Various

“ If the nurse’s height will allow of two mattresses, it is a good plan to alternate them so that the under one of yesterday shall be the upper one of to-day. Those who have not tried this simple way of securing a change, will hardly believe the comfort it affords to a helpless patient.
On the same principle, it is a great alleviation to the monotony of long illness if the room will allow of two beds, one for day, the other for night; and this arrangement permits the thorough airing of bed and bedding, which it is otherwise so difficult to secure. ”

“ The right and only proper way of arranging a bed for illness is to give special, minute attention to the placing of under-blanket and sheet. If the former can be dispensed with, especially in summer-time, it will be well; but very few patients will agree to this, and it is hardly of sufficient importance to argue about, except in special cases, when the doctor will probably give his veto.
In an ordinary way, be careful to choose a thin blanket, without holes of course, but one that has been pretty well worn, and that, therefore, will not greatly add to the heat of the patient’s body. ”

“ But surely, in time of illness, the first consideration should be how best to mitigate the patient’s sufferings and lighten the nurse’s labours; and in all but quite slight cases, it is worth considerable effort to secure the right kind of bed and bedding. This brings us to another home-nursing difficulty; for in spite of recent progress in hygienic knowledge, there are still not a few individuals who are foolish enough to prefer the unwholesome softness of a feather-bed to the healthy firmness of a good hair mattress. ”

“ I have seen patients with chest complaints literally labouring under the weight of clothes placed in exactly the wrong place. In illness, as a rule the feet need extra covering, and the breathing organs no more weight of clothes than is absolutely necessary. The upper-sheet being light, may be allowed to turn over for neatness, but blanket and counterpane must only come up to the patient’s neck. ”

“ The injured man, a member of the corps of Commissionaires, expressed himself much gratified with the prompt attention he had received, as well as with the skilful operation by which, without a moment’s loss of time, the important act of removing the bullet had been accomplished. Too much praise cannot be given to the two soldiers, who by their ready and intelligent action, saved their patient not only from prolonged suffering, but perhaps even from death itself. ”

“ Re-making the patient’s bed is our next consideration. If well enough to go into another room, he should either be carried there, or laid on a sofa and wheeled in. As soon as he is out of the way, the window of the sick-room should be thrown open to its widest, and the bed-clothes taken off one by one, well shaken, and left so exposed that the air can circulate freely around them. The mattresses should share the same treatment, and if possible, be left for a few minutes before being replaced. The patient will indeed be peculiar who does not enjoy the refreshment of a bed thus aired. ”

“ After cleaning grate and fire-irons and making up the fire, the nurse turns her attention to the carpet, which, after being well strewn with damp tea-leaves, should be briskly swept with a hand-broom. If the furniture is simple, it may be washed over with a wet cloth and dried, all cushions or stuffed furniture being beaten out of the room. The window, often overlooked, should be nicely cleaned; and then the bed being re-made, the patient may be brought back into a room thoroughly well cleaned and aired. It is not necessary that a nurse should herself perform all menial work ”

“ If there are cupboards, they should be cleaned out before beginning to nurse, and in no case must they be used as receptacles for food or for anything that has become soiled in using. A chest of drawers is a comfort if used with discretion; but in home-nursing, it often proves the reverse of useful, and serves as a treasury for all sorts of things which have no business in a sick-room.
Pictures have a brightening effect, but they must hang straight, or your patient may worry himself with endless efforts to make them fit in with the pattern of the paper ”

“ Indeed, so true is this, that in serious illness, a feather-bed may be reckoned as an invincible enemy to comfort and cleanliness; and it is better not to allow your patient to remain under such unfavourable circumstances, even though it involve a few hours of dissatisfied grumbling. It may make things easier if the change is ushered in by allowing the feather-bed to remain under the mattress till the patient has become accustomed to the new order of things, when it will be well to substitute flock for feathers. ”

“ By its help, too, ventilation is made so much easier, that, if nothing pretty and ornamental is to be had, it is worth while to extemporise a screen with an ordinary clothes-horse and sheet; but a chintz or holland cover, bound with braid and made to tie on, is much more cheerful than the dull expanse of a sheet.
And now for the most important article of furniture, the bed, on which depends so much of the patient’s comfort or discomfort. If possible, have a light iron frame without a foot-rail, or with only a low one. ”

“ Some people tack or pin the clean to the dirty, and draw through whilst an assistant keeps the patient raised. Changing the upper clothes is not such a serious undertaking, though seldom properly managed by amateurs. The counterpane and blanket may be taken quite off the bed, and given to an assistant to shake, outside the room; but the sheet must never be removed without an immediate substitute. A good plan is to loosen the soiled sheet all round, tuck the clean one well in at the foot, and draw the free end upwards, under the dirty sheet, which is gradually drawn away or rolled up. ”

“ Greater width increases the difficulty of reaching the patient, and it is astonishing the journeys such a thing as a handkerchief will make over a large surface of bed. The height{610} of the bed is another serious consideration, for should it be too low, the nurse will find it add considerably to the back-aching tendency of nursing; and if too high, the constant straining up to the patient will be quite as bad. The rule then, is, that the bed when made shall be so proportioned to the nurse’s height as to enable her to lift and attend to the patient without any undue effort. ”

“ The number of upper-clothes to be put on the patient’s bed will vary with circumstances; but, as a rule, in a room with a fire, one blanket and a counterpane will be enough. The great point is to secure warmth without weight, and for this purpose, the ordinary cotton counterpane is about as bad as possible. An excellent substitute is the kind of blanket known as the ‘Austrian,’ which is cheerful in appearance as well as light and warm. In cases of exhaustion, nothing is better than a chintz-covered down, which can be shifted or removed without disturbing the patient. ”

“ Morning is the time of hope and energy to a healthful nature; and Madge felt this, although the atmosphere was cold and the sky white with its load of snow, which was presently to descend in thick flakes, covering up the last patches of earth and shrub left bare by the glimpses of sunshine that had succeeded the previous fall. ”

“ In home-nursing, the bed question is often overlooked altogether, or made much more of a difficulty than it need be; and though that relic of unenlightened days, the four-poster, is almost extinct in some households, most of the beds are large, and to alter the furnishing of a room seems beyond the imagination of the ordinary housekeeper. ”

“ In ordinary cases, one large pillow is enough, and it is a good plan to place it lengthways, one end resting against the bed-head, and the other on the mattress, thus avoiding the hollow between the patient’s shoulders and the bed, which is a fruitful source of uneasiness and restlessness. In convalescence and in many forms of illness, pillows play an important part, and we shall have more to say about them later on.
We now return to the bed, furnished as far as the under-sheet and pillow. ”

“ There was only one way in which she could set the minds of her friends at ease; and that she must adopt, no matter what it might cost herself. She dare not hope that Philip would be readily satisfied and come back to her; but at least he should understand that she had been thinking of his interest more than of herself. And Uncle Dick and Aunt Hessy would be relieved from anxiety on her account, and then—who could tell?—maybe they would influence Philip. Maybe Uncle Dick would overlook his loss of fortune, and tell him that he never meant to separate them on such a sorry score as that. ”

“ Pillows should be firm and not too soft; and bolsters should have covers of their own, and not be rolled round in the under-sheet, according to a common and very shiftless process. I have known the sheet to be tucked round the bolster in such a careless way that by the patient’s merely getting into bed it has been pulled out of place, and has continued a fruitful source of irritation for the rest of the day. ”

“ As a general rule, the patient’s bed should be made and his night-shirt changed at least once a day, and cases where this is not feasible ought not to come within the scope of home-nursing.
If a pair of clean sheets a day cannot be managed, one may be made to do, by letting yesterday’s clean upper sheet be to-day’s lower one; but draw-sheets must be changed as soon as soiled, irrespective of number. ”

“ He had been waiting there for hours; he had been told that Mr Coutts Hadleigh was not at home—the servant declined to say where he might be found. The snow and the cold did not appear to affect him. He waited, and at last the man had come, but had not given the watcher any satisfaction. Caleb was aware that his application was untimely: but that was not his fault: the circumstances were exceptional. He must know from this villain what he had done with Pansy, and then he would seek her father, whose authority would rescue her from the evil influence under which she had fallen. ”

“ Many of our readers will doubtless remember a melancholy occurrence which took place last year on one of the Swiss mountains, when a valuable young life was lost for the want of a ‘little knowledge,’ and in itself, very simple knowledge too. A German engineer and two guides were ascending one of the famous Swiss mountains, when the younger of the guides appears to have had a very bad fall, by which either a bottle or a lamp-glass was broken, the fractured part entering the young man’s thigh and dividing the femoral artery. ”

“ Should a sofa be necessary, and a regular invalid couch not procurable, nothing is better than a chair-bed—provided it does not creak—fitted with washing-covers to its cushions. Much has been said for and against the use of carpets in a sick-room; and taking all into consideration, we see no reason for changing our opinion that, in ordinary cases, it is better to let them remain ”

“ A more formal welcome awaited the king at the gateway of the castle. The porter’s eldest son, in his Sunday clothes, walked gravely forward, bearing on a cushion the castle keys, and, with profound obeisance, presented them to Charlie, who as gravely received them and gave them into Tom’s custody. At that moment the four pipers struck up; and the carriage, as it passed through the gateway, was saluted by a boom from the old brass gun. Tears stood in the Princess’s eyes, as, giving her hand to Father M‘Fillan, she alighted. ‘Thank heaven for this day!’ she exclaimed devoutly ”

“ Even the danger of missing the doctor’s lecture was not enough to deter her from walking home. As she was passing the King’s Head, the Ringsford carriage drew up at the door, and out of it jumped Coutts Hadleigh, in the full uniform of a captain of Volunteers. ”

“ The well-known saying of ‘A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,’ is here singularly confuted, for it was just the ‘little knowledge’ applied with sagacity and intelligence that probably saved the life of a fellow-creature. ”

“ Growing-plants have a cheerful look, and are not deleterious, as many suppose; cut flowers may also be indulged in, with the exception of those which have a heavy, sickly smell; but it is better to remove them at night. In summer, it is necessary to take precaution against the patient’s being disturbed by the buzz of insects; a fly-catcher at the open window will generally be sufficient ”

“ At Reading, this autumn, a honey-fair is to be held, when prizes will be distributed to beekeepers who work on humane and advanced principles, and also to those who can show the greatest amount of unadulterated honey raised in a Berkshire hive. ”

“ I only want to be able to marry Kate, you know; and really five hundred a year from my aunt would satisfy me.’
‘All right, old fellow; you shall have a thousand.—But now to business. I will go and announce the nomination of councillors. The council will meet in the drawing-room in half an hour. Shave yourself, and make yourself look as royal as possible. There was to be a valet to wait upon you, but he hasn’t yet arrived from Edinburgh.—How they are pounding away with that absurd brass gun! ”

“ Last year, Professor Huxley stated it as his opinion that no act of man could possibly influence the increase or decrease in the number of sea-fish. This was in answer to the gloomy anticipations of many that the herring and other fisheries would be gradually annihilated unless our fishermen were compelled by law to observe certain conditions. So far as herrings are concerned, the recent enormous catches have shown that there are fish as good and plentiful in the sea as ever yet came out. ”