On this page
-
Text (1)
-
INSTITUTION OF DEACONESSES AT KAISERSWER...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
«£»»- - The Institution Of Kaiserswerth ...
she left them ; should the illness of a friend require her attendance , or should she propose to enter the married state—these claims
as Well as others are recognised in all their _sanctify , and the deaconess is free , as one would be who had passed the preceding
heartless years in we intercourse ariness for with want unsymp of an athising active dut companions y to discharge , or in , in a
round of folly and dissipation . This will be recognised as a most important feature in the system of deaconesses . They thus cast no
slight on the sacred family relationships appointed hj God , and they will fulfil the duties belonging to them as friendsisterwife
, , , or mother , none the worse for the training they have passed through , fitted as it is to exalt their minds , to cultivate their affections , and
to animate their whole life by noble aims . While the absence of vows and the recognition and continuance
of relations existing with those beyond the walls of Kaiserswerth , make it quite unlike a conventit isfor the patientsequally unlike
, , , any hospital that I have seen or heard of , unless we may except those over which Miss Nightingale and her coadjutors presided in
the Crimea , where Christian tenderness and faithfulness on the one sidewith sincere love and gratitude on the other , must have been
, called out as at Kaiserswerth . The manner and feelings of the nurses to the invalids under their care were those of mothers to
their children , of sisters attending on each other , or of daughters nursing aged parents . In addition to the ordinary duties of such
nurses , a head sister conducted morning worship in each ward as soon as the invalids were all made comfortable for the day , and
again had worship in the evening before all composed themselves for the night . Sometimes during the day a portion of Scripture or
of some book of devotion was read ; if the nurse had a good voice a hymn might be sungor while the hands were employed with
, some feminine work , cheerful conversation was carried on . Thus everything was done to soffcen the trials of illness by the consolations
of religion , and to make the time of convalescence a blessing to the soul as well as to the body . A trifling incident which occurred to
myself , may be adduced as a proof of the feelings of the patients to those who wait on them . One morning I was requested by a
poor helpless paralytic woman to take a little coin which she gave meand to purchase for her a sheet of paper at the bureau . Having
done , solied her with a and inkand laced her so that her distorted , supp fingers could guide pen the pen , , I occup p ied myself with
duties , and thought no more of her request until the afternoon , when I found that she had spent hours in writing dawn a few verses
on the union of Christian hearts , which she requested me to keep in remembrance of her . I scarcely need to add that it is prized
more than many a more costly gift . Nor was this a solitary instance of the kindest and best feelings existing between patient
and nurse ; I found it everywhere .
The reflection was forced upon me both then and afterwards of
Institution Of Deaconesses At Kaiserswer...
INSTITUTION OF DEACONESSES AT KAISERSWERTH . 101
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1859, page 101, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041859/page/29/
-