Part 55

Never crowd a tray. Calculate beforehand how many dishes you will probably have, and select a size accordingly. Serve a single glass or a single cup on a small round or oval tray with a doily, never on a large tray, such as might be selected for a meal.

When practicable use silver dishes for meats, soups, coffee, hot milk, or any hot food; when these cannot be had, use hot china.

Avoid discords in color. Most women have an instinctive appreciation of color, and by giving some thought to the subject of harmonies, and observing the methods of others who are known to have good taste in such matters, bad blunders in the arrangement of a tray or a table may be avoided.

Red with yellow, blue with green, and yellow with pink are inharmonious combinations of color; but yellow with white, blue with white, dull orange with brown, violet, and pale gold are exquisite together.

A cup of chocolate in pale pink or dull red, coffee in buttercup yellow, especially when served without cream, and green tea in Nile green, appeal to the eye as well as to the taste, giving double pleasure--gratifying two senses instead of one.

Color plays a very important part in serving food. It produces strong effects in some persons who are deeply moved by harmonies or discords in it, as others are by harmonies or discords in music. Color appeals to the esthetic side of some natures much more forcibly than many of us are aware.

The story is told of a lady, possessed of unusually keen color-perception, who had been living for many months in a house furnished in monotonous hues, and in which the table was always set in plain white cloth and white china. Being invited to lunch with a friend in the neighborhood, she was moved to tears at the sight of a beautiful table, decorated with a scarlet cloth, flowers, and harmoniously contrasting colored china.

The effect of the colors upon the emotions was similar to that which is sometimes produced by an exquisite strain of music. Who can say how much of subtle refining influence may be exerted by such things? Regarded as a general thing only in the light of the ornamental, they are too often looked upon as luxuries, and therefore dispensable; but whatever ministers to the esthetic side of the mind must be elevating, and the influence of neatness, of beautiful surroundings, of harmonious colors, of art in any form, inevitably produces an effect upon character. In time such surroundings become necessities, and when the individual is deprived of them they are missed, and he feels a sense of dissatisfaction with those of meaner kind--perhaps dissatisfaction with a poorer or lower life in any way--and imperceptibly these seeming ornaments of existence may be the means which shall lift many an one into a higher plane of life, so that, aside from their practical value, all the niceties of household affairs may have a lasting effect for good upon character.

To be progressive, one must be constantly in a frame of mind to learn, and ever on the alert for information. Fashions change in serving foods as in other things. However, there are certain fixed principles which always remain unchanged. Perfect neatness, orderly and pleasing arrangement, and harmonious coloring are ever essential.

For the invalid's tray use the prettiest china obtainable. In a private house there are always some choice and precious pieces--teacups, quaint silver pitchers and spoons, pretty plates, and delicate thin tumblers. These will be gladly placed at the disposal of the sick one, especially if the nurse will volunteer to be responsible for them.

To prepare a meal for an invalid after planning the food, the first necessary articles are a tray clean on both sides, a neat napkin to spread over it, and exquisitely clean dishes done by a servant known to be neat, or by one's self. It not infrequently happens, especially in houses in which the mistress leaves everything to the servants, and never goes into the kitchen, that dishes are washed in such surroundings of dirt, and wiped with such unclean towels, as to be dangerous for any one to use. It is therefore necessary for a nurse to understand about such matters, and to see to it that her patient's dishes are above suspicion. In fact, it is a dainty attention on her part to care entirely for the tray-dishes of her charge.

In some forms of disease it is absolutely necessary, in order to prevent contagion, that a nurse should attend altogether to the tray and dishes, for it would almost never occur that any member of a household would understand an effectual method of sterilization.

In a contagious disease everything that goes to the bedside--dishes, knives, forks, spoons, napkin, the tray itself--should be rendered sterile by boiling in water for half an hour, or by treatment with steam for a similar time, before any one, except the nurse, even touches them.

Nothing should be used in the way of linen or dishes that cannot be washed without spoiling; therefore fancy silk doilies and other similar furnishings are to be avoided.

When it is necessary to taste of food before giving it to a patient, take some into a separate dish, and use a separate spoon or fork; or, if it is a liquid, take out a little with a spoon into another spoon, being careful that the one used for tasting does not at any time touch the liquid.

Never touch the bowls of spoons, nor the inside of plates and cups, with the fingers, unless the hands are prepared by thorough cleansing for it. A nurse who understands antiseptic surgery, and knows how easily contagion is carried, will appreciate the necessity of these precautions. The hands should be washed after arranging a bed, using a handkerchief, arranging the hair--in fact, always before handling either food or dishes.

Food and drink should not be allowed to remain exposed to the air for any length of time. Most kinds of food are excellent media for micro-organisms to flourish in, and consequently the food, if it be such as might be eaten afterward, deteriorates.

Then, from an esthetic point of view, it is the height of untidiness to allow a tray to remain in the sick-room any length of time after the meal has been eaten. It should be immediately removed with all traces of the meal, as should also fruit, glasses for water, lemonade, milk, etc., which may be used at different times during the day.

If the patient objects and wishes to have what is left for future use, assure him that it is near at hand, and being kept cool and clean for him. By punctually fulfilling promises made about such matters, he will very quickly learn to trust a nurse, not only in these, but in other things.

For decoration for a tray nothing should be used besides pretty china and flowers. A slender glass or silver vase with a blossom or two, or a delicate fern with a white or pink flower, are always suitable. It is well to use ferns and other fresh green decorations liberally, especially in winter. Green is always grateful to the sight, and sometimes a single spray will give pleasure to an invalid for hours.

Violets, roses, orchids, and all flowers that are dainty in themselves, are always in good taste, but a very few or a single blossom is all that is allowable. A big bouquet on a tray or an invalid's table is as out of place as a whole roast or a whole pudding. Flowers with strong odors or primary colors should be avoided, such, for instance, as marigolds, fleur de lis, and dahlias. They are handsome in a garden or a hall, but not at the bedside.

Little attentions in the way of ornamentation, and thoughtfulness as to an invalid's meal, are deeply appreciated. They show that an effort has been made to please, and to many sick ones the feeling that they are a constant care to those about them is a very oppressive one. It should be the pleasure of a good nurse to dispel such thoughts. It is the duty of every nurse to do so.

Variety for those who are sick (after they are out of danger, and waiting for strength to return) is just as necessary as for those who are well, and for the same reason--that is, to furnish the body with all those substances required for perfect nutrition. Many think that because a person is ill, or an invalid, he must be denied all things that are good, and fed upon such dishes as well persons generally abhor, like water gruel, thin oyster stews, and half-cooked corn-starch pudding.

It is curious how such an idea should have been lodged in the mind, but it is probably a relic of the old treatment in the days before antiseptic surgery and the modern practice of medicine. Now, as soon as a patient is out of danger, careful feeding with a variety of wholesome, perfectly cooked, nutritious food--of course, wisely administered as to quantity--is an essential part of the treatment, and constitutes nearly the whole cure in some forms of disease of the nervous system.

The body, depleted and exhausted by long-continued sickness, is without resources, and must draw from food (and, of course, air) all those substances needed for repair and the restoration of bodily vigor. To insure this, different kinds of food are required, for no single one, not even milk, contains everything needed. Fruits of various kinds, green salads and vegetables, fish, beef, and mutton should be used, as well as milk, eggs, chicken, and toast.

Ease in serving the sick is an accomplishment in a nurse, and a certain amount of seeming indifference is an advisable quality to cultivate. It is a good plan to take every possible care in preparing a meal for a sick person, and then to appear not to notice whether he eats; for sometimes sensitive people, in their desire not to disappoint, or in their endeavors to please, will eat when they do not care for food.

Endeavor to remember individual tastes, and try to gratify them; always do so when it is in your power, for these individual preferences are often true instincts of the individual nature striving to secure that which is best for it. If a man asks for the second joint of a fowl, don't take to him a cut from the breast, even though you may think it the choicest portion.

Food should be given at regular intervals. If a patient is very ill, the rule is to administer nourishment in small quantities and often. Sometimes a patient is too feeble to help himself to food, and then he must be fed by the nurse. When such is the case, she should be extremely careful, no matter what the pressure of other work may be, not to hurry him. Give him plenty of time,--first, that the food may remain in the mouth long enough to be mixed with the saliva, for saliva is one of the digestive juices; and second, so that it may be thoroughly masticated and broken; otherwise it will be thrown into the stomach in large masses, and may not digest at all.