SISTER DORA.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VIII, Issue 51, 19 December 1891, Page 712

SISTER DORA.

One of the most remarkable nurses who have devoted their lives to the sick was the woman known in England as ‘ Sister Dora.’ Her determination and strength of will seemed boundless, and led her to fight audaciously against any odds. She generally caught any infectious disease to which she was exposed, but did not, for that reason, dream of fleeing from danger. She was once called to visit a man dying with a malignant and loathsome malady. He had been deserted by relatives and nurse, and was scarcely conscious. When she entered, the poor man raised himself in bed, and whispered, ‘ Kiss me, sister.’ She kissed him, and he sank back ; then, having promised that she would not leave him while he lived, she sat by his side, alone and in darkness, until morning. Once, in passing through a terrible locality to see a patient, she was stopped by a man who ran out of a notorious place of ill-repute, crying, ‘Sister, you’re wanted ; they've been fighting, and a man’s hurt desperate.’ The thought passed through her mind that she might be murdered, but it was instantly succeeded by the reflection : ‘ What does it matter if I am murdered !’ She made her way inside, and, to her surprise, the hardened men who filled the room lifted their hats, and made way for her to pass. At another time, while in a railway carriage with a number of rough ‘ navvies,’ she boldly reproved them for using profane language. They laid hands on her, held her down on the seat among them, and inquired if she ‘ wanted her face smashed in ?’ She remained quite calm, and when the train reached the next station, and they released her, one of them said, ‘ Shake hands, mum ! You’re a good plucked one, you are, you were right and we were wrong.’ She was equally brave in assuming moral responsibilities and despising risks. A man, whose arm had been terribly injured, was told at the hospital that the limb must be amputated. Sister Dora offered to save it, and though the doctors told her that failure would result in mortification and consequent loss of the man’s life, both she and the patient cheerfully took the risk. For three weeks she devoted herself to the case, night and day, and when the man recovered, be was known in the neighbourhood as ‘Sister’s Arm.’ During an illness of Sister Dora, the man afterwards walked eleven miles every Sunday morning to inquire for her. * How’s Sister?’ he would ask, adding when he had received a reply, ‘ Tell her it’s her arm. that rang the bell.’