teacher should try to make very clear to every patient.

We will begin with the baby, as the babies are with us always, and
if doctors and nurses, science and sanitation have their way,
there will some time be no call but that of the baby, for nurse or
doctor either. The ignorance of the young mother is proverbial;
her wish to know about her baby and its care is pathetically
earnest. The new life is so precious, she would take such good
care of it, if she only knew how. Here is a pupil eager for
knowledge, ready to do all that can be intelligently taught to
her. The nurse should have very clearly in her mind all the
mysteries of digestion, all the reasons for regularity in feeding,
the necessity for fresh air, for long and uninterrupted slumber,
for loose clothing, for regular bathing. She should be able to
give the mother the rules for her own living that she may be able
to provide the best milk for the baby, or, if the little one has
to be artificially fed, the methods of preparing the particular
food chosen should be explained, and the indications of
indigestion pointed out. All this is real teaching, real
missionary work, and if well done will help the mother immensely
and probably save the baby many attacks of colic or worse. Washing
the baby is usually regarded by the young mother as a terrible
ordeal. No nurse should leave her young-mother patient until she
is fully able to perform this task. Let the mother watch, a few
mornings, while the nurse does all the work, then let her undress
the baby, when the nurse can take him and finish the operation.
Day by day let her do a little more, as her strength and ambition
permit, until at the end of a week she is fairly used to handling
the child and can, perhaps, keep him until the last finishing
touches are put on. The nurse should always be near, to help, to