Hints for Attendants in the Sick Room.
Do NOT get out of temper, but strive to make the sick-chamber the pleasantest and yet the quietest portion of the house. Do not converse in whispers; invalids generally are suspicious, and will imagine all sorts of things if they hear but do not understand a conversation in the room. Do not urge the invalid to eat and drink when he does not feel like it. Allow no unpleasant smells to prevade the room; prevent this by a thorough ventilation; let fresh air in freely and frequently. Keep everything that is used by the patient perfectly clean. Study all the peculiarities of your patient, and instead of opposing them by argument or otherwise, humor them, whenever by so doing you do not interfere with the physician's instructions. Make all the food of the patient as attractive in appearance as in taste. Do not allow flowers or plants to be kept in the room too long, and especially over night. Proper nursing is an art, and should be studied as assiduously as any other.