be supposed to need the usual refreshment less; and being unaccustomed to the work, it is hardly to be imagined that they will find it less fatiguing than the Staff Nurses, more particularly if the larger share of it has been left to them. Again, new Probationers are much too shy and strange, for the most part, to think about making tea, etc., for themselves, unless they are told to do so as well as given the opportunity, and naturally a Staff Nurse would have no hesitation in getting anything she wanted. By all means let Staff Nurses and Probationers have their little lunch with such comfort as circumstances may permit, but let there be no petty distinctions of this kind, or, if any must exist, let the positions be reversed, and let the Staff Nurses feel that it is their dutv to see after the Probationers in the first place and themselves in the second.

I might quote other daily incidents of a similar nature, but it is not necessary to go into further details, as this will suffice to show, practically, what a difference I desire to see in the relationship of Staff Nurses and Probationers, and will, I think, give striking proof of the need for a change to take place.

Sisters are ultimately responsible for the training of Probationers; but in this, as in other matters in large wards, they are obliged to depend greatly upon Staff Nurses for help. I would have them both co-operate in the teaching and in the endeavour to show kindness of manner and consideration towards those who, while they are new to the work, find trials

in details that others have become indifferent to from familiarity with them. There is no part of a Staff Nurse's duty to which a Sister need pay more attention than her treatment of Probationers. The tendency to regard them as necessary evils must be systematically discouraged, and a Sister must watch over and prevent the selfishness in this direction which is manifestly such a strong temptation in a Staff Nurse's work.

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CHAPTER IV.

THE TRAINING OF PROBATIONERS.

THERE is a great variety in the teaching power of many good Sisters, and the art of imparting knowledge with facility is a specially useful qualification for any one desirous of filling these posts. It is impossible that all should be equally successful in this branch of their work, but the first step towards ensuring a better result is to recognise the importance of this duty. There are Sisters who permit themselves to speak and think of Probationers as though they were their natural enemies. They are not only unreasonable enough to feel aggrieved that they should have the trouble of teaching them, but take no pains to conceal from them this unkindly disposition, and thereby considerably add to the inevitable difficulties that greet every new-comer in her first ward, or when she first goes to any ward in which she has not previously worked. In the latter case the trouble is modified, for if she is not wholly ignorant of Hospital doings, she may be a shade less unwelcome. Trained Nurses, who entertain views of this sort, should never apply to be Sisters, as

it indicates a defect which, in a great measure, disqualifies them for the post. The nursing of patients is the first consideration, they may say, and so it undoubtedly is, but, if that is the only portion of their duty that is attractive to them, they should remain as Staff Nurses, or seek for a Sister's place in a small Hospital where the work is about equivalent to that of a Staff Nurse in a large Hospital. If a knowledge of nursing came by instinct, there would be no need of Sisters as teachers. Wards could be well managed with Staff Nurses only, as the carrying out of the doctor's orders and the general welfare of the patients might be efficiently accomplished by them. But we know that the thorough technical training of Nurses must be given and acquired in the wards of a Hospital, and that this is a very important part of a Sister's work. That many Sisters have felt this and do feel it there is abundant testimony, both in the gratitude experienced by many who are now Sisters towards those who have taught them in the past, and that frequently expressed by Probationers, who are conscious of what they owe towards such Sisters as are taking pains to instruct them in the present. That it becomes a strain upon the Sister's energy and patience, to be repeatedly imparting the same items of knowledge to successive numbers of Probationers, is a fact that no one wishes to deny, and the truth of which will be most felt by those who are the most unwearied in their exertions. There is the same kind of temptation to a Sister to refrain from taking the trouble to teach Probationers that are only temporarily

working under her, as a Staff Nurse finds in the inclination to depute them to do the rougher part of the work, and in both cases the temptation can hardly be too strenuously resisted.

A wider view of the needs of nursing work as a whole, and of their own individual responsibilities in connection with it, will be helpful towards patient perseverance in this matter. Many Sisters begin with a desire to teach their Probationers well, and are under the impression that they like doing so, but it is disappointing to find how often their interest diminishes when the novelty has worn off. They are curiously apt to forget that the necessity for training Probationers is just as great as when they were conscious of it, and inclined to respond to the call for help which constantly appeals to all who fill a Sister's position. It is inevitable that Sisters will become comparatively careless and indifferent unless they keep themselves alive to the constant demand for good training which exists. When they realise this they are generally prepared to do their best, for in everything the first step towards supplying a need is to have it distinctly felt. Fortunately few of us are inclined to stand aside and say, "This is no business of mine," if our sympathies have once been enlisted, and if we are assured that, in some measure, we can be of use.

We should be ashamed not to do our best to forward any cause that we recognise to be good, because our exertions were not likely to bring us any personal credit. Not that this is an element that need be altogether left out of consideration, for as the work