Page:Address to the Mary Adelaide Nurses.djvu/10

 of those to whom you minister—when these temptations assail you, will you think of and say over to yourselves just one little sentence out of the 25th chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel—(I am sure you all know it well), "I was sick and ye visited Me." Think of that when you are tired and discouraged—think of it when your poor charges are most exacting and irritable—think of it amidst all the repulsive forms of disease which you may be required to tend—think of it when your skill appears to be rewarded by no recognition, your kindness by no gratitude—think of it when your days seem hard or your nights lonely—think that by each pauper bedside, as you answer the feeble call, or raise the weary head, or quiet the fretful moan, stands that Divine Figure, saying, "I was sick and ye visited Me"—and then look on to the time when your work on earth will be over, and if by His infinite grace and mercy you are standing at His right Hand, you will hear that same Voice saying, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me."

Lastly, my friends, I will add but a few words on the third point I originally mentioned—namely, the personal aspect of your work, the way in which it may affect yourselves. We all know that this nursing work is your livelihood just as much as any other occupation would be, and it is both natural and right that you should look upon it in this light as well as in a higher one, and feel that by the skill and knowledge and experience you have acquired you should be able to maintain yourselves in respectability and comfort. You cannot give your time and your labour for nothing; but we want you to feel that there is something you can give, "without money and without price"—something you are not paid for, and which, unless you give it of your own free will, no money can buy. You can give your heart, your sympathy, your zeal, your whole selves, in short, to your work; you can make it something much better and higher than the mere mechanical performance of a routine of duty; and you may be sure that work thus done will be twice blessed—it will bless