WOMAN'S WORLD

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 110, 26 January 1918, Page 4

WOMAN'S WORLD

katt:.;;s of interest from far and near

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"ANGELS" OF THE NAVY HOW THE SAILORMAN IS CARED FOR, No, they are not of the kind that appear over country church towers upholding banners bearing the blazing word "Peace"; they do not sit up aloft in fighting-top or on masthead, shedding courage and heartenment on the weary warriors below. They move soft- j footed about the wards of our naval hospitals; their haloes are spotless white kerchiefs, with a Queen's crown embroidered in naval blue in the corner; their habiliments are just those of the ordinary nurse. But they are never "nurses"—always "sisters"—and "Fighting Jack," with that adaptability which is so marked a characteristic of his personality, makes sisters of them all, though worshipping them and christening them "angels." You can find them in all parts of the world—not only at Haslnr, Chatham, and iStonehousCj wliero the huge base hospitals lio adjacent to the principal naval depots, but at Hong-Kong, at Sydney, at Gibraltar, at Malta, and at Tr'incomalee, in the snako-infested island of Ceylon. The Pacific coast knows them at Esquimalt; they are present at Halifax and Bermuda; Capo Town has a batch of them, and thcro are others wherever the British Navy is permanently stationed. They qualify in the same way as military nurses. The candidate, who must be between twenty-five and thirty, must havo served for not less than, three years in ii civilian hospital of at least one hundred beds. "When accepted, the novice is sent to Haslar—the biggest hospital of all at. Portsmouth—for six months on probation, after which, it' found suitable, she jeceives her official appointment as a "Sister of Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service," which is her full style and title, So highly does the Queen-Mother think of her protegees that she presents each one with a badge, consisting of her own Royal monogram interlacing an anchor and cable above a Geneva Cross, the whole surmounted by the imperial crown. In addition to (this Queen Alexandra autographs the official appointment, nor may anyone, without consulting her, deprive a sister so appointed of her rank and badge. The sister at this stage receives payment at the rate of £40 per annum, rising £5 every year to £65. And out of this she has no living expenses. Her uniform, laundry, and messing are all provided: she has comfortable quarters when off'duty, and certain sections of. the hospital grounds aro set aside as tlio sisters' special preserve. After serving for a certain number of years as sister, the "angel" gets an opportunity for qualifying as superintending sister, when not only will Sjie receive" of a clear £70 per annum to begin with, rising to £100, but she will he appointed to the sole charge of one of the smaller foreign hospTtals. Hero she will gain experience which will qualify her to pass for head sister or matron, in which position sho will undertake the responsibility of the administration of one of the three great home hospitals, startinn- at £130 per annum and rising to £300. Nor is this all. Tim "naval angel, retiring at the age of fifty, can reckon on receiving a pension large enough to keep her in comfort so long as she lives. And if she has served in the tropics, each year of tropical service counts as equivalent to two years' home service when this pension comes to be calculated. There is plenty of lcavo for the sisters; they have several hours each afternoon, a half day every week, and a week-end every three months. A full month's leave, with all pay and allowances, is given each year, and. here again the sister on foreign service scores, for sho may save up all this leave and take the lot in a lump when she conies home to England. Sisters train the sick borth staff, who have the nursing of the sailormaii in his ship; they conduct classes in firstaid, and work generally as in any ordinary hospital. But in no ordinary hospital aro the patients quite the. same. Jack makes a splendid patient, always fuli of humour and of yarns. There is a standing but unwritten law which every naval sister learns upon entering the service, and that is that in all cases sho must use Jack's own peculiar vocabulary and learn the parts of a warship. " Otherwise she would never ho able to understand half that was said bv tho men under her care. For instance, if a sister told her patients to "go to bed and keep silence," they would consider her showing off, but if she said instead. "Now then, all hands turn in and pipe down." they would recognise that, though she wears frocks and frills, the sister was one of themselves, and would obey all her orders without further trouble.—John S. Margcrison, in "The Queen."