1 86 The sphere of woman's work is ever widening, and now there are innumerable professions and businesses by which the enterprising woman can obtain a livelihood. This section of Every Woman's Encyclopedia, therefore, will serve as a guide-book, pointing out the high-road to | success in these careers. It will also show the stay-at-home girl how she may supplement her dress allowance and at the same time amuse herself. It will deal with : Proicssions Woman's Work in the Colonies Little Ways of Making Pin- Doctor Canada Moncy Civil Sei-oant Australia Photography Nurse - South Africa Chickett Rearing Dressmaker New Zealand Sweet Making Actress Colo7iial Ntirses China Painting Mttsician Colonial Teachers Bee Keeping Secretary Train ifig for Colon ies Toy Making Governess Colonial Outfits Ticket Writing, Dancing Mistress, etc. Farming, etc. etc., etc. OCCUPATIONS FOR WOMEN No. 2. NURSING AS A PROFESSION By ALFRED BARNARD Author of " Every Way of Earning a Living,^ " Oiir Sons and Daughters,^' etc- Scope of the Profession — A Hospital Training and How to Obtain It — Qualifications and the Question of Age — Salaries, Holidays, Prospects, and Pensions. HE word " nursing " covers a multitude of benefits to humanity. There is the hospital nurse, the private nurse — a hospital nurse work- ing on her own account — the colonial nurse, and the Queen Alexandra Imperial nurse. Then last, but by no means least, there is the young lady into whose care mothers place their children — the nursery nurse. With such wide scope the profession attracts many thousands of young women who have to earn a living ; but the breadth of the field of labour is not the only attrac- tion, for the nurse's garb is the sign-manual of honour, nobility, human kindness, and patience under the most harassing and trying circumstances. In short, the nurse's uni- form commands, as it should do, the greatest respect wherever it is seen, for the world knows that it is the home of the kindest hearts. Hospital Nursing It is impossible in the space of this article to deal with all the branches of nursing, and for the present we shall devote our attention to the hospital and other sick nurses, leaving other branches for future consideration. The young woman who wishes to adopt this profession, and to stay in a hospital until she reaches the highest grade, should choose an institution containing over a hundred beds, because the experience will be wider, the possibilities of promotion greater, and the certificate obtainable of more value than any other in the profession. Age Limits This branch of the profession is not one which can be entered by girls, for at the large general hospitals the lower age limit is twenty-two or over. In many cottage hospitals throughout the country, however, the age for entry is not so high, so that a young girl may begin her training at, say, nineteen, and after spending three or four years there may leave to enter herseM as a probationer at one of the big general hos- pitals. From inquiries which she may make locally, any candidate for this profession may discover the nearest available cottage hospital, and, having done that, she has only to write a letter of application for a vacancy as a probationer to the matron to get the
