eady been long placed by the affections of a nation. Another
expression of the interest of women in society is found in the
Young Women's Christian Association, Girls' Friendly Society, the
Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants, and other
organizations which care for the interests of young women exposed to
imposition or temptation. It is impossible to enumerate even the more
important of the organizations which owe their institution to women
and are conducted by the sex for the benefit of society. Wide as has
been the field in the past, new phases of modern life are constantly
coming under the purview of women's societies, which, although to a
large extent voluntary, are none the less splendidly organized and
disciplined forces, occupying, for the most part, independent fields.

Woman as a nurse is not a new aspect of her nature, but not until the
last quarter of the century was nursing elevated to the dignity of
a profession. There were not wanting women who bore the title of
professional nurse, but these did not have the training to justify the
name. Before the Crimean War there were upward of two thousand five
hundred such nurses in England. Florence Nightingale, whose name will
ever be identified with the founding of schools for nurses, said:
"Sickness is everywhere. Death is everywhere. But hardly anywhere
is the training necessary to relieve sickness, to delay death. We
consider a long education and discipline necessary to train our
medical man; we consider hardly any training at all necessary for our
nurse, although how often does our medical man himself tell us, 'I can
do nothing for you unless your nurse will carry out what I say.'" The
revelation of suffering on the part of uncared-for soldiers which
Miss Nightingale brought back from the Crimea profoundly moved English
society; and a large sum of money was presented to her, with which she
founded the Nurses' Training Institution at St. Thomas's Hospital. At
about the same time, the Anglican sisterhood founded training schools
of a similar kind. From these sources arose the sentiment for trained
service for the sick which has led to the wide respect with which
modern society regards the nurse who has been thoroughly trained for
her profession. This feeling toward nurses is in striking contrast
to the one which prevailed before the days of special training:
that which was once considered a degrading occupation has come to be
thought of as an e