upped. The cupper, a
kind old man, said to encourage him, 'Oh, dear little boy, it's
nothing.' The child turned to his mother, saying, 'Mummy, is that true?'
His mother said it was not, but that for her sake she hoped he would try
to bear it well. And the operation was performed without a cry or a
sound.

I have spoken of the moral conditions implied in the successful
management of sick children. There are certain physical conditions no
less important. The sick child should not be left in the common nursery,
of which he would taint the air, while he would be disturbed by its
other little inmates. He must (and of course I am speaking not of some
slight ailment, but of a more serious indisposition) be in a room by
himself, which should be kept quiet and shaded, and at a temperature
which should not be allowed to fall below 60 deg. if the chest is in any way
affected, nor to exceed 55 deg. in other cases, and this temperature should
always be measured, not by guess, but by the thermometer hung close to
the child's bed. The room is to be shaded, not by curtains round the
bed--for, save in special circumstances, curtains should be banished
from the nursery--nor by closed shutters which exclude both light and
air, but by letting down the blinds, so as to have a sort of twilight in
the room, and by shading any light which at night may be burned in the
apartment; while whether by day or night the child should be so placed
that his face shall be turned from the light, not directed towards it.
The room should be kept quiet, and this requires not only general quiet
in the house, but quiet in the movements of all persons in the room;
speaking, not in a whisper, but in a low and gentle voice; walking
carefully, not in a silk dress nor in creaky shoes, but not on tiptoe,
for there is a fussy sham quietness which disturbs the sick far more
than the loudest noise.

Little precautions, so trifling that few think of noticing them, have
much to do with the quiet of the sick-room, and consequently with the
patient's comfort. A rattling window will keep a child awake for hours,
or the creaking handle of the door rouse it up again each time anyone
enters the room; and to put a wedge in the window, or to tie back the
handle, and so quietly open and close the door, may do more than
medicine towards promoting the child's recovery. There can, however, be
no abiding quiet without a well-ordered room, and the old proverb
carried out, 'A place fo