Page:Nurses for the sick.djvu/24

20 When we see the modest women, attired as Christian women should be, who now, thank God, are to be found in the wards of some of our hospitals, and hear of the pains that are bestowed upon their training, it is difficult to imagine how the work was ever accomplished under a former and very different system. In one such institution we find the instruction of the nurses in turn undertaken every evening by the lady who has the superintendence of the whole establishment; not only is religious instruction carefully imparted to them by her and the chaplain, but simple lessons are also given on the structure and functions of the body, which not only are found to give increased interest to their work, but also greatly strengthen their efficiency in the treatment of their patients.

We are thankful to find that the desire to help in this cause is springing up in many hearts. The want has been shown, and the means to supply it are forthcoming.

Each country must do its work in its own way, and according to its own national inclinations; but it is desirable to have some leading idea in our mind, on which to act in carrying out our designs, and such, we think, may well be found in some of the institutions of the continent for the training of deaconesses. We have not space to enter upon the details of these, interesting as they would be to our readers. We can only most earnestly commend to them