NURSES AT THE SEAT OF WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11200, 21 October 1899, Page 1 (Supplement)

NURSES AT THE SEAT OF WAR.

A REPLY TO DR. BAKEWELL. [BY EMILY XICOL.] Tire remarks made by R. H. Bakewell, M.D., in your issue of Saturday last, re " Nurses at the Seat of War," if allowed to pass unchallenged, might lead your readers to infer that the Auckland Red Cross Brigade had banded together for unwholesome and frivolous purposes. In truth, we are wounded in the house of our friends. Women who practice the profession of nursing have a right— a claim—to the protection of the medical profession. The one is incomplete without the other; the one an indispensable half of the other; and though, through a mistaken idea of . the present advancement of woman toward bcr proper and natural position in the scale of elevated humanity, the age of chivalry is unfortunately, but surely, deteriorating, there is still, I hope, sufficient gallantry left at any rate in the medical profession to prove that Dr. Bakewell stands alone in his cruel denunciations of one of the noblest positions occupied by woman. The object for which the Brigade was formed was a patriotic one, namely, to attend the sick and wounded in time of war, and the non-acceptance of their proffered services for the Transvaal was due to tho fact that the Imperial Government was providing all medical care. Your correspondent adduces base motives as to the non-acceptance. In the first place, no ladies offered in the sense expressed by Dr. Bakewell. Secondly, we, the nativeborn, aspire to the higher title of woman, believing as wo do that it is essential to a nation's greatness and prosperity to exemplify the position of true womanhood in its highest, noblest, and holiest form. Where could that position bear better —outside maternal duties—than in tending to the sick and wounded,— position fraught as it is with dangers, hardships, and privations; incurring great self-denial and self-discipline, and above all, a position illumining with brightest rays the patient Christliko character. To impute mercenary motives savours of a corrupt mind; but it is a corruption, thank God! that has not tainted the ranks of the Red Cross Brigade, and I would strongly urge the doctor, in justice to our growing generation, not to preach it. Among the nurses offering for the front were to bo found five with both hospital and private experience; while among others were to be found women who have had great experience in nursing, and who, in spite of not holding a certificate, are better qualified to take their position in the nursing world than some who hold the highest diploma to-day. It is not the highest certificates that proclaim the most efficient nurse. Upon inquiry I find that Dr. Bakewell is unknown to all the members of the Brigade, so the greater reason why he should have ascertained their capabilities before denouncing them as he has done. Had the Brigado gone to Samoa, been tried and found wanting, his reference could not have been more severe. Time having burdened the doctor with the weight of many years, his experience of the world must be correspondingly advanced, and I therefore can only conceive that his remarks in reference to the Brigade were penned in a moment of temporary mental aberration, as men with any claim to sanity to-day deal with facts, not fancies. ■ The motives of the Brigade in offering for the Transvaal were based upon the noblest principles; but while we could not claim equality with the trained Imperial Red Cross nurse, we offered the best we could, and wo know that had that offer been accepted, the honour of New Zealand was as sacred in the hands of her daughters a3 in the hands of her sons. Touching upon Miss Nightingale, who is accused of having taken incompetent as well as untrustworthy women with her to tho Crimea, I can only say that my honour for her is so profound that I hardly dare mention her name in connection with any matter so closely allied with Dr. Bakewell as are these few remarks. It is presumption upon my part to defend her, for even at that early period, when she appeared as a' bright star in woman's then dark world, her organisation was so complete, her womanly action and goodness so recognised, that it won for her universal praise. Is not the world richer far to-day through the advent of such women as Elizabeth Fry, Florence Nightingale, Sister Dora, Sister Florence Lees, and a host of others—sparkling gems in womanhood's diadem, in the light of whose paths the Brigade may well go forward with a "Go thou and do likewise." It is through these noble women that we are blessed to-day with women who are brave enough, womanly enough, unselfish enough, to sacrifice position, ease, and luxury for the perilous hardships of the battlefield to tend the flower of our manhood who offer their life's blood in their country's cause. Many a prayer, I feel sure, was offered up on the Crimean battlefield in tender gratitude for the presence of Miss Nightingale and her heroic band of nurses; and the name that must ever head the list of heroic devoted nurses, whose life and example has been of the noblest and best, and who is worthy the revered position she occupies in the heart of old England to-day, is Florence Nightingale. To-day, as in the far back fifties, you will find " good, honest, and intelligent women," ever ready to respond to duty call. Surely in his calmer and more thoughtful momenta Dr. Bakewell must have experienced a feeling of revolt at his own unjust utterances. If nob-then I sincerely trust, for the honour of my native home, that there is not another in our midst unmanly enough to give expression to such thoughts. Auck-land-aye! and the world-could well spare men, who, like Dr. Bakewell, find it a pleasure to denounce and belittle the «« which gave them births ....