The Sick Room.
We cannot leave this book without giving a few simple rules for nursing the sick. Most of our young people, and many old, are ignorant of the commonest principles.
Never wear a rustling dress or creaking shoes in waiting on the sick. Be careful not to shake the bed, or fidget near it, so as to touch, disturb, and needlessly fatigue the invalid. Few noises are more irritating in sickness than noise from the grate. The startling effect of putting on coals may destroy the effect of an opiate. It is better to put them on one by one. In voice and manner be gentle, and in spirit cheerful and hopeful. Do not depress by tears, but control looks, words, and actions. Say nothing in the room, or even outside the door, which you would not wish the sick to hear. Ask questions but rarely, and never occasion a needless effort to gratify your own curiosity. In giving nourishment with a spoon, be careful to raise the bowl of the spoon so as not to drop anything, or annoy the sick person by untidy feeding. Be sure to have cups, spoons, and glasses clean. Make everything as attractive as you can from the nicety and freshness of the dish. Do not allow jellies or rejected dainties to remain in the room. The time may come to any boy or girl when they may desire to watch by a sick bed of a parent or friend, and the above rules may assist them.
If the sick person should take a dislike to you, be not disheartened at it; but if possible resign your place by the bedside. It may be that you were clumsy, and awkward, or over-anxious. It may be only one of those unaccountable fancies which sometimes takes possession of the sufferer, and which it is our duty to treat with care and consideration.
1.—COOKING FOR THE SICK.
Beef tea. Take one pound of beef, without any fat, cut it in very small pieces, and put it in a bottle; cork it and put it into a kettle of water, and boil it until the juice is exhausted; this will do for very sick people who can only take a teaspoonful of nourishment at one time. Take a pound of lean beef, cut it up fine in a quart of cold water, let it boil an hour, then salt it, and put in a pinch of cayenne pepper, strain it, and it is ready for use. This given to a person troubled with sleeplessness (from general debility), about a half cup full just before retiring, will generally enable the patient to sleep.