Various

“ But then, says the cynic, ‘the loving woman’ is so rare that she may be freely allowed all possible praise: vanity and interest have generally much more to do in linking men and women than affection. Read your newspaper, note the lives of those around you, count the sores which the four walls of every house conceal, and then you will know how rare she is.—Go, cynic; we will shut our eyes and dream the beautiful dream of all romance, that women are fair, self-sacrificing, and loyal in their love. ”

“ As an intelligent forester told the writer: ‘You have to creep on your stomach like a serpent; you have to crouch as you go like a collier at work; while to make sure of your prey, you may have to make a tour of a couple of miles, even though you are just about within range. You must force your way through the morass, and must, if necessary, walk for a few hundred yards up to your middle in water—that is all in the way of business, sir, when you go deer-stalking. ”

“ At the present time, as far as has been ascertained by a recent inquiry under Royal Commission, the extent of all the deer-forests in Scotland amounts to about two millions of acres. It is only, however, right to say that the land devoted to these animals could not be more profitably employed. It has been affirmed by practical men that it is scarcely possible to feed even one hardy black-faced sheep on less than six acres of such land, so scant is the herbage. Indeed, some intelligent farmers maintain that it will take a hundred and sixty acres of forest-land to graze a score of these sheep. ”

“ These words contain an epitome of the work of deer-stalking. A stag will note a man a long way off, and will, when he does so, most probably at once take alarm and run for his life. The sense of smell which has been bestowed on these animals is wonderful; wind carries the scent to them unbroken, and whenever they have ‘got the wind,’ as it is called, of man, or any other source of disturbance, they are sure to move off to a place of safety. When once a herd of deer is disturbed, they will take themselves away to a distance ”

“ Not only should bed and body linen be kept fresh and clean, but everything that has become soiled in using must at once be removed from the room. It is a very common practice in home-nursing to make a collection of dirty things, to be carried downstairs when any one is going; in this way, I have known a room to be fouled for hours, the patient being considered whimsical for complaining of odours not perceptible to his nurse. Now, any such complaint should receive immediate attention, and a nurse should never rest satisfied till she has discovered and remedied the evil. ”

“ The term ‘hardness’ is used by the lapidary and mineralogist to denote the power of one stone to scratch another; it must not be considered as the power of resisting a blow, for many crystalline stones which are very hard are also easily fractured. The diamond, which will scratch any other stone, can be more easily broken than many stones which are less hard. After the diamond come the ruby and sapphire, which are the next hardest stones; then emeralds, topazes, and quartz or rock-crystal; and finally, a number of other stones, and glass or artificial stones. ”

“ To be constantly on the strain to hear is by no means soothing; and whispered conversation as to the patient’s condition must never be indulged in. Some people, realising this, will go out of the sick-room, to carry on low-toned consultations just outside the door and within hearing of the patient, who involuntarily strains every nerve in the endeavour to catch what is being said. Such treatment is even worse than unnecessary noise, and all discussion relating to the patient must be carried on where there is no possibility of his hearing it. ”

“ Colonel Thorpe’s gamekeeper—sent down last night to play the spy upon me. It is well he has not seen me now.’
Not many minutes afterwards, a young lady burst into the arbour, with a little cry, half of fear and half of pleasure. It could be nothing more nor less than a lovers’ meeting after all.
The lovers’ first tender greetings over, they seated themselves side by side in the little arbour, and talked to each other in a low voice. The state of alarm in which she evidently was, sent a brighter flush of colour to her lovely face, and enhanced in her lover’s eyes the graces of her person. ”

“ Bella gave vent to a little laugh: she could not help it. One of Dick’s arms found its way round her waist. The situation was embarrassing. If she were to push him away, she might slip into the water. Their faces were not far apart. Suddenly she protruded hers and touched his cheek lightly with her lips. ‘Wretch! There, then!’ she said. ‘And there,’ quoth the unabashed suitor, as he returned the toll, twofold. ‘And there!’ she added a moment after, as, with her disengaged hand, she gave him a sounding box on the ear.
Dick laughed and rubbed his ear. ”

“ To move a patient from side to side, the draw-sheet alone is needed. Rolling one end close to the body, the nurse goes round to the other side of the bed, and by taking hold of the rolled-up part, will be able to turn the patient gently over with perfect ease. Where the draw-sheet is not being used, it is a good plan to let a heavy patient lie on a strong roller-towel, which can be used as above; and if two people grasp it firmly on each side, they will be able to move the patient up and down in bed without fatigue or injury. ”

“ If the patient perspires much, the linen must be dried and warmed each time of changing; it is not enough that it has been once aired; every time it becomes damp the same process must be repeated. The same thing applies to towels, which are so often put away damp and used again without airing; no wonder that illness, resulting from cold, shivering or a fit of coughing, not seldom follows the washing process, whilst the simple precaution of using a towel well aired and warmed would do away with the discomfort. ”

“ It not seldom happens that the patient’s sensitive condition makes him extra quick to discern such warning of danger; and the nurse who really desires to do her duty, instead of taking offence, will gladly avail herself of the help thus given; for it must be borne in mind that as surely as smoke indicates fire, so surely does a bad smell indicate a foulness of air, which will never be remedied till the cause has been removed. ”

“ Red-deer venison—that is, a haunch from a Highland hart or hind—can only be assigned a secondary place in the cuisine. Happily, some sportsmen have discovered that venison does not require to be kept till it has begun to decay before it can be brought to table, but can be used to the greatest advantage in the space of two or three days after being killed, when its flavour is excellent and the flesh presumably nutritious. The deer can also be cut into chops, such cuts being delicious. Among sportsmen who thus utilise their venison we may be allowed to name the father of them all—Horatio Ross. ”

“ In the three chief deer-counties of Scotland, the cultivable area is singularly small in proportion to their total extent. Taking Argyll, Inverness, and Ross-shire as examples, only three hundred and eighty-seven thousand five hundred and ninety-eight acres are to be found under cultivation, out of an area which covers six million eight hundred and twenty-three thousand and two acres, leaving nearly six and a half millions of acres to be inhabited by sheep, deer, and grouse, and as the site of lochs, rivers, and mountains, and sterile places on which nothing grows and nothing can live. ”

“ So true is this, that a trained nurse looks upon such wounds as a disgrace, and is constantly on her guard against them; but the inexperienced nurse neglects this necessary watchfulness, simply through ignorance of the danger to be avoided. But forewarned should be forearmed; and by taking care to avoid dirt, pressure, and creases in the bedding, even the most inexperienced stand a good chance of success in this most troublesome part of nursing. ”

“ Those engaged in the sport of deer-stalking year by year expend a large amount of money; they give remunerative employment to many hundred persons, and have done much in many instances to improve the moral as well as the material circumstances of the people by setting those employed by them a good example. As to the question whether it would be more profitable to feed sheep or deer, that must be left to settle itself by the inevitable operation of economic law. ”

“ No authentic statistics are collected in Scotland of the deer which are annually slain in the way of sport; but we are enabled from records which appear from time to time in the public prints, to estimate the number of stags which are killed in the different forests. In the county of Inverness—which may be called the deer-county of Scotland par excellence, in the same way as Perthshire is looked upon as being the representative grouse-producing county of the kingdom—probably about sixteen hundred stags are annually killed. ”

“ Ere another week had passed, during which the lovers met but once, the colonel’s apartments were again vacant, and Reginald Ainslie was wondering at what remote period of his life he should again see Amy Thorpe. Poverty was the bane of the young soldier, and the monotonous round of barrack-life was by no means the royal road to wealth. ”

“ As regards personal cleanliness, many people still retain the old-fashioned fear of washing, which used to condemn the patient to a state of dirt, equally uncomfortable and injurious. Of course, care and discrimination are needful, and if there is any doubt on the matter, it is better to ask the doctor’s opinion; but as a rule, daily washing of face, neck, and arms is possible in all cases fit for home-nursing ”

“ It is well worth a nurse’s while to study her particular patient’s taste, and to find out some such simple method of relieving the weariness and monotony of illness.
To lift a helpless patient is by no means an easy task to inexperience, and should never be attempted without help. When the patient is utterly helpless, two long poles or broom-handles will be needed ”

“ It is a safe rule to avoid detailing the patient’s symptoms to relatives or friends; sensitive, delicate minds are often made to suffer unnecessarily, from the consciousness that sick-room details are being made the subject of curious inquiry and remark.
It not seldom happens that in delirium, or extreme weakness, the patient will let out some{727} cherished secret, and this should be as jealously sacred to the nurse as though the confidence had been voluntary, the only allowable violation being when the revelation made throws any light upon the patient’s illness ”

“ In the first-named county, we could name twenty that fetch an aggregate annual rent of upwards of thirty-three thousand pounds, or an average of nearly seventeen hundred pounds; while it is no secret that an American gentleman pays a yearly rental for deer-ground in Inverness and Ross of nearly eleven thousand pounds.
Deer-stalking has been denominated ‘the pastime of princes;’ and it is a sport that calls for pluck, patience, and endurance on the part of those who undertake it. From daybreak to sundown has been often spent in circumventing the monarch of the mountain ”

“ In cases where there is great feebleness, much care must be exercised in washing the patient and changing his body-linen. Before beginning, the nurse should see that the room is properly warmed, and that all she is likely to need is ready to hand; she must be careful that no draught shall reach her patient, and that he does not get a chill through unnecessary dawdling ”

“ Proceeding westwards, about midway between the Temple Bar memorial and Charing Cross, I collided somewhat violently with a man immediately in front of me, who had stooped with the evident intention of picking up something off the ground. He turned round sharply and exclaimed: ‘Did you see that?’ at the same time showing me a gold diamond ring, which he stated he had found on the pavement, and on which he had nearly trodden. ”