The Wanganui Chronicle " Nulla Dies Sine Linea." WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1909. A BENEFICENT WORK.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12388, 8 December 1909, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle " Nulla Dies Sine Linea." WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1909. A BENEFICENT WORK.

Dow?«\ on the Richmond flat, in the crowded back streets of Collingwood, in all the hot, airless spaces of our city, the summer fiend has already swooped upon the babies. Two or three days of midsummer heat, and diarrhoea is already levying its annual toll. Not one day too soon was the Talbot Institute at work with its delivery of pur© milk and ice. In house after house the same story is told —told by mothers whose quivering lips falter out the tale of harrowing anxiety; told by mothers whose wide-eyed ignorance is even 'more pathetic than the sorrow of the intelligent, women;, told by busy, energetic foster mothers whose experience and knowledge seem almost powerless to deal with the babies', deadly enemy. "Half a dozen visits with a Talbot nurse would be enough to convince the most doubting spirit of the need that there exists for the work of the mstitue. • • -'

So says a Melbourne contemporary in describing the operations of the Talbot Institute. Primarily, the institute exists for the purpose of supplying pur© millc for the feeding of delicate) babies. But, sei'Sible of the fact that in the hands of an ignorant mother even pure milk may bo an agent of. harm, th e institute engaged two trained utirsss to visitall the houses which are being supplied with Talbot milk, to advise the mothers on the. fesding. and management of the babies, to teach them how to keep the milk pure, how t^ keep the bottles clean, and to report to tho board on the. working of the scheme. The pure milk is a godsend to poor mothers; but it. is upon the nurses and their work that the success of the whole enterprise turns. The little ice-chest which is supplied by the institute to those who obtain the milk is a conspicuous object in the homes. It is so compact and easily accommodated that ■everyone can find room for it. It is built first t:> hold the daily few bottles of milk and ice enough to keep them cold. The milk supplied is no longer pasteurised: The precautions taken on tbe farm, from which it comes are such that the milk is practically germ-free when it is bottled. The latest improvement towards this end is a pi'ovision for straining the milk through sterilised' cottonwool, certainly the most effective strainer yet invented. Immediately after milking the milk is strained, chilU'd to a temperature of about 35deg., and run into the bottles by means of syphons. As they are filled the bottles are stoppsre:!, and within five minutes of milking,the milk is in the bottles, which linve only to be sealed with the seal of ths institute to be ready for delivery. The bottles are packed in special boxes •with ice about them, and are transmitter!""for delivery to certain suburban dairymen, who have had to comply with special requirements as to cool accommodation and/ the provision of a supply of ice before they.- are entrusted with the duty of delivering the milk. To obtain the milk at ordinary milk rates or less it is necessary to get an order signed by a medical man or a town clerk. The institute, however, isalso prepared to sell milk to those o? the general public who can afford Bd. per quart for it. "If one may judge by j the evidence of one day's visits,", says one appreciative writer, "there is no house into which a Talbot nurse goes, in this, the second year of the work, where* she is not welcomed and eagerly looked for. The anxiety with which her operations are watched, and the announcement of the "baby's weight" received, sprak volumes for the interest and the co-operation which she has succeeded in arousing. It was pretty td see the smilo of pleasure which broke on every face as tbe door opened to ad- j n-.it 'Nurse.: It was pleasant to share tho warm and yet deferential welcome that met hsr -everywhere. One thing was clear to see. Every mother is glad to share hvv joys and her responsibilities. No woman wants to bear her burden alone. What that burden is, no one who is "not .in constant touch with the poor can realise. In the very first house wo entered fie father was stricken with fore sickness. The worried, anxious

wife, with her husband to nurse, he,, housa to keep clean, two or throe small children to feed and clothe, and a fretting, ailing baby to tend had a weight of work and anxiety that Avould have broken, many a woman. The baby was suffering from diarrhoea, and the rubbing of the tender skin on a damp bib made a terribly sorel patch on the little chin. The mother's anxiety to do the right tbing for her baby was pathetk The little one was being fed with r. 'tube bottle.' But the nnrse, with all her horror of th e 'tube,' had never a word of rebuke. In that bouse, she know, thero could be little money to spend on new bottles, and even time could ill be soared to stand and foed the baby with one of the approved bottles. She would sco that the right sort of bottle was forthcoming, from some sourco or other; and a little advice, judiciously ahd clearly put, was given, as to the treatment of the baby generally, and the healing of the sore chin. It was the same everywhere. The rooms might be overcrowded, and airless, the

baby might be suffering from a chafed

and irritated skin that could easily have '

been avoided!, there might be signß which co the unimaated spok© of uttor carelessness." Every case met with the same persuasive tactfulness, the same sparing speech.. Our need for such a j work as is being performed by;jthe Tal- j bot Institute is doubtless Jess pressing than must be the.case in any large , city. We lack, and may we ever lack, the evils of poverty and overcrowding. But there are babies to be saved, even in "pretty, prosperous and progressive" Wangaiuii. Hence Miss Eraser's appeal for funds wherewith to provide for the tip-keep of a Plunket Nurse. Miss Fraser acknowledges with thanks promises of annual subscriptions amounting to over £43. This is a good beginning, and we feel sure the public, wilj contribute the larger balance which must be forthcoming before the services of a Plunket Nurse can be secured for the women of Wanganui. So soon as that desirable object has been attained, it will, we hope, be followed by an effort to supplement the good work which the Nurse will do by providing the babies \ with pure food through the medium of I

some system equivalent to that of the

Talbot Institute