ld maintain a trained nurse to care for
the sick and helpless, to teach the people how to live, and how to care for
their homes and their children. The members themselves could visit the
poor, the needy, and the sick.
There are so many people in the world who are near the brink of
failure,--so many who need a little hope infused into their lives,--and so
many who are really deserving of help and sympathy and inspiration. The
women who do this work for the work's sake are amply repaid by the good
they find to do. The doing of such work is a consecration and an education.
Life means more, and the whole temperament reflects a truer sympathy and a
stronger purpose.
There are many mothers, for example, who are willing to do what is
essential in the interest of their children, but they do not know what
should be done. These people cannot afford a physician or a nurse to teach
them, nor do they even know that their methods are wrong or that they need
any instruction. We must carry the information and the explanation to them.
We must show them the need for a change of methods. This is the work for
those charitably disposed women who desire some worthy purpose in life, who
really wish to do some genuine good. All the equipment they need is good
common sense. They will explain why it is essential to pasteurize the milk
before feeding it to the baby because most of the milk used by the poor is
unfit for use as a baby food. They will show how to keep the nipples and
the bottles clean, and they will give them lessons on how to prepare the
food to the best advantage. They will instruct them how to dress the baby
in hot weather, and they will explain why it is necessary to provide the
baby with all the fresh air possible. They will gain the confidence of
these mothers and they will tell them all they know, in tactful and
diplomatic and common-sense language so that they may appreciate the
eugenic reasons for everything they do regarding the care and well-being of
the baby. In every city in the country this work is needed and is [56]
waiting for the missionaries who will volunteer. To teach mothers the need
for boiled water as a necessary drink for baby and older children is alone
a worthy avocation. To impress upon one of these willing but ignorant
mothers the absolute necessity for washing her hands before preparing
baby's food, that she must keep a covered vessel in which the soiled
napkins are placed until washed, that she s
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