A vital necessity then exists for some knowledge of the first prin- ciples of nursing, and hopeless as such education might seem for all but the intelligent, it has already been proved that even the poorest and apparently most stupid working-woman can understand and carry out the simple precepts, laid down by a teacher wise enough to know how to be simple. In one of our largest cities during the past winter, a woman of wide and energetic benevolence brought together through a course of several weeks some two hundred women, who listened wiJi an eagerness almost pitiful to the careful instructions of physi- cians, who had doubted if they would listen, in every form of nursing and general care of health for sick or well. A manikin made the lecture on " Care of a Baby from its Birth " a very real and not-to-be- forgotten matter ; and simple bandaging, changing a bed without dis- turbing a patient, and many other essential and usually unconsidered things, each became an object-lesson, and has already worked per- jnanent alteration in methods. Such teaching need not necessarily be limited to cities. There is not a village in the United States where interest could not be stimu- IN THE sick-room; OR, SANITARY NURSING. 1 55 lated and the same work done by some intelligent woman, aided by the village physician, who in nine cases out often will be an educated man, thankful for anything that will make it possible for his directions to be understood and followed out. Quacks will object, for their trade rests upon ignorance ; and patent medicine makers and takers will think it all very superfluous, but if it can be accomplished, there will be fewer sick to nurse, and better nursing when they are sick. There are popular hand-books which cover this ground, some large and some small, nothing being better than Miss Nightingale's " Notes on Nursing," and so simple and clear that it is impossible to err if the direction is followed to the letter. Larger books cover the same ground, but one and all treat the subject under practically the same heads. Pure air, proper temperature, cleanliness, both of person and of surroundings ; disinfectants where needed ; suitable food and its preparation, are all vital points, whether in log-hut or brown-stone front, and it is with these that we have to do in the present chapter, each very sketchily because of limited space, but each in the order given. And first, pure air. Every authority on the care of the sick sums up this question in a rule which should be in large letters before the nurse's if not the patient's eyes : " Keep the Air Breathed as Pure as the External Air, Without Chilling the Patient." No matter what the sickness is, from measles or mumps up to consumption, this is one of the chief considerations. It is not enough to open a door into another room, for that room may hold all sorts of evil smells, from the fumes of dinner to gas, or the mustiness that comes from being long shut up, or from having things stored in it. An open fire-place, above all, with a fire burning in it, is an almost perfect ventilator; but few houses have them, and air must generally come from the windows. Even in winter there is no danger. People 156 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. do not take cold in bed. If chilly, a hot-water bottle to the feet and an extra blanket will keep the patient warm.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

A vital necessity then exists for some knowledge of the first principles of nursing, and hopeless as such education might seem for all but the intelligent, it has already been proved that even the poorest and apparently most stupid working-woman can understand and carry out the simple precepts, laid down by a teacher wise enough to know how to be simple. In one of our largest cities during the past winter, a woman of wide and energetic benevolence brought together through a course of several weeks some two hundred women, who listened with an eagerness almost pitiful to the careful instructions of physicians, who had doubted if they would listen, in every form of nursing and general care of health for sick or well. A manikin made the lecture on " Care of a Baby from its Birth " a very real and not-to-beforgotten matter ; and simple bandaging, changing a bed without disturbing a patient, and many other essential and usually unconsidered things, each became an object-lesson, and has already worked permanent alteration in methods. Such teaching need not necessarily be limited to cities. There is not a village in the United States where interest could not be stimu- lated and the same work done by some intelligent woman, aided by the village physician, who in nine cases out often will be an educated man, thankful for anything that will make it possible for his directions to be understood and followed out. Quacks will object, for their trade rests upon ignorance ; and patent medicine makers and takers will think it all very superfluous, but if it can be accomplished, there will be fewer sick to nurse, and better nursing when they are sick. There are popular hand-books which cover this ground, some large and some small, nothing being better than Miss Nightingale's " Notes on Nursing," and so simple and clear that it is impossible to err if the direction is followed to the letter. Larger books cover the same ground, but one and all treat the subject under practically the same heads. Pure air, proper temperature, cleanliness, both of person and of surroundings ; disinfectants where needed ; suitable food and its preparation, are all vital points, whether in log-hut or brown-stone front, and it is with these that we have to do in the present chapter, each very sketchily because of limited space, but each in the order given. And first, pure air. Every authority on the care of the sick sums up this question in a rule which should be in large letters before the nurse's if not the patient's eyes : " Keep the Air Breathed as Pure as the External Air, Without Chilling the Patient." No matter what the sickness is, from measles or mumps up to consumption, this is one of the chief considerations. It is not enough to open a door into another room, for that room may hold all sorts of evil smells, from the fumes of dinner to gas, or the mustiness that comes from being long shut up, or from having things stored in it. An open fire-place, above all, with a fire burning in it, is an almost perfect ventilator; but few houses have them, and air must generally come from the windows. Even in winter there is no danger. People 156 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. do not take cold in bed. If chilly, a hot-water bottle to the feet and an extra blanket will keep the patient warm.

The hearthstone; or, Life at home