Woman's Work : A Wider Outlook

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume II, Issue 4, 1 October 1909, Page 149

Woman's Work : A Wider Outlook

Mrs. Leo Myers

(Lecture delivered to the Auckland Branch, N.Z.T.N.A., by

It is not for me, coming among you tonight a mere observer, a layman among professionals, to attempt anything savouring of a lecture ; for the very term has filled me with alarm and trembling, and I do assure you that T shall feel infinitely more at ease if you will just allow me to label it, " A talk. 1 ' But if as a layman and a woman interested in all that appertains to the development of women and their ever-expanding pursuits, you will grant me a large measure of tolerance, I might perhaps venture to express to you something of the various aspects of your work, apart from it? technicalities. You have embarked on a profession which in its very essence is of highest womarly value ; which expresses the old and never-changing ideal of womanhood, the virtues that heal and help and sootb humanity. In your profession you are preserving those very virtues which, if we hearken to all we hear and believe all we read, are fast becoming obsolete and old-fashioned. We know that this is not so ; we know that womanly qualities are not one whit less than in the days of our grandmothers ; but we know that these womanly qualities have been welded into more substantial shape, concentrated and specialised — made more efficient. The proof of this is your presence here to-night in one united body, with one united purpose : the union of the healing art and the humanities. 'For, in the natural order of things, to woman falls the care and tending of the individual. It was ever thus. How scientific and humane, and how effectual this is, depends on individual effort no less than on the concerted action and highest aims of the Association to which you belong. There is no profession more feminine, more noble, or more capable of potential work in the future. Perhaps I may be able to bring forward a few points for your consideration bearing on the particular profession you have adopted — its possibilities and its ideals — as well as a few observations on the general subject of women's work, its scope and organisation, as I have had occasion to note their development in America and in England. Of course, in each community the details of woman's

work differ according to the varying conditions and necessities which present themselves. Yet, in every environment the mission of women is the same in its final aim. It is that which she accomplishes in heiself which makes the measi^e of her value in the world's work. " It is not the job that makes success, it is the man/' and so I say to you : It is rot the merely being a nurse ; not merely having attained your position and donned your unifcrm, but it is 3'ourself, your own imprint on 3^our work, which will distinguish it and you. All work is as small or as big as the woman in it. Stamp your personality, your best powers — all that is best in you — on your work and it will grow with you ; strive for depth and breadth. Be not satisfied with your routine work, your daily duties only, but realise that there is much to be studied, learned, and applied outside of these. In your knowledge of illness, its remedy and care, there lies rich material for a wider application. Your small Association can make itself the pioneer in. the work of civic improvement. Women's clubs in Kngland and America are accomplishing splendid results in the betterment of the towns they reside in. Your Association is capable of doing the highest good in improving the health conditions of Anck - land, and health means cleanliness. Saunter down any street with the eye of your mind wide open, and you will see a score of evils crying out for reform — dirty roads ; street pavements strewn with refuse ; meat for the multitude exposed to dust and flies ; fish ditto ; loaves of bread carted through the city in all weathers, naked to the million microbes that swarm from none too clean thoroughfares ; defective ventilation, or none at all in our public places and conveyances, trams and cabs innocent of spring-cleaning (and that is about the only thing they are innocent of !). And right here you would appoint an energetic sub-committee for the fumigation of tram-cars ; they should really be taken in hand and treated antiseptically. It would be a capital branch of your Association ; think how fetching it would be to have as sub-title : " Association for the

Fumigation of Tram-Cars, and the Promotion of Public Cleanliness." This can be taken in all seriousness ; as in London there is a movement for the suppression of street noises and other nuisances. Then again, there should be here the inspection and correction of all back-yards ; compulsory fortnightly cleaning of all shops where foodstuffs are on sale, such as fruits, sweets, fish, and pork butchers' shops. And, some ideal day, women will abolish open meat markets, where dead animals, so hideously raw, are left hanging by their extremities in crude goriness. With these and many other reforms, your Association could make Auckland a model cleanly city ; for what, after all, is good municipal work, but good housekeeping on a colossal scale, with cleanliness and order at its head and tail ? You would be astonished at the various activities which women in London are pursuing. Many of them, trained nurses like yourselves, and many more merely publicspirited, progressive women. They have organised a Public Service Board, which works on the same lines as the energetic London County Council. On this Board are men and women imbued with the spirit of civic reform with the high aim of bettering the conditions of the poor in the overcrowded sunless areas of that great London. I met a fragile woman at the Lyceum Club (a Club I will tell you more of later on). She happened to be my neighbour at table, at a luncheon to women writers, and in that club atmosphere of camaraderie we talked. She told me she was employed by the London County Council to give Talks on Sanitation, Hygiene and Baby Culture, in the homes of the poor. Just then her work lay in Lambeth, one of London's saddest slums. She was neither a woman doctor nor a trained nurse, but just an earnest, energetic woman with clear ideas, fitted to teach in simple language the laws of cleanliness and common sense. For what is the cause of sickness and disease ? Violation of nature's laws, is it not ? And how ? Through ignorance ; through crass ignorance of the laws of cause and effect ; through ignorance of the necessity for fresh air, fresh water and fresh food. That is what the ignorant (not necessarily the poor, for you rind as much ignorance of the cardinal rules of health airong well-to-do people as among the poor, and for them there is less excuse) classes need to be taught. That is what women are doing ; that is what

you can do in this city, which is still so easy to improve and uplift. The wonder of it is that nature's laws are so obscured. Soire day we shall see in every school syllabus the compulsory subject of " Civics and Health J ' bracketed together and made second only to, shall we say, football and cricket ? For good health is a civic obligation, no less than a duty to ourselves and our dear ones. Public sentiment needs to be aroused and civic health and reform will begin, not only with correcting the errors of parents, but the simple, common-sense training of the children in our schools. It's a fine thing to inculcate patriotism, and we applaud the saluting of the Union Jack in every school. If then, every child is a unit in the Empire, it behoves us to make that unit as fire, as healthy, as straight in body and in morals as we can. Teach hygiene and health along with patriotism, and you will evolve a healthy, useful citizen. Hygiene and patriotism make a pretty good work-a-day leligion. Another interesting phase of your work has developed on new lines in AmericaThere the trained nurse is appointed in the big public schools. She is making Health play a part in the education of the child. Her mission is three-fold : (1) To prevent disease by causing observance of the simple sanitary precautions ; (2) to teach children the wisdom of personal cleanliness ; (3) to give practical lessons for the benefit of parents of school children, where ignorance of right living has paved the way for ill-health and unhappiness. This branch of work is practically on the lines of my friend Mrs, Lamont, in L,ondcrj, except that the position of a public-school-trained nurse is unique in America. Her work begins at 9 o'clock every morning, and begins with routine inspection in the class-rooms. The nurse stands at a point where there is unobstructed light and the children march single file before her. As a child reaches the nurse she draws down his lower e3'e-lids with the forefinger of eacli hand. This is important, eye troubles among children being insidious. Another feature of the nurse's inspection is criticism of children who are unclean cr untidy. The nurse calls out " bath/' and drills the child on the benefit of the daily bath. Nurse Heffern, of New York, tells of her experience in one school : " I talked ' bath ' at every opportunity, and in one class-room asked the children to tell me what a bath

was. ' I know,' answered a little boy, ' my mother's got one ; she keeps the coal and wood in it/ Special attention is directed during inspection to the condition of the teeth, hair, and head generally. The mission of the tooth-brush is constantly explained by the school nurse. In every school to which a trained nurse is assigned there is a cabinet containing bandages, gauze, absorbent cotton, and such medicines as are needed in the treatment of minor skin diseases, or for first-aid to the injured. Happily here in Auckland, we have not the overcrowded district of the poor, huddled together in dark and narrow houses where dirt and degradation prevail, and where the only outlet for the children is the street and the school. But in spite of our healthier conditions, in spite of space, and sun and grester comforts, there is work tc be accomplished here, did you but seek it. Club life in Loridon, no less than in tbe large cities of Arr- erica, affords a rallying ground for the wider activities of women. I,et me tell you about the Lyceum Club in Iyondon, without doubt Ihe most progressive and productive centre of woman's work in the world, with branches in Berlin, Paris and New York. Founded by a woman (Miss Constance Smedley), it is a seething centre of womanly activities, alive with circles, associations and sections representing every phase and development of industry pursued by women ; every department admirably organised, furnishing a wealth of information and direction ; where you meet and mingle with women, successful women, of your kind and craft, interested in whatever you are interested in. To ycni living here in this semi-rural city, with all its simplicity, to you it is beyond belief to imagine tbe hundred outlets and activities of women in a city the size of London. Their organisation is admirable ; their energies towards progress and betterment remarkable. In New York there are women's clubs working diligently in matters pertaining to the housing question and public health. The public-school trained nurse is a shining result of this branch of woman's work. In San Francisco, a club of women have saved from destruction the redwood forests of California. They have established Arbor Day for school children, whereby the semi-annual planting of young trees makes for the beautifying of the town, and develops civic pride in the children.

All this proves that women can do more in special departments in promoting the health and adding to the beauty of the cities in which they live than a band of men, who on accovnt of their sex and their differing pursuits, are less fitted than women to influence the moral and sentimental aspects of civic life. Every city needs its City Fathers and it needs its City Mothers as well. Nature points the way in the co-operation of the sexes. This is true in the home, in the school, and the wider domain of municipal life. And here, by way of parenthesis, in self-defence, I must state that in spite of these sentiments I am NO suffragette. I am all for progress along feminine lines, not for politics at an unsexed tangent. And now let us turn our attention to the backbone, as it were, of our little talk. Let us see how much there is of widest interest in the history of your chosen profession. You are modern members of a very ancient guild ; in fact, there were professional nurses among all primitive races. For centuries the occupation of primitive man was killing ; it was the women who cured and cared. Women practiced medicine and obstetrics before the Middle Ages, as far back as in the 11th century, and as early as 1389 in the admission of master surgeons, there is a distinct recognition of the practice of women. That splendid Roman Matron, Fabiola, founded one of the first hospitals in Rome Trotula, a woman physician, of Salerno, Italy, laid the foundation of modern surgical gynecology. The first established organisation for the care and visiting of the sick was instituted by " vSaint Hildegard " and her band of " Sisters of Mercy," as far back as the dark ages. To-day the name of Florence Nightingale sheds its own wondrous light for all time. It was she who, by her noble work in the Crimean War, placed nursing by women on a professional basis, and gave to it the high standard it enjoys to-day. From this has evolved the Red Cross League and similar orders of high humanitarian merit. Countess Crichton brought quinine from Peru, and was the first to introduce it in Europe, and on the pages of medical history the name of a woman, Lady Mary Wortley Montague, shines down the ages. This beautiful and talented Englishwoman, residing with her husband at Constantinople (where he was British Ambassador) in 1721, brought into England the practice of inoculation for small-pox. This wonderful woman

did not shrink from having inoculation practiced upon her own son and daughter. Let me recommend you to read the Life and Letters of the brilliant, witty Lady Mary Wortley Montague. It will open up to you the fascinating account of the discovery and application, the co-relation of cow-pox and small-pox, and the part played in this drama by humble English dairymaids and by Benjamin Jesty, a sturdy English farmer. Benjamin Jesty, from his own observations, and by his own strength of mind, was the first (known) person who introduced cow-pox by inoculation, making the experiment from the cow on his wife and two sons in 1774. For this he was hooted, reviled and stoned, but remained strong and undoubted, living to see another enriched and immortalised (I refer to Dr. Jenner) for carrying out the same principle for which he (Jesty) had been stoned. Jesty's experiment was performed in 1774, jenner's in 1796, twenty-two years later. I have only touched upon these notable names in order to point out to you the treasury of fascinating literature and romance surrounding the study of your profession. They may serve to show you how delightfully you may journey, not merely on the beaten tracks, but up and across the pleasanter byways of your work. Did you know that Keats was called (( The Apothecary Poet ? ' It is interesting to learn that this boy-poet, celebrated for his exquisite verse, his immortal " Ode to a (keek Urn," had obtained the qualifications of the Apothecaries' Hall before his twentyfirst year, and had acquired technical skill in the minor operations which fell to the hand of a dresser. Is it not fascinating to make a more intimate acquaintance with the personality of those men who have made the science of medicine, the cult of healing that it is to-day ? A knowledge of their careers, the struggles and discoveries, the human side of their characters, will do much to quicken your interest in the drier details of your work. There are notable examples of the intimate rtlations between medicine and literature, and -in the group of literary physicians Sir Thomas Browne stands pre-eminent in the past. His " Religio Medici " is one of the great English classics. The great Dr. Osier to-day, Regius Professor of Medicine in the University of Oxford, pays deep tribute to this great book, and tells us that it has

been his daily companion and help for thirty years. £5;There is the name of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, best remembered as the genial author of the " Breakfast Table Series," which to the general reader has obscured Dr. Holmes' fame as the first physician to prove that puerperal fever was contagious. His essay on " The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever " is a highly valuable contribution to medical science. These are but a few prominent names of interesting figures in medical history. Read about William Harvey and his discovery of the circulation of the blood ; of Sir James Simpson and his discovery of chloroform and its application, and so on. In our day, Dr. Weir Mitchell is as famous for his novels and historical romances as for his professional work and his celebrated " rest cure " treatment of " Americanitis " in its feminine form of " nerves." Then Sir Frederick Treves' interesting books give intimate sidelights of the personality and culture of King Edward's surgeon. Has it not been jocularly said of Sir Frederick Treves' books that they contain no appendix ? Von will find a vast field, broadened and brightened by the labours and personalities of talented men ; a field that stretches, gate open, at your hand. You need but enter. You need but to acquire what a philosopher has called (( a relish of knowledge." " Get early this relish ; this keen joyance in work, with which langour disappears and all shadows of annoyance flee." Get, in a word, enthusiasm ; enthusiasm, that talisman of all good work ; enthusiasm, a word to be graven on your badges and in youi hearts. For I do beseech you to beware of becoming dull and unimaginative. literature will save you from this. literature will open to you a magic door leading to illimitable Elysian fields of inspiration and charm. The reading of good books adds to your resources and makes you potent in many directions. It will rest your nerves after the wearying hours of your work and give you new forms of mental enjoyment ; it will equip you with further useful knowledge and will add strength and grace to your eharactor. It will make your days brighter and add to the value of all you do ; in a word, " literature enriches every department of life." Read for profit and pleasure; for insight into human nature. Read the me-

moirs and letters of great men, and the books that tell of the growth ot great movements, the labours and romance of the men who have made history. Read fiction, but good fiction, not merely for the story, but for the wisdom and the help they will furnish you with, for the duties and understanding of life. Read books of high purpose ; not necessarily dull and preachy books, but real human books ; books which tell us of other countries and peoples, of men and manners, of life in its many interesting phases. And so, might I suggest to 3^oll the forming of a little library of your own, here and now. Here is a list of the ten books recommended by Pr. Osier for students and nurses : — " HKDSIDE LIBRARY ' 1. Old and New Testament. 2. Shakespeare. 3. Montaigne. 4. " Plutarch's Lives." 5. Marcus Aurelius. C). Kpictetus. 7. " Religio Medici."

8. " Don Quixote/' 9. Emerson. 10. Oliver Wendell Holmes' " Breakfast Table Series." Gather together a few dozen books bearing on subjects which will quicken your interest in your work ; which will broaden your minds and enlarge your thoughts, which will give you deeper insight into life and all it conveys ; add to your resources, and guide you in your knowledge of human nature. Not books demanding hard and dry reading, but books that give you lasting pleasure and leave a lasting impression on your minds. Books, after reading which you will feel as after a sympathetic talk with a good, true friend, the better for having met with. To conclude with a quotation from Seneca — "If you are fond of books you will escape the ennui of life ; you will neither sigh for evening, disgusted with the occupations of the day, nor will you live dissatisfied with yourself or unprofitable to others."