1 for you4 #b4 ,and for the ,nurses3 ,they are placed1 perhaps here only1 on a footing of equality with educated gentlewomen4 ,do they show their appreciation of this by thinking1 8,we are as good as they08 ,or1 by obedience and respect1 and trying to profit by the superior education of the gentlewomen8 ,both we have known2 we have known ,nurse-,probationers who took the ,ladies 8under their protection0 in saving them the harder work1 and the ,ladies have given them the full return back in helping them in their education4 ,and we have known--very much the reverse4 ,also1 do the ,nurse-,probationers take advantage of their opportunities1 in the excellent classes given them by the ,home ,sister1 in keeping diaries and some cases8 ,very few of the ,nurse-,probationers have taken notes of ,mr4 ,croft's ,lectures at all2 it is not fair to ,mr4 ,croft to give him people who do not benefit by his instruction4 #c4 ,and ,i have another word to say3 ,are there parties in our ,home8 ,could we but be not so tenacious of our own interests1 but look at the thing in a larger way6 ,is there a great deal of canvassing and misinterpreting ,sisters and ,matron and other authorities8 every little saying and doing of theirs8 talking among one another about the superiors 7and then finding we were all wrong when we came to know them better78 ,we must all of us know1 without being told1 that we cannot be trained at all1 if in training this will of our own is not kept under4 ,do not question so much4 ,does not a spirit of criticism go with ignorance8 ,are some of you in all the 8opposition of irresponsibility08 ,some day1 when you are yourselves responsible1 you will know what ,i mean4 ,now could not the ,ladies help the ,nurse-,probationers in this3 7#a7 in never themselves criticising2 and 7#b7 in saying a kindly word to check it when it is done8 ,let me tell you a true story about this4 ,in a large college1 questions--about things which the students could but imperfectly understand in the conduct of the college--had become too warm4 ,the superintendent went into the hall one morning1 and after complimenting the young men on their studies1 he said3 8,this morning ,i heard two of the porters1 while at their work1 take up a ,greek book lying on my table2 one tried to read it1 and the other declared it ought to be held upside down to be read4 ,neither could agree which was upside down1 but both thought themselves quite capable of arguing about ,greek1 though neither could read it4 ,they were just coming to fisticuffs1 when ,i sent the two on different errands40 ,not a word was added3 the students laughed and retired1 but they understood the moral well enough1 and from that day there were few questions or disputes about the plans and superiors of the college1 or about their own obedience to rules and discipline4 ,do let us think of the two porters squabbling whether the ,greek book was to be read upside down1 when we feel inclined to be questioning about 8things too high for us40 ,we are constantly making mistakes in our judgment of our little world4 ,we fancy that we have been harshly treated or misunderstood4 ,or we cannot bear our fellow-,probationers to laugh at us4 ,believe me1 there will come a time when all such troubles will simply seem ridiculous to us1 and we shall be unable to imagine how we could ever have been the victims of them4 7,one of your number told me this herself4 ,she has left ,st4 ,thomas' for another post47 ,let us not brood or sentimentalise over them4 ,they should be met in a common-sense way4 ,how much of our time has been spent in grieving over these trifles1 how little in the real sorrow for sin1 the real struggle for improvement4 #d4 ,as for obedience to rules and our superiors3 8,true obedience10 said one of the most efficient people who ever lived1 8obeys not only the command1 but also the intention0 of those who have a right to command us4 ,of course1 this is a truism3 the thing is1 how to do it4 ,as it is a struggle1 it requires a brave and intrepid spirit1 which helps us to rise above trifles and look to ,god1 and ,his leadings for us4 ,oh1 when death comes1 how sorry we shall be to have watched others so much and ourselves so little2 to have dug so much in the field of others' consciences and left our own fallow6 ,what should we say of a 8,leopold0 ,nurse who should try to nurse in 8,edward0 ,ward1 and neglect her own 8,leopold08 ,well1 that is what we do4 ,or who should wash her patients' hands and not her own8 ,it is of ourselves and not of others that we must give an account4 ,let us look to our own consciences as we do to our own hands1 to see if they are dirty4 ,we take care of our dress1 but do we take care of our words8 ,it is a very good rule to say and do nothing but what we can offer to ,god4 ,now we cannot offer ,him backbiting1 petty scandal1 misrepresentation1 flirtation1 injustice1 bad temper1 bad thoughts1 jealousy1 murmuring1 complaining4 ,do we ever think that we bear the responsibility of all the harm we do in this way8 ,look at that busybody who fidgets1 gossips1 makes a bustle1 always wanting to domineer1 always thinking of herself1 as if she wanted to tell the sun to get out of her way and let her light the world in its place1 as the proverb says4 ,and when we might do all our actions and say all our words as unto ,god6 ,so many imperfections2 so many thoughts of self-love2 so many selfish satisfactions that we mix with our best actions6 ,and when we might offer them all to ,god4 ,what a pity6 #e4 ,one word more for the ,ladies1 or those who will have to train and look after others4 ,what must she be who is to be a ,ward or 8,home0 ,sister8 ,we see her in her nobleness and simplicity3 being1 not seeming3 without name or reward in this world3 8clothed0 in her 8righteousness0 merely1 as the ,psalms would say1 not in her dignity3 often having no gifts of money1 speech1 or strength3 but never preferring seeming to being4 ,and if she rises still higher1 she will find herself1 in some measure1 like the ,great ,example in ,isaiah #a;iii41 bearing the sins and sorrows of others as if they were her own3 her counsels often 8despised and rejected10 yet 8opening not her mouth0 to be angry3 8led as a lamb to the slaughter40 ,she who rules best is she who loves best3 and shows her love not by foolish indulgence to those of whom she is in charge1 but by taking a real interest in them for their own sakes1 and in their highest interests4 ,her firmness must never degenerate into nervous irritability4 ,and for this end let me advise you when you become ,sisters1 always to take your exercise time out of doors1 your monthly day out1 and your annual holiday4 ,be a judge of the work of others of whom you are in charge1 not a detective3 your mere detective 8is wonderful at suspicion and discovery10 but is often at fault1 foolishly imagining that every one is bad4 ,the ,head-,nurse must have been tested in the refiner's fire1 as the prophets would say3 have been tried by many tests3 and have come out of them stainless1 in full command of herself and her principles3 never losing her temper4 ,she never nurses well till she ceases to command for the sake of commanding1 or for her own sake at all3 till she nurses only for the sakes of those who are nursed4 ,this is the highest exercise of self-denial2 but without it the ruin of the nursing1 of the charge1 is sure to come4 ,have we ever known such a ,nurse8 ,she must be just1 not unjust4 ,now justice is the perfect order by which every woman does her own business1 and injustice is where every woman is doing another's business4 ,this is the most obvious of all things3 and for that very reason has never been found out4 ,injustice is the habit of being a busybody and doing another woman's business1 which tries to rule and ought to serve3 this is the unjust ,nurse4 ,prudence is doing your nursing most perfectly3 aiming at the perfect in everything3 this is the 8seeking ,god and ,his righteousness0 of the ,scriptures4 ,and must not each of us be a ,saviour1 rather than a ruler3 each in our poor measure8 ,did the ,son of ,god try to rule8 ,oh1 my friends1 do not scold at women3 they will be of another mind if they are 8gently entreated0 and learn to know you4 ,who can hate a woman who loves them8 ,or be jealous of one who has no jealousy8 ,who can squabble with one who never squabbles8 ,it is example which converts your patients1 your ward-maids1 your fellow-,nurses or charges3 it is example which converts the world4 ,and is not the ,head-,nurse or ,sister there1 not that she may do as she likes1 but that she should serve all for the common good of all8 ,the one worst maxim of all for a future ,matron1 ,sister1 or ,nurse is 8to do as ,i like03 that is disorder1 not rule4 ,it is giving power to evil4 ,those who rule must not be those who are desirous to rule4 ,she who is best fitted is often the least inclined to rule3 but if the necessity is laid upon her1 she takes it up as a message from ,god4 ,and she must no longer live in her own thoughts1 making a heaven or hell of her own4 ,for if she does not make a heaven for others1 her charge will soon become something else4 ,she must never become excited3 and therefore ,i do impress upon you regularity and punctuality1 and never to get hurried4 ,those often get most excited who are least in earnest4 ,she who is fierce with her ,nurses1 her patients1 or her ward-maid1 is not truly above them3 she is below them3 and1 although a harsh ward-mistress to her patients or ,nurses1 has no real superiority over them4 ,there is no impudence like that of ignorance4 ,each night let us come to a knowledge of ourselves before going to rest3 as the ,psalm says3 8,commune with your own heart upon your bed1 and be still40 ,is it possible that we who live among the sick and dying can be satisfied not to make friends with ,god each night8 ,the future ,sister should be neither mistress nor servant1 but the friend of every woman under her4 ,if she is mistress of others when she is not mistress of herself1 her jealous1 faithless temper grows worse with command 7oh1 let not this be the case with any of us67--wanting everything of everybody1 yet not knowing how to get it of anybody4 ,always in fear1 confusion1 suspicion1 and distraction1 she becomes more and more faithless1 envious1 unrighteous1 the cause of wretchedness to herself and others4 ,she who has no control over herself1 who cannot master her own temper1 how can she be placed over others1 to control them through the better principle8 ,but she who is the most royal mistress of herself is the only woman fit to be in charge4 ,for this is the whole intention of training1 education1 supervision1 superintendence3 to give self-control1 to train or nurse up in us a higher principle2 and when this is attained1 you may go your ways safely into the world4 ,but she who nurses1 and does not nurse up in herself the 8infant ,christ10 who should be born again in us every day1 is like an empty syringe--it pumps in only wind4 ,the future ,sister must be not of the governessing but of the ,saviour turn of mind4 ,let her reason with the unjust woman who is not intentionally in error4 ,she must know how to give good counsel1 which will advise what is best under the circumstances2 not making a lament1 but finding a cure2 regarding that only as 8bettering0 their situation which makes them better4 ,she must know and teach 8how to refuse the evil and choose the good10 as ,isaiah says4 ,she must have an iron sense of truth and right for herself and others1 and a golden sense of love and charity for them4 ,when a future ,sister unites the power of command with the power of thought and love1 when she can raise herself and others above the commonplaces of a common self without disregarding any of our common feelings1 when she can plan and effect any reforms wanted step by step1 without trying to precipitate them into a single year or month1 neither hasting nor delaying3 that is indeed a 8,sister40 ,the future ,sister or ,head must not see only a little corner of things1 her own petty likes and dislikes2 she must 8lift up her eyes to the hills10 as ,david says4 ,she must know that there is a greater and more real world than her own littlenesses and meannesses4 ,and she must be not only the friend of her ,nurses1 but also1 in her measure1 the angel whose mission is to reconcile her ,nurses to themselves1 to each other1 and to ,god4 ,,iii ,now let us not each of us think how this fits on to her neighbour1 but how it fits on to oneself4 ,shall ,i tell you what one of you said to me after ,i last addressed you8--8,do you think we are missionaries80 ,i answer1 that you cannot help being missionaries1 if you would4 ,there are missionaries for evil as well as for good4 ,can you help choosing8 ,must you not decide whether you will be missionaries for good1 or whether for evil1 among your patients and among yourselves8 ,and1 first1 among your patients3 ,hospital ,nurses have charge of their patients in a way that no other woman has charge2 in the first place1 no other woman is in charge really of grown-up men4 ,oh1 how careful she ought to be1 especially the ,night ,nurse1 to show them what a true woman can be6 ,the acts of a nurse are keenly scrutinised by both old and young patients4 ,if she is not perfectly pure and upright1 depend upon it1 they know4 ,also1 a ,hospital ,nurse is in charge of people in their sick and feeble1 anxious and dying hours1 when they are singularly alive to impressions4 ,she leaves her stamp upon them1 whether she will or no4 ,and this applies almost more to the ,night ,nurse than to the ,day ,nurse4 ,lastly1 if she have children-patients1 she is absolutely in charge of these1 who come1 perhaps for the first and the last time of their lives1 under influence4 ,so many pass by a child without notice4 ,a whole life of happiness or wretchedness may turn upon an act of kindness to it--a good example set it4 ,a poor woman once said of a child of hers under just these circumstances3 8,the ,sister set its face heavenwards3 and it never looked back40 ,do we ever set their faces the other way8 ,the child she spoke of when it was dying actually gave its halfpence1 which it had saved for something for itself1 for another dying child 8who had nobody40 ,i call that practising the 8heroic virtues10 if ever there were such4 ,and that was done under just such an influence as we have been speaking of4 ,on the other hand1 do you know anything in its way more heinous than a ,nurse1 who to the sick and tiresome child might be like an angel 8to set its face heavenward0 by her sympathy with it1 and who1 by her own bad habits or bad temper1 by her unfairness1 by her unkindness or injustice1 by her coarseness or want of uprightness1 sets it the other way8 ,a very good man once said that in each little ,hospital patient1 he saw not only a soul to be saved1 but many other souls that might possibly be committed to this one3 for the poor can do so much among one another3 do what no others going among them can do4 ,every child is of the stuff out of which ,home ,missionaries may be made1 such as ,god chooses from the ranks that have furnished his best recruits4 ,the ,apostles were fishermen and workmen4 ,david ,livingstone was a cotton-mill piecer4 ,in each little pauper waif he saw one destined to carry a godly example 7or the reverse7 where none but they could carry it--into godless and immoral homes4 ,we will not repeat here1 because we are so fully persuaded of it1 that a woman1 especially a ,nurse1 must be a missionary1 not as a minister or chaplain is1 but by the influence of her own character1 silent but not unfelt4 ,it was this1 far more than any words1 that gave his matchless influence to ,david ,livingstone1 whose body1 brought upwards of #aejj miles through pathless deserts by his own negro servants--such a heroic feat as ,christians never knew before--was buried this spring in ,westminster ,abbey4 ,some of us knew him3 one of our ,probationers was with him and his wife1 who died in #ahfb1 and ,bishop ,mackenzie1 at their ,mission ,station in ,africa4 ,he was such a traveller and missionary as we shall never see again perhaps4 ,but what he was in influence each of us may be1 if we please1 in our little sphere4 ,a ,nurse is like a traveller1 from the quantity of people who pass before her in the ever-changing wards4 ,and she is like a traveller also in this1 that1 as ,livingstone used to say1 either the vices or the virtues of civilisation follow the footsteps of the traveller1 and he cannot help it4 ,so they do those of the ,nurse4 ,and missioning will be1 whether she will or no1 the background of her nursing1 as it is the background of travelling4 ,the traveller may call himself a missionary or not1 as he likes4 ,he is one1 for good or for evil4 ,so is the ,nurse4 ,livingstone used to say that we fancy a missionary a man with a ,bible in his hand and another in his pack4 ,he then went on to say what a real missionary must be in himself to have influence4 ,and he added3 8,if ,i had once been suspected of a single act of want of purity or uprightness the negroes would never have trusted me again4 ,no1 not even the least pure or the least upright of the negroes4 ,and any influence of mine would have been gone for ever40 ,what his influence was1 even after his death1 you know4 ,then you must be missionaries1 whether you will or no1 among one another4 ,we need only think of the friendships that are made here4 ,will you be a missionary of good or of evil to your friend8 ,will you be a missionary of indifference1 selfishness1 lightness of conduct1 self-indulgence8 ,or a missionary--to her and to your patients--of religious and noble devotion to duty1 carried out to the smallest thing8 ,will you be a 8hero0 in your daily work1 like the dying child giving its hard-saved halfpence to the yet poorer child8 ,livingstone always remembered that a poor old ,scotchman on his death-bed had said to him3 8,now1 lad1 make religion the every-day business of your life1 not a thing of fits and starts2 for if you do not1 temptation and other things will get the better of you40 ,such a ,nurse--one who makes religion the 8every-day business of her life10 is a 8,missionary10 even if she never speak a word4 ,one who does not is a missionary for evil and not for good1 though she may say many words1 have many good texts at the end of her tongue1 or1 as ,livingstone would say1 a ,bible in her hand and a ,bible at her back4 ,believe me1 who have seen a good deal of the world1 we may give you an institution to learn in1 but it is ,you must furnish the 8heroic0 feeling of doing your duty1 doing your best1 without which no institution is safe1 without which ,training ,schools are meat without salt4 ,you must be our salt1 without which civilisation is but corruption1 and all churches only dead establishments4 ,shall ,i tell you what one of the most famous clergymen that ever lived said8 ,that1 in order to manage people1 and especially children1 well1 it was necessary to speak more of them to ,god than of ,god to them4 ,if a famous preacher said that1 how much more must a woman8 ,another learned clergyman1 who was also the best translator of the ,bible 7in a foreign language71 said3 8,prayer1 rather than speech must be relied upon for the reform of any little irregularities3 for only through prayer could the proper moment for speech become known40 ,if a great leader of mankind said that1 how much more should a ,nurse8 ,i must end3 and what ,i say now ,i had better have said3 and nothing else4 ,what are we without ,god8 ,nothing4 8,father1 glorify ,thy name60 ,how is ,his name glorified8 ,we are ,his glory1 when we follow ,his ways4 ,then we are something4 ,what is the ,christian religion8 ,to be like ,christ4 ,and what is it to be like ,christ8 ,to be ,high ,church1 ,low ,church1 ,dissenter1 or orthodox8 ,oh1 no4 ,it is3 to live for ,god and have ,god for our object4 ,,iv ,,london1 ,may #bf1 #ahge4 ,,my ,,dear ,,friends1--,this year my letter to you must needs be short1 for ,i am not able to write much4 ,but good words are always short4 ,the best words that ever were spoken--,christ's words--were the shortest4 ,would that ours were always the echo of ,his6 ,first1 then3 ,what is our one thing needful8 ,to have high principles at the bottom of all4 ,without this1 without having laid our foundation1 there is small use in building up our details4 ,that is as if you were to try to nurse without eyes or hands4 ,we know who said1 ,if your foundation is laid in shifting sand1 you may build your house1 but it will tumble down4 ,but if you build it on solid ground1 this is what is called being rooted and grounded in ,christ4 ,in the great persecutions in ,france two hundred years ago 7not only of the ,protestants1 who came over here and settled in ,spitalfields1 but of all who held the higher and more spiritual religion7 a noble woman1 who has left her impress on the ,christian ,church1 and who herself endured two hard imprisonments for conscience' sake1 would receive no ,probationer into her ,institution1 which was1 like ours1 for works of ,nursing and for the poor1 till the ,probationer had well considered whether she were really rooted and grounded in ,god himself1 and not in the mere habit of obeying rule and doing her work2 whether she could do without the supports of the example and fellowship of a large and friendly community1 the sympathy and praise of fellow-workers--all good things in themselves1 but which will not carry us through a life like ,christ's4 ,and ,i doubt whether any woman whom ,god is forming for ,himself is not at some time or other of her life tried and tested in this lonely path4 ,a ,french ,princess1 who did well consider1 and who was received into the said ,institution on these conditions1 has left us in writing her experience4 ,and well she showed where she was 8rooted and grounded0 through ten after-years of prison and persecution4 ,we have not to endure these things4 ,our lot is cast in gentler times4 ,but ,i will tell you an old woman's experience--that ,i can never remember a time1 and that ,i do not know a work1 which so requires to be rooted and grounded in ,god as ours4 ,you remember the question in the hymn1 8,am ,i ,his1 or am ,i not80 ,if ,i am1 this is what is called our 8hidden life with ,christ in ,god40 ,we all have a 8hidden life0 in ourselves1 besides our outward working life4 ,if our hidden life is filled with chatter and fancies1 our outward working life will be the fruits of it4 8,by their fruits ye shall know them10 ,christ says4 ,christ knows the good ,nurse4 ,it is not the good talker whom ,christ knows as the good ,nurse4 ,if our hidden life is 8with ,christ in ,god10 by its fruits1 too1 it will be known4 ,what is it to live 8with ,christ in ,god08 ,it is to live in ,christ's spirit3 forgiving any injuries1 real or fancied1 from our fellow-workers1 from those above us as well as from those below 7alas6 how small our injuries are that we should talk of forgiving67 thirsting after righteousness1 righteousness1 i4e4 doing completely one's duty towards all with whom we have to do1 towards ,god above as well as towards our fellow-nurses1 our patients1 our matron1 home sister1 and instructors2 fain to be holy as ,god is holy1 perfect as our ,father in ,heaven is perfect in our hospital and training school2 caring for nothing more than for ,god's will in this ,his training2 careful for our sick and fellow-,nurses more than for ourselves2 active1 like ,christ1 in our work2 like ,christ1 meek and lowly in heart in our ,wards and 8,home02 peacemakers among our companions1 which includes the never repeating anything which may do mischief2 placing our spirits in the ,father's charge4 78,i am the ,almighty's charge10 says the hymn47 ,this is to live a life with ,christ in ,god4 ,you may have heard of ,mr4 ,wilberforce4 ,he it was who1 after a long life of unremitting activity1 varied only with disappointment1 carried the ,abolition of the ,slave ,trade1 one of ,england's greatest titles to the gratitude of nations4 ,slavery1 as ,livingstone said1 is the open sore of the world4 7,mr4 ,clarkson and my grandfather were two of his fellow-workers47 ,some one asked how ,mr4 ,wilberforce did this1 and a man ,i knew answered1 8,because his life was hid with ,christ in ,god40 ,never was there a truer word spoken4 ,and if we1 when the time comes for us to be in charge of ,wards1 are enabled to 8abolish0 anything wrong in them1 it can only be in the same way1 by our life being hid with ,christ in ,god4 ,and no man or woman will do great things for ,god1 or even small1 whose 8hidden life0 is employed in self-complacency1 or in thinking over petty slights1 or of what other people are thinking of her4 ,we have three judges--our ,god1 our neighbour1 and ourselves4 ,our own judgment of ourselves is1 perhaps1 generally too favourable3 our neighbour's judgment of us too unfavourable1 except in the case of close friends1 who may sometimes spoil each other4 ,shall we always remember to seek ,god's judgment of us1 knowing this1 that it will some day find us1 whether we seek it or not8 ,he knows who is ,his nurse1 and who is not4 ,this is laying the 8foundation02 this is the 8hidden life with ,christ in ,god0 for us ,nurses4 8,keeping up to the mark10 as ,st4 ,paul says2 and nothing else will keep us up to the mark in ,nursing4 8,neglect nothing2 the most trivial action may be performed to ourselves1 or performed to ,god40 ,what a pity that so many actions should be wasted by us ,nurses in our ,wards and in our 8,home10 when we might always be doing common things uncommonly well6 ,small things are of consequence--small things are of no consequence2 we say this often to ourselves and to each other4 ,and both these sayings are true4 ,every brick is of consequence1 every dab of mortar1 that it may be as good as possible in building up your house4 ,a chain is no stronger than its weakest link3 therefore every link is of consequence4 ,and there can be no 8small0 thing in ,nursing4 ,how often we have seen a ,nurse's life wrecked1 in its usefulness1 by some apparently small fault6 ,perhaps this is to say that there can be no small things in the nursing service of ,god4 ,but in the service of ourselves1 oh6 how small the things are6 ,of no consequence indeed4 ,how small they will appear to us all some day6 ,for what does it profit a ,nurse if she gain the whole world to praise her1 and lose her own soul in conceit8 ,what does it profit if the judgment of the whole world is for us ,nurses1 and ,god's is against us8 ,it is a real danger1 in works like these1 when all men praise us4 ,we must then see if we are 8rooted and grounded in ,christ ,himself10 to nurse as ,he would have us nurse1 as ,he was in ,god1 to do ,his ,saviour-work4 ,am ,i ,his1 or am ,i not8 ,it is a real danger1 too1 if in works like these we do not uphold the credit of our ,school4 ,that is not bearing fruit4 ,can we hope1 may we hope that1 at least1 some day1 ,christ may say even to our ,training ,school1 as ,he did once to ,his first followers1 8,ye are the salt of the earth08 ,but oh6 if we may hope this1 let us never forget for one moment the terrible conclusion of that verse4 ,if we can1 in the faintest sense1 be called 8the salt 8of ,god's nursing world1 let us watch1 watch1 watch1 that we may never lose our 8savour40 ,one woman1 as we well know1 may be honoured by ,god to be 8the salt0 to purify a whole ,ward4 ,one woman may have lost her 8savour10 and a ,ward be left without its 8salt10 and untold harm done4 ,we ought to be very much obliged to our kind ,medical ,instructor for the pains he has taken with us1 and to show this by our careful attention4 ,without this there can be no improvement4 ,there is a time for all things--a time to be trained1 and a time to use our training4 ,and if we have thrown away the year we have here1 we can hardly recover it4 ,besides1 what a shame it is to come here1 as ,probationers1 at considerable cost 7to others1 most of us71 and then not to make our improvement the chief business of our lives1 so that at the end of our year we go away not much better but rather worse than we came6 ,what account can we give of such a waste of time and opportunities1 of the best gifts of ,god1 to ourselves and to ,him8 8,for ,god requireth that which is past40 ,if1 when ,i was young1 there had been such opportunities of training for ,hospital work as you have1 how eagerly ,i should have made the most of them6 ,therefore1 8whatsoever thy hand findeth to do1 do it with all thy might03 be earnest in work1 be earnest also even in such things as taking exercise and proper holiday4 ,i say this particularly to future ,matrons and ,sisters1 for there should be something of seriousness in keeping our bodies#g too up to the mark4 ,life is short1 as preachers often tell us3 that is1 each stage of it is apt to come to an end before the work which belongs to it is finished4 ,let us ,act that each to-morrow ,find us farther than to-day4 ,let us be in earnest in work3 above all1 because we believe this life to be the beginning of another1 into which we carry with us what we have been and done here2 because we are working together with ,god 7remember the ,parting ,command67 and ,he is upholding us in our work 7remember the ,parting ,promise672 because1 when the hour of death approaches1 we should wish to think 7like ,christ7 that we have completed life1 that we have finished the work which was given us to do1 that we have not lost one of those1 ,patients or ,nurses1 who were entrusted to us4 ,what was the ,parting ,command8 ,what was the ,parting ,promise8 ,we ,nurses have just kept ,ascension ,day and ,whit-,sunday4 ,shall we ,nurses not remember the ,parting ,command on ,ascension ,day--to preach the ,gospel to every creature8 ,and the ,parting ,promise3 8,and lo ,i am with you always1 even unto the end of the world40 ,that ,command and that ,promise were given1 not to the ,apostles or ,disciples only1 but to each and every one of us ,nurses3 to each to herself in her own ,ward or ,home4 ,without the ,promise the ,command could not be obeyed4 ,without we obey the ,command the ,promise will not be fulfilled4 ,christ tells us what ,he means by the ,command4 ,he tells us1 over and over again3 it is by ourselves1 by what we are in ourselves1 that we are 8to preach the ,gospel40 ,not what we say1 but what we do1 is the ,preacher4 ,not saying 8,lord1 ,lord10--for how many ungodly things are done and said in the name of ,god--but 8keeping his commandments10 this it is which 8preaches0 ,him2 it is the bearing much 8fruit10 not the saying many words4 ,god's ,spirit leads us rather to be silent than to speak1 to do good works rather than to say fine things or to write them4 ,over and over again1 and especially in ,his first and last discourses1 ,he insists upon this4 ,he takes the sweet little child and places it in our midst3 it was as if ,he had said1 8,ah6 that is the best preacher of you all40 ,and those who have followed ,him best have felt this most4 ,the most successful preacher the world has probably seen since ,st4 ,paul's time said1 some #cjj years ago1 it was by showing an example1 not by delivering a discourse1 that the ,apostles' work was really done1 that the ,gospel was really preached4 ,and well did he show his own belief in this truth4 ,for when all was ready for his mission to convert ,china to ,christianity1 and the plague broke out where he was1 he stayed and nursed the plague4 ,we can1 every one of us here present1 though our teaching may not be much1 by our lives 8preach a continual sermon1 that all who see may understand40 7,these words were found in the last letter1 left unfinished1 of a native convert of the 8greatest missionary of modern times10 ,bishop ,patteson1 who was martyred in the ,south ,sea ,islands1 in ,september #ahga1 and this convert with him4 ,oh1 how he puts us to shame67 ,it has happened to me--,i daresay it has happened to every one of us--to be told by a ,child-,patient1 one who had been taught to say its prayers1 that it 8was afraid0 to kneel down and 8say its prayers0 before a whole ward-full of people4 ,do we encourage and take care of such a little child8 ,shall we1 when we have ,wards under our own charge1 take care that the ,ward is kept so that none at proper times shall be 8afraid0 to kneel down and say their prayers8 ,do we reflect on the immense responsibility of a ,nurse towards her helpless ,sick1 who depend upon her almost entirely for quiet1 and thought1 and order8 ,do we think that1 as was once said1 we are to no one as 8rude0 as we are to ,god8 ,i believe that one of our ,st4 ,thomas' ,sisters1 who is just leaving us after years of good work1 is going to set up a 8,home0 for ,sick ,children1 where1 under her1 they will be cared for in all ways4 ,i am sure that we shall all bid her 8,god speed40 ,and ,i know that many of those who have gone out from among us1 and who are now ,hospital ,sisters or ,nurses--they would not like me to mention their names--do care for their ,patients1 ,children and all1 in all ways4 ,thank ,god for it6 ,when a ,patient1 especially a child1 sees you acting in all things as if in the presence of ,god--and none are so quick to observe it--then the names he or she heard at the ,chaplain's or the ,sister's or the ,night ,nurse's lips become names of real things and real ,persons4 ,there is a ,god1 a ,father2 there is a ,christ1 a ,comforter2 there is a ,spirit of ,goodness1 of ,holiness2 there is another world1 to such an one4 ,when a ,patient1 especially a ,child1 sees us acting as if there were no ,god1 then there but too often becomes no ,god to him4 ,then words become to such a child mere words4 ,and remember1 that when such a ,nurse--8salt0 which has lost its 8savour0--speaks to her ,patients of ,god1 she puts a hindrance in their way to keep them from ,god1 instead of helping them to ,god4 ,she had better not speak to them at all4 ,it is a terrible thought--,i speak for myself--that we may prevent people from believing in ,god1 instead of bringing them to 8believe in ,god the ,father ,almighty40 ,what is it1 8setting an example08 ,an example--of what8 ,who is our example1 that we are to set8 ,christ is our example1 our pattern3 this we all know and say4 ,and when this was once said--a very common word--before a very uncommon man1 he said3 8,when you have your picture taken1 the painter does not try to make it rather like1 or not very unlike4 ,it is not a good picture if it is not exactly like40 ,do we try to be exactly like ,christ8 ,if we do not1 8are we ,his1 or are we not80 ,could it be said of each one of us3 8,that ,nurse is 7or is trying to be7 exactly what ,christ would have been in her place08 ,yet this is what every ,nurse has to aim at4 ,aim lower3 and you cannot say then1 8,christ is my example40 ,aim as high3 and1 after this life1 8we shall be satisfied when we awake in ,his likeness40 ,but this aim cannot be carried out1 it cannot even be entertained1 without the ,parting ,promise4 ,the ,parting ,promise was fulfilled to the disciples ten days afterwards1 on ,whit-,sunday1 when the ,holy ,spirit was given them--that is1 when ,christ came as ,he promised1 and was with them4 ,christ comes to each ,nurse of us all3 and stands at our little room-door and knocks4 ,do we let ,him in8 ,the ,holy ,spirit comes1 no more with outward show but with no less inward power1 to each ,ward and to each ,nurse of us all1 who is trying to do her ,nursing and her ,ward work in ,god1 to live her hidden ,nurse's life with ,christ in ,god4 ,when your ,patient asks you for a drink1 you do not give him a stone4 ,and shall not our ,heavenly ,father much more give ,his ,spirit to each one of us1 ,his nurses1 when she asks ,him8 7,are we ,his nurses87 ,what is meant by the ,spirit descending upon us ,nurses1 as it did on the first ,whitsuntide8 ,is it not to put us in a state to nurse ,him1 by making our heart and our will ,his8 7,he has really told us that nursing our ,patients is nursing ,him47 ,god asks the heart3 that is1 that we should consecrate all our self to ,him--within as well as without1 within even more than without--in doing the ,nursing work ,he has given each one of us here to do4 ,is it not to have the spirit of love1 of courtesy1 of justice1 of right1 of gentleness1 of meekness1 in our ,training ,school2 the spirit of truth1 of integrity1 of energy and activity1 of purity1 which ,he is1 in our ,hospital8 ,this it is to worship ,god in spirit and in truth4 ,and we need not wait to go into a church1 or even to kneel down at prayer1 for this worship4 ,is it not to feel that we desire really nothing for ourselves in our ,nursing life1 present and future1 but only this1 8,thy will be done10 as we say in our daily prayer8 ,is it not to trust ,him1 that ,his will is really the best for each one of us8 ,how much there is in those two words1 ,his will--the will of ,almighty ,wisdom and ,goodness1 which always knows what is best for each one of us ,nurses1 which always wills what is best1 which always can do what it wills for our best4 ,is it not to feel that the care and thought of ourselves is lost in the thought of ,god and the care of our ,patients and fellow-,nurses and ,ward-,maids8 ,is it not to feel that we are never so happy as when we are working with ,him and for them8 ,and we ,nurses can always do this1 if we will4 ,is not this what ,christ meant when ,he said1 8,the kingdom of heaven is within you08 8,the kingdom of heaven0 consists not in much speaking but in doing1 not in a sermon but in a heart4 8,the kingdom of heaven0 can always be in a ,nurse's blessed work1 and even in her worries4 ,is not this what the ,apostle meant when he told us to 8rejoice in the ,lord08 ,that is1 to rejoice1 whether ,matrons1 or ,sisters1 or ,nurses1 or ,night ,nurses1 in the service of ,god 7which1 with us1 means good ,nursing of the ,sick1 good fellowship and high example as relates to our fellow-workers72 to rejoice in the right1 whoever does it2 to rejoice in the truth1 whoever has it2 to rejoice in every good word and work1 whoever it is2 to rejoice1 in one word1 in what ,god rejoices in4 ,let us thank ,god that some special aids to our spiritual life have been given us lately1 for which ,i know many of us are thankful2 and some of us have been able to keep this ,whitsuntide as we never did before4 ,one little word more about our ,training ,school4 ,training 8consists in teaching people to bear responsibilities1 and laying the responsibilities on them as they are able to bear them10 as ,bishop ,patteson said of ,education4 ,the year which we spend here is generally the most important1 as it may be the happiest1 of our lives4 ,here we find many different characters4 ,here we meet on a common stage1 before we part company again to our several posts4 ,if there are any rich among us1 they are not esteemed for their riches4 ,and the poor woman1 the friendless1 the lonely woman1 receives a generous welcome4 ,every one who has any activity or sense of duty may qualify herself for a future useful life4 ,every one may receive situations without any reference1 except to individual capacity1 and to a kind of capacity which it is within the power of the most humble and unfriended to work out4 ,every one who has any natural kindness or courtesy in her1 and who is not too much wrapped up in herself1 may make pleasant friends4 ,although we know how many and serious faults we have1 ought we not also to be able to find here some virtues which do not equally flourish in the larger world8--such as disinterested devotion to the calling we have chosen1 and to which we can here fully give ourselves up without anxiety2 warm-hearted interest in each other1 for no one of us stands here in any other's way2 freedom from jealousy and meanness2 a generous self-denial in nursing our charges1 and a generous sympathy with other ,nurses2 above all1 an interest in our work1 and an earnestness in taking the means given us to improve ourselves in what is to be so useful to others4 ,and this is also the surest sign of our improvement in it4 ,this is what ,st4 ,paul calls3 8,not slothful in business1 fervent in spirit1 serving the ,lord40 ,always1 however1 we must be above our work and our worries1 keeping our souls free in that 8hidden life0 of which it has been spoken4 99 99 99 99 99 ,above all1 let us pray that ,god will send real workers into this immense 8field0 of ,nursing1 made more immense this year by the opening out of ,london ,district ,nursing at the bedside of the sick poor at home4 ,a woman who takes a sentimental view of ,nursing 7which she calls 8ministering10 as if she were an angel71 is of course worse than useless4 ,a woman possessed with the idea that she is making a sacrifice will never do2 and a woman who thinks any kind of ,nursing work 8beneath a ,nurse0 will simply be in the way4 ,but if the right woman is moved by ,god to come to us1 what a welcome we will give her1 and how happy she will soon be in a work1 the many blessings of which none can know as we know them1 though we know the worries too6 7,good ,bishop ,patteson used to talk to his assistants something in this way2 would we were like him67 ,nurses' work means downright work1 in a cheery1 happy1 hopeful1 friendly spirit4 ,an earnest1 bright1 cheerful woman1 without that notion of 8making sacrifices10 etc41 perpetually occurring to her mind1 is the real ,nurse4 ,soldiers are sent anywhere1 and leave home and country for years2 they think nothing of it1 because they go 8on duty40 ,shall we have less self-denial than they1 and think less of 8duty0 than these men8 ,a woman with a healthy1 active tone of mind1 plenty of work in her1 and some enthusiasm1 who makes the best of everything1 and1 above all1 does not think herself better than other people because she is a 8,nightingale ,nurse10 that is the woman we want4 7,must ,i tell you again1 what ,i have had to tell you before1 that we have a great name in the world for--conceit87 ,i suppose1 of course1 that sound religious principle is at the bottom of her4 ,now1 if there be any young persons really in earnest whom any of you could wish to see engaged in this work1 if you know of any such1 and feel justified in writing to them1 you will be aiding materially in this work if you will put it in their power to propose themselves as ,candidates4 ,my every-day thought is--8,how will ,god provide for the introduction of real ,christianity among all of us ,nurses1 and among our ,patients80 ,my every-day prayer 7and ,i know that the prayer of many of you is the same7 is that ,he will give us the means and show us how to use them1 and give us the people4 ,we ask you to pray for us1 who have to arrange for you1 as we pray for you1 who have to nurse the ,patients2 and ,i know you do4 ,the very vastness of the work raises one's thoughts to ,god1 as the only ,one by whom it can be done4 ,that is the solid comfort--,he knows4 ,he loves us all1 and our ,patients infinitely more than we can4 ,he is1 we trust1 sending us to them2 ,he will bless honest endeavours to do ,his work among them4 ,without this belief and support1 it seems to me1 when we look at the greatness of the work1 and how far1 far we fall short of it1 instead of being conceited1 we should not have courage to work at all4 ,and when we say the words in the ,communion ,service--8,therefore with angels and archangels10 do we think whether we are fit company for angels8 ,it may not be fanciful to believe that 8angels and archangels10 to whom all must seem so different1 may see ,god's light breaking over the ,nursing ,service1 though perhaps in our time it may not attain the perfect day4 ,only we must work on1 and bring no hindrances to that light4 ,and that not one of us may bring hindrances to that light1 believe me1 let us pray daily4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i have been longer than ,i intended or hoped1 and will only say one more word4 ,may we each and all of us ,nurses be faithful to the end1 remembering this1 that no one ,nurse stands alone4 ,may we not say1 in the words of the prophet1 that it is 8,the ,lord0 who 8hath gathered0 us ,nurses 8together out of the lands08 8,it is because we do not praise as we proceed10 said a good and great man1 8that our progress is so slow40 ,should not all this ,training ,school be so melted into one heart and mind1 that we may with one heart and mind act and nurse and sing together our praise and thanksgiving1 blessing and gratitude1 for mercies1 every one of which seems to belong to the whole ,school8 ,for every ,nurse alike belongs to the ,mother ,school of which she is a part1 and to the ,almighty ,father1 who has sent her here1 and to whom alone we each and all of us ,nurses owe everything we have and are4 ,f4 ,n4 ,v ,april #bh1 #ahgf4 ,,my ,,dear ,,friends1--,again another year has brought us together to rejoice at our successes1 and1 if to grieve over some disappointments1 to try together to find out what it is that may have brought them about1 and to correct it4 ,god seems to have given ,his favour to the manner in which you have been working4 ,thanks to you1 each and all of you1 for the pains you have taken to carry out the work4 ,i hope you feel how great have been the pains bestowed upon you4 ,you are not 8grumblers0 at all3 you do try to justify the great care given you1 the confidence placed in you1 and1 after you have left this ,home1 the freedom of action you enjoy--by that intelligent obedience to rules and orders1 to render which is alone worthy of the name of 8,trained ,nurse10 of ,god's soldier4 ,we shall be poor soldiers indeed1 if we don't train ourselves for the battle4 ,but if discipline is ever looked upon as interference1 then freedom has become lawlessness1 and we are no 8,trained ,nurses0 at all4 ,the trained ,englishwoman is the first ,nurse in the world3 if--,,if she knows how to unite this intelligent obedience to commands with thoughtful and godly command of herself4 99 99 99 99 99 8,the greatest evils in life10 said one of the world's highest statesmen1 8have had their rise from something which was thought of too little importance to attend to40 ,how we ,nurses can echo that6 8,immense1 incalculable misery0 is due to 8the immoral thoughtlessness0--he calls thoughtlessness immoral--of women about little things4 ,this is what our training is to counteract in us4 ,think nothing too small to be attended to in this way4 ,think everything too small of personal trouble or sensitiveness to be cared for in another way4 ,it is not knowledge only3 it is practice we want4 ,we only know a thing if we can do it4 ,there is a famous ,italian proverb which says3 8,so much0--and no more--8each knows as she does40 ,what we did last year we may look upon not as a matter of conceit1 but of encouragement4 ,we must not fail this year1 and we'll not fail4 ,we'll keep up to the mark3 nay more1 we will press on to a higher mark4 ,for our 8calling0 is a high one 7the 8little things10 remember3 a high excellence in little things74 ,and we must answer to the call ever more and more strenuously and ever more and more humbly too4 ,we live together3 let us live for each other's comfort4 ,we are all working together3 grasp the idea of this as a larger work than our own little pet hobbies1 which are very narrow1 our own little personal wishes1 feelings1 piques1 or tempers4 ,this is not individual work4 ,a real ,nurse sinks self4 ,remember we are not so many small selves1 but members of a community4 8,little children1 love one another40 ,to love1 that is1 to help one another1 to strive together1 to act together1 to work for the same end1 to bring to perfection the sisterly feeling of fellow-workers1 without which nothing great is done1 nothing good lasts4 ,might not ,st4 ,john have been thinking of us ,nurses in our ,training ,schools when he said that8 ,may ,god be with us all and we be one in ,him and in ,his work6 ,god speed us all6 ,amen in our hearts4 ,i ,these are some of the little things we need to attend to3 ,to be a ,nurse is to be a ,nurse3 not to be a ,nurse only when we are put to the work we like4 ,if we can't work when we are put to the work we don't like--and ,patients can't always be fitted to ,nurses--that is behaving like a spoilt child1 like a naughty girl3 not like a ,nurse4 ,if we can do the work we don't like from the higher motive till we do like it1 that is one test of being a real ,nurse4 ,a ,nurse is not one who can only do what she does like1 and can't do what she does not like4 ,for the ,patients want according to their wants1 and not according to the ,nurse's likes or dislikes4 ,if you wish to be trained to do all ,nursing well1 even what you do not like--trained to perfection in little things--that is ,nursing for the sake of ,nursing1 for the sake of ,god and of your neighbour4 ,and remember1 in little things as in great--,no ,cross1 no ,crown4 ,nursing is said1 most truly said1 to be a high calling1 an honourable calling4 ,but what does the honour lie in8 ,in working hard during your training to learn and to do all things perfectly4 ,the honour does not lie in putting on ,nursing like your uniform1 your dress2 though dishonour often lies in being neat in your uniform within doors and dressy in your finery out of doors4 ,dishonour always lies in inconsistency4 ,honour lies in loving perfection1 consistency1 and in working hard for it3 in being ready to work patiently3 ready to say not 8,how clever ,i am60 but 8,i am not yet worthy3 but ,nursing is worthy2 and ,i will live to deserve and work to deserve to be called a ,trained ,nurse40 ,here are two of the plain1 practical1 little things necessary to produce good ,nurses1 the want of attention to which produces some of the 8greatest evils in life03 quietness1 cleanliness1 7a7 ,quietness in moving about the 8,home02 in arranging your rooms1 in not slamming every door after you4 ,no noisy talking on the stairs and in the lobbies--forgetting at times some unfortunate ,night ,nurse in bed4 ,but if you are ,nurses1 ,nurses ought to be going about quietly whether ,night ,nurses are asleep or not4 ,for a ,sick ,ward ought to be as quiet as a ,sick ,room2 and a ,sick ,room1 ,i need not say1 ought to be the quietest place in ,god's ,kingdom4 ,quietness in dress1 especially being consistent in this matter when off duty and going out4 ,and oh6 let the ,lady ,probationers realise how important their example is in these things1 so little and so great6 ,if you are ,nurses1 ,nurses ought not to be dressy1 whether in or out of their uniform4 ,do you remember that ,christ holds up the wild flowers as our example in dress8 ,why8 ,he says3 ,god 8clothes0 the field flowers4 ,how does ,he clothe them8 ,first3 their 8clothes0 are exactly suitable for the kind of place they are in and the kind of work they have to do4 ,so should ours be4 ,second3 field flowers are never double3 double flowers change their useful stamens for showy petals1 and so have no seeds4 ,these double flowers are like the useless appendages now worn on the dress1 and very much in your way4 ,wild flowers have purpose in all their beauty4 ,so ought dress to have2 nothing purposeless about it4 ,third3 the colours of the wild flower are perfect in harmony1 and not many of them4 ,fourth3 there is not a speck on the freshness with which flowers come out of the dirty earth4 ,even when our clothes are getting rather old we may imitate the flower3 for we may make them look as fresh as a daisy4 ,whatsoever we do1 whether we eat or drink or dress1 let us do all to the glory of ,god4 ,but above all remember1 8,be not anxious what ye shall put on10 which is the real meaning of 8,take no thought40 ,this is not my own idea3 it was in a ,bible lesson1 never to be forgotten4 ,and ,i knew a ,nurse who dressed so nicely and quietly after she had heard this ,bible lesson that you would think of her as a model4 ,and alas6 ,i have known1 oh how many6 whose dress was their snare4 ,oh1 my dear ,nurses1 whether gentlewomen or not1 don't let people say of you that you are like 8,girls of the ,period03 let them say that you are like 8field flowers10 and welcome4 7b7 ,cleanliness in person and in our rooms1 thinking nothing too small to be attended to in this respect4 ,and if these things are important in the 8,home10 think how important they are in the ,wards1 where cleanliness and fresh air--there can be no pure air without cleanliness--not so much give life as are the very life of the ,patients2 where the smallest carelessness may turn the scale from life to death2 where ,disinfectants1 as one of your own ,surgeons has said1 are but a 8mystic rite40 ,cleanliness is the only real ,disinfectant4 ,remember that ,typhoid ,fever is distinctly a filth disease2 that ,consumption is distinctly the product of breathing foul air1 especially at night2 that in surgical cases1 ,erysipelas and ,pyaemia are simply a poisoning of the blood--generally thro' some want of cleanliness or other4 ,and do not speak of these as little things1 which determine the most momentous issues of life and death4 ,i knew a ,probationer who when washing a poor man's ulcerated leg1 actually wiped it on his sheet1 and excused herself by saying she had always seen it done so in another place4 ,the least carelessness in not washing your hands between one bad case and another1 and many another carelessness which it is plain ,i cannot mention here--it would not be nice1 though it is much less nice to do it--the least carelessness1 ,i say1 in these things which every ,nurse can be careful or careless in1 may cost a life3 aye1 may cost your own1 or at least a finger4 ,we have all seen poisoned fingers4 ,i read with more interest than if they were novels your case papers4 ,some are meagre1 especially in the 8history40 ,some are good4 ,please remember that1 besides your own instruction1 you can give me some too1 by making these most interesting cases as interesting as possible1 by making them full and accurate1 and entering the full history4 ,if the history of every case were recorded1 especially of ,typhoid ,fever1 which is1 as we said1 a filth disease1 it is impossible to over-estimate the body of valuable information which would thus be got together1 and might go far1 in the hands of ,officers of ,health and by recent laws1 to prevent disease altogether4 ,the ,district ,nurses are most useful in this respect4 ,when we obey all ,god's laws as to cleanliness1 fresh air1 pure water1 good habits1 good dwellings1 good drains1 food and drink1 work and exercise1 health is the result4 ,when we disobey1 sickness4 #aaj1jjj lives are needlessly sacrificed every year in this kingdom by our disobedience1 and #bbj1jjj people are needlessly sick all the year round4 ,and why8 ,because we will not know1 will not obey ,god's simple ,health laws4 ,no epidemic can resist thorough cleanliness and fresh air4 99 99 99 99 99 ,is there any ,nurse here who is a ,pharisee8 ,this seems a very cruel and unjust question4 ,we think of the ,pharisees1 when we read the terrible denunciation of them by our ,master1 as a small1 peculiar1 antiquated sect of #bjjj years ago4 ,are they not rather the least peculiar1 the most widely-spread people of every time8 ,i am sure ,i often ask myself1 sadly enough1 8,am ,i a ,pharisee80 ,in this sense3 ,am ,i1 or am ,i not1 doing this with a single eye to ,god's work1 to serving ,him and my neighbour1 even tho' my 8neighbour0 is as hostile to me as the ,jew was to the ,samaritan8 ,or am ,i doing it because ,i identify my selfish self with the work1 and in so doing serve myself and not ,god8 ,if so1 then ,i am a ,pharisee4 ,it is good to love our ,training ,school and our body1 and to wish to keep up its credit4 ,we are bound to do so4 ,that is helping ,god's work in the world4 ,we are bound to try to be the 8salt of the world0 in nursing2 but if we are conceited1 seeking ourselves in this1 then we are not 8salt0 but ,pharisees4 ,we should have zeal for ,god's sake and ,his work's sake3 but some seem to have zeal for zeal's sake only4 ,zeal does not make a ,christian ,nurse if it is zeal for our own credit and glory--tho' ,christ was the most zealous mediciner that ever was4 7,he says3 8,the zeal of ,god's house hath eaten me up407 ,zeal by itself does not make a good ,nurse3 it makes a ,pharisee4 ,christ is so strong upon this point of not being conceited1 of not nursing to show what 8fine fellows0 we are as ,nurses1 that ,he actually says 8it is conceited of us to let one of our hands know what the other does40 ,what will ,he say if ,he sees one of us doing all her work to let not only her other hand but other people know she does it8 ,yet all our best work which looks so well may be done from this motive4 ,and let me tell you a little secret4 ,one of our ,superintendents at a distance says that she finds she must not boast so much about ,st4 ,thomas'4 ,nor must you4 ,people have heard too much about it4 ,i dare say you remember the fine old ,greek statesman who was banished because people were tired of hearing him called 8,the ,just40 ,don't let people get tired of hearing you call ,st4 ,thomas' 8,the ,just0 when you are away from us4 ,we shall not at all complain of your proving it 8,the ,just0 by your training and conduct4 ,i read lately in a well-known medical journal1 speaking of the 8,nightingale ,nurses10 that the day is quite gone by when a novel would give a caricature of a ,nurse as a 8,mrs4 ,gamp0--drinking1 brutal1 ignorant1 coarse old woman4 ,the 8,nightingale ,nurse0 in a novel1 it said1 would be--what do you think8--an active1 useful1 clever ,nurse4 ,these are the parts ,i approve of4 ,but what else do you think8--a lively1 rather pert1 and very conceited young woman4 ,ah1 there's the rub4 ,you see what our name is 8up0 for in the world4 ,that's what ,i should like to be left out4 ,this is what a friendly critic says of us1 and we may be very sure that unfriendly critics say much worse4 ,do we deserve what they say of us8 ,that is the question4 ,let us not have1 each one of us1 to say 8yes0 in our own hearts4 ,christ made no light matter of conceit4 ,keep the usefulness1 and let the conceit go4 99 99 99 99 99 ,and may ,i here say a few words of counsel to those who may be called upon to be ,night ,nurses8 ,one of these asked me with tears to pray for her4 ,i do pray for all of you1 our dear ,night ,nurses4 ,in my restless nights my thoughts turn to you incessantly by the bedsides of restless and suffering ,patients1 and ,i pray ,god that ,he will make1 thro' you1 thro' your patience1 your skill1 your hope1 faith and charity1 every ,ward into a ,church1 and teach us that to be the ,gospel is the only way to 8preach the ,gospel10 which ,christ tells us is the duty of every one of us 8unto the end of the world0--every woman and ,nurse of us all2 and that a collection of any people trying to live like ,christ is a ,church4 ,did you ever think how ,christ was a ,nurse1 and stood by the bed1 and with ,his own hands nursed and 8did for0 the sufferers8 ,but1 to return to those who may be called upon to be ,night ,nurses3 do not abuse the liberty given you on emerging from the 8,home10 where you are cared for as if you were our children4 ,keep to regular hours by day for your meals1 your sleep1 your exercise4 ,if you do not1 you will never be able to do and stand the night work perfectly2 if you do1 there is no reason why night nursing may not be as healthy as day4 7,i used to be very fond of the night when ,i was a ,night ,nurse2 ,i know what it is4 ,but then ,i had my day work to do besides2 you have not47 ,do not turn dressy in your goings out by day4 ,it is vulgar1 it is mean1 to burst out into freedom in this way4 ,there are circumstances of peculiar temptation when1 after the restraint and motherly care of the 8,home10 you1 the young ones1 are put into circumstances of peculiar liberty4 ,is it not the time to act like ,daniel8444 ,let 8the ,judge1 the ,righteous ,judge10 have to call us not the 8,pharisees10 but ,daniel's band6 ,that is what ,i pray for you1 for me1 for all of us4 ,but what is it to be a ,daniel's band8 ,what is ,god's command to ,night ,nurses8 ,it is--is it not8--not to slur over any duty--not the very least of all our duties--as ,night ,nurse3 to be able to give a full1 accurate1 and minute account of each ,patient the next morning3 to be strictly reserved in your manner with gentlemen 78,thou ,god seest me03 no one else72 to be honest and true4 ,you don't know how well the ,patients know you1 how accurately they judge you4 ,you can do them no good unless they see that you live what you say4 ,it is3 not to go out showily dressed1 and not to keep irregular hours with others in the day time4 ,dare to have a purpose firm1 ,dare to make it known4 ,watch--watch4 ,christ seems to have had a special word for ,night ,nurses3 8,i say unto you1 watch40 ,and ,he says3 8,lo1 ,i am with you alway10 when no one else is by4 ,and he divides us all1 at this moment1 into the 8wise virgins0 and the 8foolish virgins40 ,oh1 let ,him not find any 8foolish virgins0 among our ,night ,nurses6 ,each ,night ,nurse has to stand alone in her ,ward4 ,dare to stand alone4 ,let our ,master be able to say some day that every one of the ,patients has been the better1 not only in body but in spirit--whether going to life or to death--for having been nursed by each one of you4 99 99 99 99 99 ,but one is gone1 perhaps the dearest of all--,nurse ,martha ,rice4 ,i was the last to see her in ,england4 ,she was so pleased to be going to ,miss ,machin at ,montreal4 ,she said it was no sacrifice1 except the leaving her parents4 ,she almost wished it had been1 that she might have had something to give to ,god4 ,now she has had something to give to ,god3 her life4 8,so young1 so happy3 all so happy together1 when in their room they were always sitting round the table1 so cheerful1 reading their ,bible together4 ,she walked round the garden so happy that last night40 ,so pure and fresh3 there was something of the sweet savour of holiness about her4 ,i could tell you of souls upon whom she made a great impression3 all unknowing3 simply by being herself4 ,a noble sort of girl3 sound and holy in mind and heart3 living with ,god4 ,it is scarcely respectful to say how ,i liked her1 now she is an angel in heaven2 like a child to ,miss ,machin1 who was like a mother to her1 loved and nursed her day and night4 8,so dear and bright a creature10 8liked and respected by every one in the ,hospital10 8and1 as a ,nurse1 hardly too much can be said in her favour40 8,to the ,doctors1 ,patients1 and ,superintendent1 she was simply invaluable40 8,the contrast between these ,nurses and the best of others is to be keenly felt daily02 8doing bravely02 8perfectly obedient and pleasant to their ,superintendent40 ,was ,martha conceited with all this8 ,she was one of the simplest humblest ,christian women ,i have ever known4 ,all noble souls are simple1 natural1 and humble4 ,let us be like her1 and1 like her1 not conceited with it all4 ,she was too brave to be conceited3 too brave not to be humble4 ,she had trained herself for the battle4 8,with a nice1 genial1 respectful manner1 which never left her1 great firmness in duty1 and steadiness that rendered her above suspicion03 8happy and interested in her charge40 ,more above all petty calculations about self1 all paltry wranglings1 than almost any4 ,how different for us1 for her1 had it not been so6 ,could we have mourned her as we do8 ,the others of the small ,montreal staff who miss her so terribly will like to hear how we feel this4 ,they were all with her when she died4 ,miss ,machin sat up with her every night1 and either she or ,miss ,blower never left her1 day or night1 during the last nine days of her illness4 ,she died of typhoid fever3 peritonitis the last three weeks2 but1 as she had survived so long1 they hoped against hope up to ,easter ,day4 ,about seven days before her death1 during her delirium1 she said3 8,the ,lord has two wills3 ,his will be done40 ,it is when we do not know what ,god's will is to be1 that it is the hardest to will what ,he wills4 ,strange to say1 on ,good ,friday1 though she was so delirious that there was difficulty in keeping her in bed1 and she did not know what day it was1 ,christ on the ,cross was her theme all the day long4 8,christ died on the ,cross for me1 and ,i want to go and die for ,him40 ,she had indeed lived for ,him4 ,then on ,easter ,day she said to ,miss ,blower3 8,i am happy1 so happy3 we are both happy1 so very happy40 ,she said she was going to hear the eighth ,psalm4 ,shall we remember ,martha's favourite psalm8 ,she spoke often about ,st4 ,thomas'4 ,she died the day after ,easter ,day4 ,the change came at #g in the evening1 and she lived till #e o'clock the next morning1 conscious to the last1 repeating sentences1 and answering by looks when she could speak no more4 ,her ,saviour1 whom she had so loved and followed in her life1 was with her thro' the ,valley of the ,shadow of ,death1 and she felt ,him there4 ,she was happy4 8,my best love10 she said1 8tell them it is all for the best1 and ,i am not sorry ,i came out40 ,her parents have given her up nobly1 though with bleeding hearts1 with true submission to our ,father's will3 they are satisfied it is 8all for the best40 ,all the ,montreal ,hospital shared our sorrow4 ,the ,doctors were full of kindness in their medical attendance4 ,mr4 ,redpath1 who is a principal ,director1 and ,mrs4 ,redpath were like a real father and mother to our people4 ,martha's death-bed and coffin were strewed with flowers4 ,public and private prayers were offered up for her at ,montreal during her illness4 ,who can say that they were not answered8 ,she spoke of dying3 but without fear4 ,we prayed that ,god would spare the child to us3 but ,he had need of her4 ,our ,father arranged her going out3 for she went1 if ever woman did1 with a single eye to please ,him and do her duty to the work and her ,superintendent4 8,is it well with the child80 8,it is well40 ,let us who feel her loss so deeply in the work not grudge her to ,god4 ,as one of you yourselves said3 8,she died like a good soldier of ,jesus ,christ1 well to the front40 ,would any one of us wish it otherwise for her8 ,would any one of us wish a better lot for herself8 ,there is but one feeling among us all about her3 that she lived as a noble ,christian girl1 and that she has been permitted to die nobly3 in the post of honour1 as a soldier thinks it glorious to die4 ,in the midst of our work1 so surely do we ,nurses think it glorious to die4 ,but to be like her we must have a mind like hers3 8enduring1 patient1 firm1 and meek40 ,i know that she sought of ,god the mind of ,jesus ,christ1 8active1 like ,his2 like ,his1 resigned02 copying ,his pattern3 ready to 8endure hardness40 ,we give her joy2 it is our loss1 not hers4 ,she is gone to our ,lord and her ,lord1 made ripe so soon for her and our ,father's house4 ,our tears are her joy4 ,she is in another room of our ,father's house4 ,she bids us now give thanks for her4 ,think of that ,easter morn when she rose again6 ,she had indeed 8another morn than ours0--that #agth of ,april4 ,,florence ,,nightingale4 ,,vi ,easter ,eve1 #ahgi1 #f ,a4,m4 ,,my ,,dear ,,friends1--,i am always thinking of you1 and as my ,easter greeting1 ,i could not help copying for you part of a letter which one of my brother-in-law's family had from ,col4 ,degacher 7commanding one battalion of the #bdth ,regiment in ,natal71 giving the names of men whom he recommended for the ,victoria ,cross1 when defending the ,commissariat ,stores at ,rorke's ,drift4 7,his brother1 ,capt4 ,degacher1 was killed at ,isandhlwana47 ,he says3 8,private ,john ,williams was posted1 together with ,private ,joseph ,williams and ,private ,william ,harrison 7#a_/bdth ,regiment71 in a further ward of the ,hospital4 ,they held it for more than an hour--so long as they had a round of ammunition left1 when1 as communication was for the time cut off1 the ,zulus were enabled to advance and burst open the door4 ,a hand-to-hand conflict then ensued1 during which ,private ,joseph ,williams and two of the ,patients were dragged out and assegaied 7killed with a short spear or dagger74 8,whilst the ,zulus were occupied with the slaughter of these unfortunate men1 a lull took place1 which enabled ,private ,john ,williams 7who with two of the ,patients were by this time the only men left alive in the ,ward7 to succeed in knocking a hole in the partition and taking the two ,patients with him into the next ward1 where he found ,private ,henry ,hook4 8,these two men together1 one man working whilst the other fought and held the enemy at bay with his bayonet1 broke through three more partitions1 and were thus enabled to bring eight ,patients through a small window into the inner line of defence4 8,in another ward facing the hill1 ,william ,jones and ,private ,robert ,jones had been placed3 they defended their post to the last1 and until six out of seven ,patients it contained had been removed4 ,the seventh1 ,sergeant ,maxfield1 #b_/bdth ,regiment1 was delirious from fever1 and although they had previously dressed him1 they were unable to induce him to move2 and when ,private ,robert ,jones returned to endeavour to carry him off1 he found him being stabbed on his bed by the ,zulus4 8,corporal ,wm4 ,allen and ,fd4 ,hitch1 #b_/bdth ,regiment1 must also be mentioned4 ,it was chiefly due to their courageous conduct that communication with the ,hospital was kept up at all--holding together1 at all costs1 a most dangerous post1 raked in reverse by the enemy's fire from the hill4 ,they were both severely wounded1 but their determined conduct enabled the ,patients to be withdrawn from the ,hospital4 ,and when incapacitated from their wounds from fighting themselves1 they continued1 as soon as their wounds were dressed1 to serve out ammunition to their comrades throughout the night40 ,these men who were defending the house at ,rorke's ,drift were #abj of his 7,col4 ,degacher's7 men against #ejjj ,zulus1 and they fought from #c ,p4,m4 of ,january #bbnd1 to #e ,a4,m4 of the #bcrd4 ,there is a ,night ,nurse's work for you4 8,when shall such heroes live again80 ,in every ,nurse of us all4 ,every ,nurse may at all costs serve her ,patients as these brave heroic men did at the risk and the cost of their own lives4 ,three cheers for these bravest of ,night ,nurses of ,rorke's ,drift1 who regarded not themselves1 not their ease1 not even their lives2 who regarded duty and discipline2 who stood to the last by ,god and their neighbour2 who saved their post and their ,patients4 ,and may we ,nurses all be like them1 and fight through the night for our ,patients' lives--fight through every night and day6 ,do you see what a high feeling of comradeship does for these men8 ,many a soldier loses his life in the field by going back to help a drowning or a wounded comrade1 who might have saved it4 ,oh1 let us ,nurses all be comrades2 stick to the honour of our flag and our corps1 and help each other to the best success1 for the sake of ,him who died1 as at this time1 to save us all6 ,and let us remember that petty selfishnesses and meannesses and self-indulgences hinder our honour as good soldiers of ,jesus ,christ and of the ,unseen ,god1 who sees all these little things when no one else does6 ,what makes us endure to the end8 ,discipline4 ,do you think these men could thus have fought at a desperate post through the livelong night if they had not been trained to obedience to orders1 and to acting as a corps1 yet each man doing his own duty to the fullest extent--rather than every man going his own way1 thinking of his own likings1 and caring for himself8 ,how great may be men and women1 8little lower than the angels10 and also how little6 ,humility--to think our own life worth nothing except as serving in a corps1 ,god's nursing corps1 unflinching obedience1 steadiness1 and endurance in carrying out ,his work--that is true discipline1 that is true greatness1 and may ,god give it to us ,nurses1 and make us ,his own ,nurses4 ,and let us not think that these things can be done in a day or a night4 ,no1 they are the result of no rough-and-ready method4 ,the most important part of those efforts was to be found in the patient labour of years4 ,these great tasks are not to be accomplished suddenly by raw fellows in a night2 it is when discipline and training have become a kind of second nature to us that they can be accomplished every day and every night4 ,the raw ,native levies ran away1 determining our fall at ,isandhlwana4 ,the well-trained ,english soldiers1 led by their ,officers and their ,non-commissioned ,officers1 stuck to their posts4 ,every feeling1 every thought we have1 stamps a character upon us1 especially in our year of training1 and in the next year or two4 ,the most unruly boys1 weak in themselves--for unruliness is weakness--when they have to submit1 it brings out all the good points in their characters4 ,these boys1 so easily led astray1 they put themselves under the severest discipline1 and after training sometimes come out the best of us all4 ,the qualities which1 when let alone1 run to seed and do themselves and others nothing but harm1 under proper discipline make fine fellows of them4 ,and what is it to obey8 ,to obey means to do what we are told1 and to do it at once4 ,with the nurse1 as with the soldier1 whether we have been accustomed to it or not1 whether we think it right or not1 is not the question4 ,prompt obedience is the question4 ,we are not in control1 but under control4 ,prompt obedience is the first thing2 the rest is traditional nonsense4 ,but mind who we go to for our orders4 ,go to headquarters4 ,true discipline is to uphold authority1 and not to mind trouble4 ,we come into the work to do the work4444 ,we ,nurses are taught the 8reason why10 as soldiers cannot be1 of much of what we have to do4 ,but it would be making a poor use of this 8reason why0 if we were to turn round in any part of our training and say1 or not say1 but feel--,we know better than you4 ,would we be of less use than the ,elephant8 ,the ,elephant who could kill a hundred men1 but who alike pushes the artillery train with his head when the horses cannot move it1 and who minds the children and carefully nurses them1 and who threads a needle with his trunk4 ,why8 ,because he has been taught to obey4 ,he would be of no use but to destroy1 unless he had learnt that4 ,sometimes he has a strong will1 and it is not easy for him to get his lesson perfect4 ,we can feel for him4 ,we know a little about it ourselves4 ,but he does learn in time to go our way and not his own1 to carry a heavy load1 which of course he would rather not do1 to turn to which ever side we wish1 and to stop when we want him to stop4 ,so ,god teaches each one of us in time to go ,his way and not our own4 ,and one of the best things ,i can wish each one of us is that we may learn the ,elephant's lesson1 that is to obey1 in good time and not too late4 ,pray for me1 my dear friends1 that ,i may learn it1 even in my old age4 ,,florence ,,nightingale4 ,,vii ,,london1 ,may #af1 #ahhh4 ,,my ,,dear ,,friends1--,here1 one year more1 is my very best love and heart-felt 8good speed0 to the work4 ,to each and to all ,i wish the very highest success1 in the widest meaning of the word1 in the life's work you have chosen4 ,and ,i am more sorry than for anything else that my illness1 more than usually serious1 has let me know personally so little of you1 except through our dear ,matron and dear ,home ,sister4 ,you are going steadily and devotedly on in preparing yourselves for future work4 ,accept my heartiest sympathy and thanks4 99 99 99 99 99 ,we hear much of 8,associations0 now4 ,it is impossible indeed to live in isolation3 we are dependent upon others for the supply of all our wants1 and others upon us4 ,every ,hospital is an 8,association0 in itself4 ,we of this ,school are an ,association in the deepest sense1 regulated--at least we strive towards it--on high and generous principles2 through organisation working at once for our own and our fellow ,nurses' success4 ,for1 to make progress possible1 we must make this interdependence a source of good3 not a means of standing still4 ,there is no magic in the word 8,association10 but there is a secret1 a mighty call in it1 if we will but listen to the 8still small voice0 in it1 calling upon each of us to do our best4 ,it calls upon our dear heads1 and they answer4 ,it calls upon each of us4 ,we must never forget that the 8,individual0 makes the ,association4 ,what the ,association is depends upon each of its members4 ,a ,nurses' ,association can never be a substitute for the individual ,nurse4 ,it is she who must1 each in her measure1 give life to the ,association1 while the ,association helps her4 ,we have our dear heads4 ,thank ,god for them6 ,let us each one of us be a living member1 according to her several ability4 ,it is the individual that signifies--rather than the law or the rule4 ,has not every one who has experience of the world been struck by this3 you may have the most admirable circumstances and organisations and examinations and certificates1 yet1 if the individual allows herself to sink to a lower level1 it is all but a 8tinkling cymbal0 for her4 ,it is how the circumstances are worked that signifies4 ,circumstances are opportunities4 ,rules may become a dead letter4 ,it is the spirit of them that 8giveth life40 ,it is the individual1 inside1 that counts1 the level she is upon which tells4 ,the rest is only the outward shell or envelope4 ,she must become a 8rule of thought0 to herself through the ,ruler4 ,and on the other hand1 it strikes you often1 as a great man has said1 if the individual finds herself afterwards in less admirable circumstances1 but keeps her high level1 and rises to a higher and a higher level still--if she makes of her difficulties1 her opportunities--steps to ascend--she commands her circumstances2 she is capable of the best ,nursing work and spirit1 capable of the best influence over her ,patients4 ,it is again1 what the individual ,nurse is and can do during her living training and living work that signifies1 not what she is certified for1 like a steam-boiler1 which is certified to stand so much pressure of work4 ,she may have gone through a first-rate course1 plenty of examinations1 and we may find nothing inside4 ,it may be the difference between a ,nurse nursing1 and a ,nurse reading a book on ,nursing4 ,unless it bear fruit1 it is all gilding and veneering3 the reality is not there1 growing1 growing every year4 ,every ,nurse must grow4 ,no ,nurse can stand still4 ,she must go forward or she will go backward every year4 ,and how can a ,certificate or public ,register show this8 ,rather1 she ought to have a moral 8,clinical0 ,thermometer in herself4 ,our stature does not grow every year after we are 8grown up40 ,neither does it grow down4 ,it is otherwise with our moral stature and our ,nursing stature4 ,we grow down1 if we don't grow up1 every year4 ,at the present time1 when there are so many ,associations1 when periodicals and publicity are so much the fashion1 when there is such a dragging of everything before the public1 there is some danger of our forgetting that any true ,nursing work must be quiet work--an individual work4 ,anything else is contrary to the whole realness of the work4 ,where am ,i1 the individual1 in my inmost soul8 ,what am ,i1 the inner woman called 8,i08 ,that is the question4 ,this 8,i0 must be quiet yet quick2 quick without hurry2 gentle without slowness1 discreet without self-importance4 8,in quietness and in confidence must be her strength40 ,i must be trustworthy1 to carry out directions intelligently and perfectly1 unseen as well as seen2 8unto the ,lord0 as well as unto men2 no mere eye service4 7,how can this be if she is a mere ,association ,nurse1 and not an individual ,nurse87 ,i must have moral influence over my ,patients4 ,and ,i can only have this by being what ,i appear1 especially now that everybody is educated1 so that ,patients become my keen critics and judges4 ,my ,patients are watching me4 ,they know what my profession1 my calling is3 to devote myself to the good of the sick4 ,they are asking themselves3 does that ,nurse act up to her profession8 ,this is no supposition4 ,it is a fact4 ,it is a call to us1 to each individual ,nurse1 to act up to her profession4 ,we hear a good deal nowadays about ,nursing being made a 8profession40 ,rather1 is it not the question for me3 am ,i living up to my 8profession08 ,but ,i must not crave for the ,patient to be always recognising my services4 ,on the contrary3 the best service ,i can give is that the ,patient shall scarcely be aware of any--shall recognise my presence most by recognising that he has no wants4 7,shakespeare tells me that to be 8nurse like0 is to be to the ,patient-- ,so kind1 so duteous1 diligent1 ,so tender over his occasions1 true1 ,so feat47 ,i must be thorough--a work1 not a word--a ,nurse1 not a book1 not an answer1 not a certificate1 not a mechanism1 a mere piece of a mechanism or ,association4 ,at the same time1 in as far as ,associations really give help and pledges for progress1 are not mere crutches1 stereotypes for standing still1 let us bid them 8,god speed0 with our whole hearts4 ,we all know what 8parasites0 are1 plants or animals which live upon others and don't work for their own food1 and so degenerate4 ,for the work to get food is quite as necessary as the food itself for healthy active life and development4 ,now1 there is a danger in the air of becoming ,parasites in ,nursing 7and also ,midwifery7--of our becoming ,nurses 7and ,midwives7 by deputy1 a danger now when there is so great an inclination to make school and college education1 all sorts of ,sciences and ,arts1 even ,nursing and ,midwifery1 a book and examination business1 a profession in the low1 not in the high sense of the word4 ,and the danger is that we shall be content to let the book and the theory and the words do for us4 ,one of the most religious of men says that we let the going to ,church and the clergyman do for us instead of the learning and the practice1 if we have the ,parasite tendency1 and that even the better the service and the better the sermon and the theory and the teaching1 the more danger there is that we may let it do4 ,he says that we may become satisfied to be prayed for instead of praying--to have our work for ,christ done by a paid deputy--to be fed by a deputy who gives us our supply for a week--to substitute for thought what is meant as a stimulus to thought and practice4 ,this is the parasite of the pew he says 7as the literary parasite thinks he knows everything because he has a 8good library074 ,he enjoys his weekly1 perhaps his daily worship1 while character and life1 will and practice are not only not making progress1 but are actually deteriorating4 ,do you remember ,tennyson's farmer1 who says of the clergyman3 ,i 'erd 'um a bummin' away 444 ower my 'ed1 444 ,an' ,i thowt a said whot a owt to 'a said an' ,i coom'd away4 ,we laugh at that4 ,but is the ,parasite much better than that8 ,now the ,ambulance ,classes1 the ,registration1 the ,certificates of ,nursing and of ,nurses 7and of midwifery71 especially any which may demand the minimum of practice1 which may substitute for personal progress in active proficiency1 mere literary or word progress1 instead of making it the material for growth in correct knowledge and practice1 all such like things may tend this way4 ,it is not the certificate which makes the ,nurse or the ,midwife4 ,it may un-make her4 ,the danger is lest she let the certificate be instead of herself1 instead of her own never ceasing going up higher as a woman and a ,nurse4 ,this is the 8day0 of ,examinations in the turn that ,education--,elementary1 the ,higher ,education1 ,professional ,education--seems taking4 ,and it is a great step which has substituted this for what used to be called 8interest40 ,only let us never allow it to encroach upon what cannot be tested by examinations4 ,only let the 8day0 of ,practice1 the development of each individual's thought and practice1 character and dutifulness1 keep up1 through the materials given us for growth and for correct knowledge1 with the 8day of examinations0 in the ,nurse's life1 which is above all a moral and practical life1 a life not of show1 but of faithful action4 ,but above all1 dear comrades1 let each one of us1 each individual of us1 not only bid 8,god speed0 in her heart to this1 our own ,school 7or ,association--call it so if you will71 but strive to speed it with all the best that is in her1 even as your 8,association0 and its dear heads strive to speed each one of you4 ,let each one of us take the abundant and excellent food for the mind which is offered us1 in our training1 our classes1 our lectures1 our examinations and reading--not as 8,parasites10 no1 none of you will ever do that--but as bright and vigorous fellow-workers1 working out the better way every day to the end of life4 ,once more1 my heartiest sympathy1 my dearest love to each and to all of you1 from your ever faithful old comrade1 ,,florence ,,nightingale4 ,printed by ,r4 ,r4 ,,clark1 ,,limited1 ,edinburgh4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,the beginning of the first address will suggest a reason for this turn of phrase4 ,a nurse who had been through training might not always be 8worthy of the name of #8,trained ,nurse'0 7,address of #ahgf74 #b ,there is a well-known ,society abroad 7for charitable works7 of which the ,members go through a two years' probation on their first entering1 but after ten years they return and go through a second probation of one year4 ,this is one of the most striking recognitions ,i know of the fact that progress is always to be made3 that grown-up people1 even of middle-age1 ought always to have their education going on4 ,but only those can learn after middle age who have gone on learning up to middle age4 #c ,the ,madre ,santa ,colomba1 of the ,convent of the ,trinit dei ,monti in ,rome4--,,editor',s ,,note4 #d ,there is a most suggestive story told of one1 some #cjj years ago1 an able and learned man1 who presented himself for admission into a ,society for ,preaching and ,charitable ,works4 ,he was kept for many months on this query3 ,are you a ,christian8 by his 8,master of ,probationers40 ,he took kindly and heartily to it2 went with his whole soul and mind into this little momentous question1 and solved it victoriously in his own course1 and in his after course of usefulness for others4 ,am ,i a ,christian8 is most certainly the first and most important question for each one of us ,nurses4 ,let us ask it1 each of herself1 every day4 #e ,nightingale ,nurse and ,lady ,superintendent of ,liverpool ,workhouse ,infirmary4 ,pioneer of ,workhouse ,nursing4 ,after her early death in #ahfh ,miss ,nightingale wrote in ,good ,words an article1 8,una and the ,lion10 on her life and work4--,,editor',s ,,note4 #f ,madame ,caroline ,werckner1 an ,englishwoman4--,,editor',s ,,note4 #g ,do you remember the word of one of the greatest poets of the ,middle ,ages8 ,the soul ,which o'er the body keeps a holy ward1 ,placed there by ,god1 yielding alone to ,him ,the trust ,he gave4 99 99 99 99 99 ,typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber3 to set it face heavenward to set its face heavenward pg #hd ,and lo ,i am with you alway1 even unto the end of the world ,and lo ,i am with you always1 even unto the end of the world pg #ih