GENTLEWOMEN IN THE NURSERY.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9364, 13 March 1896, Page 2

GENTLEWOMEN IN THE NURSERY.

-*_ A Talk with Mrs Walter Ward of the Norland Training Institute. Writing of a London institute whose aim is "to supply the public with ladies as trained nurses for young children," a contributor to Woman says :— The query at the outset is, "How many out of the crowd of girls employed in tending children are suited to this special line ?" Whoever heard of a blacksmith turning tailor ; an actor running, say, a factory; a grocer tending a garden ? And if gardening 13 a special line, how much more so the care of the child's soul and body ? Devotion and watchfulness go far to supply lack of training; but lack of judgment, faults of taste ara only to be avoided by line failing and education. To mt-t-t this deficiency we have the lady domestic nurse, the creation, we may almost call her, of Mrs Walter Ward, foundress of the Norland Training Institute and sister-in-law of the authoress of " Marcella." The institute has bsen afc work for three years, and requires no stronger. reason for its existence, nor proof of its success, than the fact that in that time over a thousand applications have been received from employers.

The Lady Ndrse : What She Does.

"There is one secret in it, too, which should appeal to the worker," continued my kind informant, Mrs Ward's representative. "It is a line in which time increases the value of the. worker. Every year of experience improves the position 'financially and technically of the lady nnrse—hence there is no fear of a decrease in the remuneration. | You want an exact definition of the lady nurse ? No, not tbe improved nursery governess, but a real nurse. , That is the whole point. One of Mr 3 Ward's chief injunctions is 'Nothing is beneath you. 5 Our nurses are prepared to do al} the ordinary work of the domestic nurse, that is, all that does not include scrubbing floors, carrying coals, and cleaning grates, which duties, naturally enough are not in the nurse's department. As I remai-ked in a Recent argument with one of our employers, '' You cannot expect the hands that carry the coals to adorn your child's frocks with dainty insertion, or tucks diminutive and innumerable.' A grate is not usually cleaned with a silk hankerchief. Nothing is beneath a nurse, but everybody is not fit. We do not expect our nurses to be treated like fine ladies, nor do they wish it. Their work lies with their charges by day and night, and they thoroughly enter into it and into their responsibilities.

Without Awkwardness or Offence!

Far from the plan giving offence to the rest of the " menage," we find thet in many cases the lady nurse is generally appreciated. Indeed, this is perhaps the only domestic post that can be filled by a lady without awkwardness to herself or offence to others. Both her work and her rooms lie apart, nor has she any invidious position like that of the lady, help, who is neither one thing nor the other. She is a nurse, trained to start with all the requirements of her position, the management of small babies, in which her knowledge of hygiene acquired in the institute is specially needed, as it is also in the treatment of children's ailments so far as first aid is concerned ; at the same time she is in no sense a certificated sick ntmse., Further, she is versed in the cooking of children's food, and all that touches nursery diet, even including a knowledge of carving joints. MoreoVer, not only the cutting-out and making of children's clothes, but the washing of woollen garments, silks, and laces are part of the curriculum, which also includes a series of lectures on all subjects in which children's minds may find interest and recreation, such as a general study of Nature teaching, form, colour, poetry, flowers, and so on." » The Children's Accent. "Children are so plastic, so imitative Do you not find your clients, if I may use the word, glad to avoid "the>iak of employing those from whom an accent, or some other peculiarity of speech and trick of manner may be caught ?" " Those are weighty reasons for the introduction of the lady nurse, because people begin to realise that education begins in the nursery, and not in the schoolroom. At the some time Mrs Ward has no intention whatever of interfering with ths wort of the ordinary nurse, who is, in many cases, a thoroughly reliable, good servant. £he tried a scheme, found a demand for it, and is now able to employ ladies who have no capital to sink in training for the more intellectual branches of industry, nor perhaps the inclination to tackle anything demanding heavy intellectual strain.*" j Cheap Thaisikg fob a Usefox Cabeek. The Norland Institute stands between many a poor girl and the world. Wearied victims of ill-treatment at home find sympathy; and a future within its portals, and many a one who would otherwise waste her savings in the search for work finds speedy return for her investment of £36, the cost of nine months* training, first at the institute, next in a hospital, the final three months being spent in a family, during which period also the probationer receives half the wages paid by her employer to the institute, so that she actually begins to recoup herself for her expenditure ere her education ceases. Again, so reasonable is the fee charged that nuiny j a parent or guardien will yield to j persuasion and give the necessary sum for so ! definite a purpose where a vague request for j funds with which to take a lodging and j

seek employment would be met with a sad snub. As Beo.ards the Uxiform. Few probationers can fail to be charmed with the nretty gown of grey-blue beige, and the u-htte''apron and necktie touched with torchon lace (hat marks the lady nurse of the. Norland institute, or the Priscilla-like jwey bonnet and graceful grey cloak in which she is to be met out of door?. At the close of h-r training she is provided with a situation at a minimum salary of £20, paid to her at regular intervals through the institute, with which thenceforth she is permanently connected.