Among the applicants were all sorts of extremists—such as women in very short Bloomer costume, with hair cut also very short, to whom the patients objected most strenuously; others were training as practitioners in a water-cure establishment, and wished to avail themselves of our out-door practice in order to introduce their theories and methods of healing. In fact, we were overrun with advisers and helpers whom we had to refuse. Popular prejudices could be overcome only in the most careful and conservative manner; and even our most ardent friends and supporters shared to a certain degree in the feeling of uncertainty as to the success of our experiment.
Personally, I received during this year great comfort in the acquaintances and lifelong friendships gained. And the recollection of these friends calls forth such a deep feeling of gratitude for their devotion in our work of love, and for their trust in me, and of admiration for their high purpose to serve humanity, that I consider it worth while to have lived if for no other reason than to realize through them the goodness of womankind.
So the year closed upon us as one which had brought great satisfaction in all we expected to gain, professionally and as bearers of a new idea. Youth was with us all, and our hopes of success knew no limit. We were the happiest, even if materially the poorest, of a group of women which included friends engaged in different lines of work, such as journalism, art and music. Of these, none identified herself so closely with us as Mary L. Booth, later editor of Harper’s Bazar, who spent every Sunday with us, and who often shared my room and bed when she was out at night as reporter of the New York Times too late to return to her home in Williamsburg.
Oh! happy days! Springtime of life! It was the “May” which never returns to the human being, and the beauty of which we realize only long after it has passed. Memories of these glorious days keep with us and reconcile us to the many sad, dark, anxious and trying hours through which we all have to pass in one form or another. These latter make us wiser, perhaps, but certainly not happier, even though we have struggled successfully through the years and feel that we should be contented with what we have accomplished.
Still, there was a dark side to my experience during that year. The sick headaches, to which I had been subject off and on since childhood, came upon me quite often and very unexpectedly, evidently due to the overstraining of all my forces, physical and mental, and I was quite often obliged to relinquish some very important duties.
Before leaving this year’s record, I must add a few remarks concerning our work, that is, mine and that of the ten or twelve students who had been connected with the Infirmary now for twenty months.
The prejudice against women physicians was by no means confined to that stratum of society where education and wealth nurtured the young. We found it just as strong, through habit and custom, among the working people and among the very poorest of the poor. Their coming to our dispensary was not a priori appreciation of the woman physician, but was the result of faith in the extraordinary, just as now faith-curers with other claims are sought and consulted in illness.
Our work was that of real missionaries. Even among the well-to-do and intelligent, little or nothing was known of hygiene. If “a goneness in the stomach” was felt, whisky, brandy or a strong tonic was resorted to for relief. Diet, rest and the sensible use of water were never considered.
So among the poor we found everywhere bad air, filth and utter disregard of food. And sponges, as well as soap, were carried in the satchels of our young medical women along with the necessary implements of the physician. And the former were given to the patients’ friends, after showing them the use of water and soap in fever cases as well as in ordinary illness. It was an innovation in the minds of the people, the teaching that sick people must be bathed and kept clean, and that fresh air was not killing.
The good results obtained by the addition of these sanitary auxiliaries whose use was permitted only through our persuasion, created almost a superstitious faith in us and resulted in sending to us patients from a distance of ten and twelve miles from Bleecker Street. This made increased demands on our physical and nervous powers, for we made it a point not to refuse any person if it were at all possible to see her.