roughness in dealing with them; by our inability to express the kindness and respect we feel for them; when we meet coarseness and vulgarity face to face, and strive to subdue and stay it by the might of gentleness and love; then we shall know how far too little we have attained of the true spirit of gentleness, how little we possess of the power of expressing it. We shall find that our failures are much greater, our successes much less, than they ought to be, and would have been, had we been more diligent in cultivating the gift entrusted to us for this very purpose; and shall be more inclined to ask in bitter self-reproach, "Why is such a price put into the hands of a fool ?" than to admire ourselves for possessing it. 1. FOR NURSING CHAP. IV. PRACTICAL PREPARATION. NURSING: PRACTICE THOUGHTFULNESS ARTISTIC USE OF REMEDIES COOKING FOR THE SICK. § 2. FOR TEACHING: SEWING HOUSEHOLD WORK -DRAW SINGING. TO THE AGED: ING: FORM, COLOURS DESIGNING PATTERNS "The aptitude for teaching which God has bestowed upon a woman must be counted as meant for all services and occasions, and therefore needs to be tried in various circumstances, amidst the daily vexations of domestic life, amidst people who have no other attraction than that they are ignorant." § 1. For nursing. So far as this can be learnt by books, "The Care of the Sick," a little volume of lectures delivered by Mr. Barwell to the working women's college, will teach you as much as you are likely to require. Most medical men will, I believe, endorse my suggestion that an accurate knowledge of the extent of your ignorance would be one of the most useful preparations for this work. But the art of nursing can only be acquired by practice; and if you cannot at present obtain such practice in a hospital (King's Hospital is the only one as yet open for the training of ladies as nurses), under competent direction, you should take such opportunities as you may meet with in your own circle, dispensing as much as possible with a servant's help. But there are some habits which it is essential for a nurse to be possessed of, and which cannot be assumed in the day of need, but may be more or less acquired by every day's practice in health as well as in sickness: they are all fruits of that thoughtful" attention to what passes before us,” which is the habit of the educated; and of that constant practice of self-forgetfulness and selfsacrifice, carried out, not in the great deeds we love to dream of, but in the little trifles of every hour, which require no grand resolutions, deserve no praise, attract no notice, and afford no ground for self-congratulation; and which perhaps for this very reason have been appointed by our Heavenly Master as the proper means for the education of Christian women in patient humility and unselfishness. The art of being quiet without being breathlessly still; the low clear voice, quick and gentle movements; the knowledge when to be busy, and when to keep out of the way; the skill to steer clear of excitement by too great amusement or by too great dullness; the willingness to set aside at once all your most careful preparations when the sick person objects to them, or expresses some other wish of her own; entire repose of PREPARATION FOR NURSING. 327 manner and readiness of action when things go wrong; the thoughtfulness that has everything prepared and ready for use at the door of the sick room at the right moment, without any disturbance; the neat and cheerful aspect of the room preserved without rustling and without fussiness; the knowledge of the degree of light that is agreeable, and the pleasantest way of admitting it; such things as these will not make you a nurse, but you can never be one without them. So also it is a great point in arranging a sick room that whatever is in daily use should be at hand, without the nurse having to move anything else to get at it; whilst the room itself must neither be, nor appear to be, crowded up with furniture nor with the paraphernalia of sickness, and what is seen should not be otherwise than ornamental; but all these circumstances are equally agreeable for people in health, and if we daily attend to them the "it never occurred to me" will not be heard from us when engaged in nursing the sick. Indeed it seems that as the day for violent remedies is past, so the importance of these-may I call them "nervous" remedies-increases. Whether we are more sensitive and excitable than our forefathers, I cannot tell, but I am sure every watchful nurse now finds it most important to attend to the effect produced by these little trifles. And if a yellow-coloured room could make a set of healthy workers melancholy ill, whilst in a blue room they are merry and well, pleasant and un pleasant sounds and sights may well be supposed to have a very perceptible influence on the irritable senses of the sick. They should not be disturbed by a multitude of objects, but whichever way they turn there should be something different and pleasant to look at; and if the illness be a long one, these things should be changed; a new picture, a fresh group of flowers and books, a new arrangement of the furniture, &c. I confess myself to having so great a dislike to being nursed by a person in black, that Mrs. Jameson's recommendation of black as a suitable uniform for nurses, made me shudder: in cold weather a black dress suggests cold and discomfort, in summer heat and dust; and at all times I am conscious that it is innocent of the laundress. These fancies in ourselves are to be kept under and subdued: but in nursing the sick they have to be discovered and yielded to. Then you should make yourself practically familiar with the weights and measures used in medicine, and learn to read prescriptions, so that you could in any emergency make up a prescription accurately and readily. Weighing, even dropping out medicine correctly, does not seem to come by nature, and if you cannot do it rapidly and neatly, when you are in a hurry you will be tempted to measure by your eye. You should also learn the pleasantest way of giving medicines: how to take away the nauseous taste,—to give acids without injury to the teeth, to make up |