Florence Nightingale's Warning.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10592, 22 October 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

Florence Nightingale's Warning.

The. Nursing Mirror contains, among other recollections and letters of Florence Nightingale, the following quotation, dated May 2S, 1900:—"My Dear Children, —You have called me your Mother-Chief; it is an. honor to me, and a great hono.ur, to call you my children. Always keep up the honour of this honourable profession. . . . The royal banner of nursing. It should gain through every one of you. It has gained through you immensely. The old Romans were, in some respects, I think, superior : to us, but they had no idea, of being good to the sick and weak. There have been great, I may say, discoveries in nursing. . . . Nursing is becoming a profession. Trained nursing is no longer an object, but a fact. But —oh. if home nursing could becomo an cvery-day fact here in this big city of London, the biggest in theaworld! . . . But here in London, in feeding—a most important branch of it—if you ask a-'mother who has, perhaps, brought you a sick child to 'look at,' 'what have you given it to eat?' she answers, triumphantly, 'Oh, it has the same as we have'(!) Yes, often including the gin. And a city where milk and good milk- is now easier to get than in the country. . . .' . The'.■ nineteenth century (there was a tradition) was to be the century of women. How true that legendary prophecy has been! Woman was the iiome drudge. Now she is the teacher. Let her not forfeit it" by being arrogant —the 'equal with men? She does .not forfeit it by being the help 'meet.' "