her, through
the influence of friends, at a hospital. She graduated at the head of
her class, and although that was three or four years ago she has never
been idle since. She elected to take infectious cases, as the
remuneration is higher, and although she is very small, with such tiny
hands and feet that while abroad her gloves and boots had to be made
to order, no doubt she has so trained her body that the strains in
nursing fall upon no particular member.

In that case I paid for my own mistake, and she found her level in
ample time, which is as it should be. Of what use is experience if you
are to be misled by family vanity? As she is pretty and quite mad
about children, no doubt she will marry; but the point is that she can
wait; or, later, if the man should prove inadequate, she can once more
support herself, and with enthusiasm, for she loves the work.

To be a nurse is no bed of roses; but neither is anything else. To be
dependent in the present stage of civilization is worse, and nothing
real is accomplished in life without work and its accompaniment of
hard knocks. Nursing is not only a natural vocation for a woman, but
an occupation which increases her matrimonial chances about eighty per
cent. Nor is it as arduous after the first year's training is over as
certain other methods of wresting a livelihood from an unwilling
world--reporting, for instance. It is true that only the fit survive
the first year's ordeal, but on the other hand few girls are so
foolish as to choose the nursing career who do not feel within
themselves a certain stolid vitality. After graduation from the
hospital course their future depends upon themselves. Doctors soon
discover the most desirable among the new recruits, others find
permanent places in hospitals; and, it may be added, the success of
these young women depends upon a quality quite apart from mere
skill--personality. In the spring of 1915 I was in a hospital and
there was one nurse I would not have in the room. I was told that she
was one of the most valuable nurses on the staff, but that was nothing
to me.

I could not see that any of the nurses in this large hospital was
overworked. All looked healthy and contented. My own "night special,"
save when I had a temperature and demanded ice, slept from the time
she prepared me for the night until she rose to prepare me for the
day, with the exception of the eleven o'clock supper which she shared
with the hospital staff. Be