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THE NEEDLEWOMAN AS NURSE. 49
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.
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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.
Labor Women To The Very Is Great Attribu...
unfilled which promise remunerative hire to those who can efficiently fulfil the duties required . Among othersthat of nurses for
the sick . "What sphere of usefulness can be more , suited to our sex and wherein returndoes sympathy and gratitude so mingleas to ,
lay a claim , for future , provision ? yet how difficult it is to secure , a faithful nurse . Surely this want must in a measure arise from
some organization being required , where suitable applicants call offer themselves . There are very many persons among " the reduced "
In circumstances , who , bred in more refined ® atmospheres than the born poor , and who yet with them are equally necessitated to labor
or starve , are particularly suited to tend the sick . "Willingly do such enter on the task ; the entourage of kindness and comfort
being a great incentive to them to render themselves useful , even necessary to their employersso that they may be saved a return to
, the struggles from want from whence they were drawn . I will here give a case in point .
Not many months since , I was making inquiry at the Society ' s work-rooms for a woman whom I missed . The matron informed
me that she had not been at work for some weeks from illness , but that Mrs . T could tell me all about her , for she had been
nursing her . I accordingly sent for the latter , who came the next day to visit me . Mrs . T was a stranger to mebut
, the moment she opened her lips I at once detected , hy the inflection of her voice , that she was superior to the general run
of her associates . Her appearance , when I scanned her , justified iay thoughts ; for she was peculiarly neat and respectable in her
dress and whole manner . I , however , at first confined my remarks to the woman I was inquiring after . This poor creature had been
a sufferer for months , although till within a few weeks she had kept to her work with a steadiness that , in her situationnothing
, but the hand of want could have enforced . Pier complaint was an internal one , requiring much care ; that care had been bestowed
on her by the Mrs . T before me , who , without _appearing as if she considered she had done more than her common duty , had
latterly sat up with her night after night , giving her every moment of her time she could spare from work . It appeared they had
only met first in the work-room at Hinde Street , but had agreed at once to share a lodging together . I inquired how Mrs . ( the
sick woman ) could afford to pay her . To this remark , Mrs . T repliedin rather a hurt tone " that she did not want payment ; far
ironi that , , she was glad to do , what she could , for she had known trouble herself , and was only sorry she had been obliged to leave
her during the day to suffer alone ; had she not , however , done so , they would neither have had bread . " " What do you mean ? " I asked .
" Why , ma'am , " Mrs . T continued , " I have lately had to work for her and myself too . " I then found that since the other woman
had taken to her bed , she had really been the only breadwinner , no other resources whatever being available to either . Only the day
TOI / . X . E
The Needlewoman As Nurse. 49
THE NEEDLEWOMAN AS NURSE . 49
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1862, page 49, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091862/page/49/
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