So doctors, dispensaries, day nurseries, schools, charity organization societies, private individuals, and from the people themselves. rapidly did the work grow in favor that after eight months it was no longer possible for one nurse to attend to the calls, and a second nurse was engaged. Since then the work has twice demanded division of labor, and now we have four nurses. The nurse is responsible for everything in her territory. She first answers the call; and, if a doctor is needed, she sends one, either paying him, or, as is usually possible, she sends one of the many who have volunteered their services to the Guild. The doctor's orders must be carried out perfectly. It would be much easier to do this ourselves, but the very end for which we are working would be frustrated if we did it. Of course, emergencies come up constantly in the care of our sick children that the trained hand must do; but the general nursing, as far as it is possible, we teach the mother, and see that she does it, going day by day, if necessary, and always furnishing medicines, nourishment, or clothes,- in fact, any and every thing the sick child needs. Often it is necessary for weeks to give proper food and fuel, and in not a few cases the mother and all the other children must be fed; for while the mother cares for the sick child the entire income of the home may cease. The nurse has what money she needs, and to her judgment is left the decision as to how much shall be done. St. John's Guild has thought best to throw no restrictions about the nurse. She is sent out to do all the good she can, and she simply reports what she has done. The opportunities for helpfulness are unbounded, and I find the mothers and children eager to learn; and long after my efforts have ceased in the homes, because of returned health or sometimes from death, I find, when I meet the old cases, that not a few are better for the lessons we have tried earnestly to teach. The work is entirely non-sectarian in character. We care for any sick child, asking no questions. With us Jew or Gentile, Roman Catholic or Protestant, it is all the same. If the child is sick, we will do our best to restore it to health and happiness, either in our Children's Hospital or through the special ministrations of the visiting nurse in the home. Our visiting nurse really forms the connecting link between all the branches of the Guild's work. DISTRICT NURSING IN LONDON. BY DIANA C. KIMBER, NEW YORK TRAINING SCHOOL. District nursing in England started in Liverpool. In 1859 one ined nurse was employed to work in a single district; and so sucssful was this first attempt to nurse the sick poor in their own mes that in less than four years the whole of Liverpool was dided into eighteen districts, each supplied with a trained nurse. his gave the impetus to like work in London and other cities, >wns, and villages. But the work done was not always of a high order, as is proved rom the fact that in 1874 the Metropolitan and National Nursery Association was founded, with a view to raising the whole standing of district nursing to a higher level. The two cardinal principles of this Association were: first, that the nurses employed should live together in small, central homes, under the direction and supervision of a trained district superintendent; and, second, that the nurses should be women of education, refinement, and gentle breeding. In thirteen years nine such homes had been established in London, and some in country towns. In 1887 Queen Victoria devoted the balance of her Jubilee offering from the women of England - a balance amounting to £70,000 to founding an institute for nursing the sick poor in their own homes. And this institute, known as Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses, has sought by affiliation to gather into one grand system all the previously existing forms of district nursing in the United Kingdom. In 1892 there were fifty-two affiliated associations in England, thirty-six in Scotland, six in Ireland, and seven in Wales. In London the whole city is mapped out into districts, each district having its own home, superintendent, and corps of nurses. Miss Hughes, superintendent of the Central Training Home in London, told me that these districts dovetail so accurately that there is now no part of London beyond the reach of the trained district nurse. To quote from their plan of work, "The superintendent of the Nurses should be specially tramed for district murong, and 1 chunk can be no doubt that the home lite and supervixion at ympy uperintendents is essential to the work being done in the best n large cities. a central training home could be established in New Youd City for giving hospital trained nurses a six months' supplementary course in this special branch of nursing, I believe it would prove, if conducted on the right principles, to be the best scheme that could be devised for promoting the advance of district nursing in this country. CHILDREN IN HOSPITALS. BY MISS L. W. QUINTARD, NEW HAVEN. The helpful influence of hospitals is so evident that it seems hardly worth discussing. We who stand so close to the hospital see evidence of its great power, especially in the children's wards. The children that we receive are usually those that come from vile surroundings; but it is wonderful how quickly they respond to kind words and treatment. How much can be done for these poor little minds is often overlooked, but the nurses are so busy caring for the bodies that they do not have a great deal of time for the stunted minds. Those, however, who are interested in child-saving work can aid here. No one knows but those who are with the little ones the effect of teaching upon their minds, sick and stunted as they are. I have seen this in our own hospital, and have seen the practical results of wise instruction. For the past three years a young lady in New Haven, a trained kindergarten teacher, has come to us daily for two hours. She has given to each little patient what he could assimilate. Sometimes it is merely a story, cleverly told, bringing the child in contact with things he never heard of before. The ignorance of the children is dense. They know absolutely nothing beyond their own slums. The story told takes them into foreign lands, and it does much for them in this way. Then they make picture-books and scrap-books for the children that come to the New Haven Hospital. That teaches the children to be generous. It teaches them that there is some one besides themselves to be thought of. It takes their minds from their broken limbs, and the tedious convalescence is made attractive by this object-teaching. But, in order to do this sort of work for children in a hospital, a woman must be trained for it. The nurses, as I say, have not the time. They are taking care of the sick bodies. While by example TWENTY-SECOND NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CHARITIES we may teach them unselfishness, gentleness, and cleanliness, an outside person coming in is like a fresh breeze to these little children. Though the young lady to whom I refer has been coming so long, she is never old to them. They never grow weary of her, but they greet her just as they did three years ago. done in all our hospitals. We have children in the hospital for months at a time, orthopedic cases that have to stay, needing conI think this could be stant surgical nursing; but their minds lie fallow, while we care for their bodies. I ask that more attention be paid to this department. It is hardly nursing, but it is closely allied to it: it is nursing the mind while the body is coming back to health. A PLEA FOR TRAINED NURSES FOR ALMS- BY DR. G. H. M. ROWE, MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT OF THE BOSTON CITY HOSPITAL. Guizot asserts that the history of civilization is the history of tendencies. vance has been marked by clearly defined tendencies; and in the In the evolution of society from barbarism the adera of to-day the humanitarian impulse stands out pre-eminently. Compare the custom of man in the savage state sick and aged to die in solitude and neglect deavor of the skilled physician and the trained nurse, with the splendid equipment of a modern hospital, as they make a grim fight casting out the with the high enwith death for a human life. progressive tendency of heart and brain, gradually developing into Between these extremes stretches a the glorious attainments of modern medical science. It has been truly said that the death-rate of a country is a true gauge of its civilization. What a community does for its poor, its helpless, its sick, is a measure of its nobility and intelligence. War is a horror on account of the long trail of death, disaster, and privation; but this fact is true,- that the great wars of modern times have almost invariably proved powerful factors in advancing rk iry |