s
precision, and is really less cared for than ten who are waited on by
one; or at least than 40 who are waited on by 4; and all for want of
this one person "in charge.)"

It is often said that there are few good servants now: I say there are
few good mistresses now. As the jury seems to have thought the tap was
in charge of the ship's safety, so mistresses now seem to think the
house is in charge of itself. They neither know how to give orders, nor
how to teach their servants to obey orders--i.e. to obey
intelligently, which is the real meaning of all discipline.

Again, people who are in charge often seem to have a pride in feeling
that they will be "missed," that no one can understand or carry on their
arrangements, their system, books, accounts, &c., but themselves. It
seems to me that the pride is rather in carrying on a system, in keeping
stores, closets, books, accounts, &c., so that any body can understand
and carry them on--so that, in case of absence or illness, one can
deliver every thing up to others and know that all will go on as usual,
and that one shall never be missed.

[Sidenote: Why hired nurses give so much trouble.]

NOTE.--It is often complained, that professional nurses, brought
into private families, in case of sickness, make themselves
intolerable by "ordering about" the other servants, under plea of
not neglecting the patient. Both things are true; the patient is
often neglected, and the servants are often unfairly "put upon." But
the fault is generally in the want of management of the head in
charge. It is surely for her to arrange both that the nurse's place
is, when necessary, supplemented, and that the patient is never
neglected--things with a little management quite compatible, and
indeed only attainable together. It is certainly not for the nurse
to "order about" the servants.

IV. NOISE.

[Sidenote: Unnecessary noise.]

Unnecessary noise, or noise that creates an expectation in the mind, is
that which hurts a patient. It is rarely the loudness of the noise, the
effect upon the organ of the ear itself, which appears to affect the
sick. How well a patient will generally bear, e.g., the putting up of
a scaffolding close to the house, when he cannot bear the talking, still
less the whispering, especially if it be of a familiar voice, outside
his door.

There are certain patients, no doubt, especially where there is slight
concuss