not say this as a reproach to anyone, or even as a con-
demnation of a system which, if logically carried out, as
fortunately it seldom is, comes very near to being the
greatest of modern tyrannies. My reason for noticing it
is that, though under these conditions the responsibility
of the mother or wife becomes different and much less
simple, it is by no means entirely over, as many young
people seem to me to imagine. We none of us wish for
one moment to return to the nurses of the type described
by Dickens, but I do think we ought all of us, in our homes
and with any influence we may have on our generation, to
guard against throwing ourselves entirely into the hands
of the doctors and nurses, with an absolute submission of
our intelligence — a submission which we should think
ridiculous and impossible in any of the other conditions
of life. It is bad for them and bad for us. Such power
is too much. Such a neglect of our duties and such
complete dependence on others may have most disastrous
consequences on ourselves, and, still worse, may seriously
injure the lives of those we love. Nothing matters so
much, be it old style or new, as that sickness in the house,
end it ever so favourably, should hurt or lessen family
love ; for, as Thackeray says in one of his letters, ' Aimons
nous lien. It seems to me that is the only thing we can
carry away, and when we go let us have some who love
us wherever we are.'
Nurses have a very hard life, and almost all women
who work are apt to belong to the overworked portion of
the community. That they should combine in any way
that is possible, for their own advantage and for the
maintenance of their old age, is very much to be desired.
But the public should never for one moment forget that
nursing, which began in devotion and forgetfulness of self,
as a vocation, has now become, in the most acknowledged
sense of the word, a profession and an employment for
300 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN
women, depriving them of the leisure and pleasure
belonging to their youth — that leisure and pleasure
which justified Scott's description of woman as ' un-
certain, coy, and hard to please,' and the want of which
certainly also takes from them the right to consider
themselves, or even the power to be, ' ministering angels.'
What is done for duty and money can never be the same
offering as what is done for love and devotion. The
public only are to blame if they think a strong young
woman ceases to be a human being because she works
hard and wears a nurse's dress. It is of distinct im-
portance that in the case of choosing a nurse for a
husband, brother, or son, a woman should feel the
responsibility of the situation, and not take the first nurse
that turns up at an institution. The selecting of a nurse
should most certainly not be left to chance. The nurse
should be suitable for the case from the point of view of
the family as well as that of the doctor. Why should we
expose two human beings under our charge to temptations
which we should not sanction under any of the other
circumstances of life ? Convalescence ought to be a time
of rest both for mind and body, not a time that is need-
lessly prolonged for the sake of foolish and unworthy
flirtation, which is no more sanctioned by the higher
members of the profession than is flirtation betwe
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not say this as a reproach to anyone, or even as a con-
demnation of a system which, if logically carried out, as
fortunately it seldom is, comes very near to being the
greatest of modern tyrannies. My reason for noticing it
is that, though under these conditions the responsibility
of the mother or wife becomes different and much less
simple, it is by no means entirely over, as many young
people seem to me to imagine. We none of us wish for
one moment to return to the nurses of the type described
by Dickens, but I do think we ought all of us, in our homes
and with any influence we may have on our generation, to
guard against throwing ourselves entirely into the hands
of the doctors and nurses, with an absolute submission of
our intelligence — a submission which we should think
ridiculous and impossible in any of the other conditions
of life. It is bad for them and bad for us. Such power
is too much. Such a neglect of our duties and such
complete dependence on others may have most disastrous
consequences on ourselves, and, still worse, may seriously
injure the lives of those we love. Nothing matters so
much, be it old style or new, as that sickness in the house,
end it ever so favourably, should hurt or lessen family
love ; for, as Thackeray says in one of his letters, ' Aimons
nous lien. It seems to me that is the only thing we can
carry away, and when we go let us have some who love
us wherever we are.'
Nurses have a very hard life, and almost all women
who work are apt to belong to the overworked portion of
the community. That they should combine in any way
that is possible, for their own advantage and for the
maintenance of their old age, is very much to be desired.
But the public should never for one moment forget that
nursing, which began in devotion and forgetfulness of self,
as a vocation, has now become, in the most acknowledged
sense of the word, a profession and an employment for
300 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN
women, depriving them of the leisure and pleasure
belonging to their youth — that leisure and pleasure
which justified Scott's description of woman as ' un-
certain, coy, and hard to please,' and the want of which
certainly also takes from them the right to consider
themselves, or even the power to be, ' ministering angels.'
What is done for duty and money can never be the same
offering as what is done for love and devotion. The
public only are to blame if they think a strong young
woman ceases to be a human being because she works
hard and wears a nurse's dress. It is of distinct im-
portance that in the case of choosing a nurse for a
husband, brother, or son, a woman should feel the
responsibility of the situation, and not take the first nurse
that turns up at an institution. The selecting of a nurse
should most certainly not be left to chance. The nurse
should be suitable for the case from the point of view of
the family as well as that of the doctor. Why should we
expose two human beings under our charge to temptations
which we should not sanction under any of the other
circumstances of life ? Convalescence ought to be a time
of rest both for mind and body, not a time that is need-
lessly prolonged for the sake of foolish and unworthy
flirtation, which is no more sanctioned by the higher
members of the profession than is flirtation betwe