302 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



health should be brought to bear by every woman 

 responsible in any way for the well-being of others, and 

 espeqiaUy of the young. Public opinion, I am glad to 

 say, does not forgive a mother's neglect of her children's 

 physical condition ; and the condemnation is severe when 

 a boy, after all his work and passing his hard examina- 

 tions, is plucked in the medical examination for some 

 slight physical defect — it may be nothing worse than 

 neglected corns or a crooked toe — which with ordinary 

 care in childhood or a slight operation might have been 

 entirely cured. Is it stinginess, or is it idleness, or is it 

 ignorance, or is it mere selfishness and a dislike to 

 acknowledge delicacy in their own children, or a half- 

 conscientious repudiation of responsibiUty and a bUnd 

 trust in Providence, that makes so many parents allow 

 life-long misery and suffering to come upon their children 

 just for the want of a little care and study of the 

 ordinary rules of health, and of the watchful eye which is 

 given by every hunting man to his horse ? 



One word more I must add about convalescence. 

 With the young and the healthy it is a time of hope and 

 even happiness, in spite of mourning over the lost muscles 

 and strength, and the irritating tyrannies of the sick- 

 room. But in long, chronic, hopeless Ulness modem 

 nursing, with all its real advantages, becomes an active 

 daily trial, only to be borne patiently from the same 

 feeling that makes all work and all trials bearable — 

 namely, for the time being, doing the disagreeable for the 

 sake of the ultimate good. It is our only method of 

 earning our daily bread by the sweat of our brow, the old 

 golden rule of life, which in all the forms it takes is stiU 

 the one that convinces us that life is worth living, if not 

 for ourselves, at any rate to continue our presence here for 

 the sake of those who dearly wish to keep us. And so 

 all the trials and fatigues of the three hours' nurse's rule 



