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Canadian Fundamentals of Nursing

2019 6th edition Patricia A. Potter, Anne


Griffin Perry, Patricia Stockert, Amy
Hall, Barbara J. Astle, Wendy Duggleby
Patricia A. Potter
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Canadian Fundamentals of Nursing

SIXTH EDITION

EDITORS

BARBARA J. ASTLE, RN, PhD


Associate Professor
Director, Centre for Equity & Global Engagement (CEGE)
School of Nursing
Trinity Western University
Langley, British Columbia

WENDY DUGGLEBY, RN, PhD


Professor
Associate Dean Research, and Nursing Research Chair, Aging and Quality of Life
Director Innovations in Seniors Care Research Unit
Faculty of Nursing
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
US NINTH EDITION EDITORS

Patricia A. Potter, RN, MSN, PhD, FAAN


Director of Research
Patient Care Services
Barnes-Jewish Hospital
St. Louis, Missouri

Anne Griffin Perry, RN, MSN, EdD,


FAAN
Professor Emerita
School of Nursing
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Edwardsville, Illinois

Patricia A. Stockert, RN, BSN, MS, PhD


President, College of Nursing
Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing
Peoria, Illinois

Amy M. Hall, RN, BSN, MS, PhD, CNE


Chair and White Family Endowed Professor of Nursing
Dunigan Family Department of Nursing and Health Sciences
University of Evansville
Evansville, Indiana
Disclaimer
This title includes additional digital media when purchased in print format.
For this digital book edition, media content may not be included.
Table of Contents

Instructions for online access

Cover image

Title Page

Disclaimer

Copyright

Preface to the Student

Preface to the Instructor


Classic Features

New Features

Learning Supplements for Students

Teaching Supplements for Instructors

Multimedia Supplements for Instructors and Students

Acknowledgements

Contributors

Reviewers
Unit I Health and Health Care in Canada

1 Health and Wellness


Conceptualizations of Health

Historical Approaches to Health in Canada

Determinants of Health and Social Determinants of Health

Strategies to Influence Health Determinants

Health Promotion Strategies

Population Health Promotion Model: Putting It All Together

Summary

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

2 The Canadian Health Care Delivery System


Evolution of the Canadian Health Care System

Organization and Governance of Health Care

Health Care Spending

Trends and Reforms in Canada's Health Care System

Right to Health Care

Primary Health Care

Future of Primary Health Care

Settings for Health Care Delivery

Levels of Care

Challenges to the Health Care System

Nursing's Future in the Emerging Health Care System


Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

3 The Development of Nursing in Canada


Why Nursing History Matters

Care of Strangers: the Early History of Nursing

Globalization and the Emergence of Modern Nursing

Nursing Education in Canada

Health Care and Educational Reform

Influence of Periods of Social Upheaval on Nursing

Conclusion

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

4 Community Health Nursing Practice


Promoting the Health of Populations and Community Groups

Community Health Nursing Practice

The Changing Focus of Community Health Nursing Practice

Community Assessment

Promoting Clients' Health

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises


Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

Unit II Foundations of Nursing Practice

5 Theoretical Foundations of Nursing Practice


Early Nursing Practice and the Emergence of Theory

Nursing Process

Conceptual Frameworks

Metaparadigm Concepts

Philosophy of Nursing Science

Ways of Knowing in Nursing Practice

Paradigm Debates Within Nursing

Nursing Diagnosis

Reflections on Conceptualizing Nursing

Major Theoretical Models

Theorizing in the Future

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

References

6 Evidence-Informed Practice
Why Evidence?

Development of Nursing Knowledge

Researching the Evidence


Integrate the Evidence

Evaluate the Practice Design or Change

Support for Evidence-Informed Practice

The Development of Research in Nursing

The History of Nursing Research in Canada

Nursing Research

Research Designs

Ethical Issues in Research

Applying Research Findings in Nursing Practice

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

7 Nursing Values and Ethics


Values

Ethics

Ethical Analysis and Nursing

Ethical Issues in Nursing Practice

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

8 Legal Implications in Nursing Practice


Legal Limits of Nursing
Legal Liability Issues in Nursing Practice

Legal Issues in Nursing Practice

Risk Management

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

9 Global Health
Global Health

Intersectionality

Cultural Diversity

Understanding Cultural Concepts

Historical Development of the Concept of Culture

Cultural Assessment

Global Health Nursing

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

10 Indigenous Health
Indigenous Diversity—the Canadian Perspective

Indigenous History in Canada

Cultural Orientations

Nursing Considerations and Indigenous Health


Illness Experiences—Chronic Diseases

Indigenous Health—the Global Perspective

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

11 Nursing Leadership, Management, and Collaborative Practice


Leadership Theories

Management and Leadership Roles for Nurses

Quality Care and Patient Safety

Leadership Skills for Nursing Students

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

Unit III Approaches to Nursing Care

12 Critical Thinking in Nursing Practice


Critical Thinking Defined

A Critical Thinking Model for Clinical Decision Making

Levels of Critical Thinking in Nursing

Components of Critical Thinking in Nursing

Critical Thinking Competencies


Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Critical Thinking Synthesis

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

13 Nursing Assessment, Diagnosis, and Planning


Critical Thinking Approach to Assessment

Assessment

Nursing Diagnosis

Critical Thinking and Nursing Diagnostic Process

Concept Mapping for Nursing Diagnoses

Sources of Diagnostic Errors

Nursing Diagnoses: Application to Care Planning

Planning

Establishing Priorities

Critical Thinking in Establishing Goals and Expected Outcomes

Written Plans of Care

Consulting Other Health Care Providers

Conclusion

Using the Nursing Process to Answer Multiple-Choice and Multiple-Response Exam Questions

Key Concepts

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References
14 Implementing and Evaluating Nursing Care
Introduction

Implementation

Types of Nursing Interventions

Selection of Interventions

Critical Thinking in Implementation

Standard Nursing Interventions

Implementation Process

Direct Care

Indirect Care

Achieving Client-Centred Goals

Evaluation

Critical Thinking and Evaluation

Evaluation Process

Conclusion

Using the Nursing Process as a Guide for Exam Preparation for Test-Taking Strategies

The Nursing Process and Studying Disease Management

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

15 Documenting and Reporting


Purposes of Medical Records

The Shift to Electronic Documentation

Interprofessional Communication Within the Medical Record

Confidentiality
Interprofessional Communication Within the Health Care Team

Guidelines for Quality Documentation and Reporting

Methods of Documentation

Common Record-Keeping Forms

Acuity Rating Systems

Documentation in the Home Health Care Setting

Documentation in the Long-Term Health Care Setting

Documenting Communication With Providers and Unique Events

Information Management in Health Care

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

16 Nursing Informatics and Canadian Nursing Practice


Nursing Informatics and the Canadian Health Care System

Standards and Clinical Interoperability

Canadian Privacy Legislation

Informatics Competencies as a Strategic Direction

Clinician Engagement and Informatics Communities

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

Unit IV Working With Patients and Families


17 Communication and Relational Practice
Communication and Interpersonal Relationships

Developing Communication Skills

Levels of Communication

Basic Elements of the Communication Process

Forms of Communication

Professional Nursing Relationships

Elements of Professional Communication

Communication Within The Nursing Process

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

18 Patient-Centred Care
Jane Black's Story

Knowing

Thinking

Nursing Process

Clinical Judgement Model

Interacting

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References
19 Family Nursing
What Is a Family?

Current Trends in the Canadian Family

The Family and Health

Family Nursing Care

Assessing the Challenges, Strengths, and Needs of the Family: The Calgary Family Assessment
Model

Family Intervention: The Calgary Family Intervention Model

Interviewing the Family

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

20 Patient Education
Goals of Patient Education

Teaching and Learning

Domains of Learning

Basic Learning Principles

Integrating the Nursing and Teaching Processes

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questons

Recommended Websites

References
Unit V Caring Throughout the Lifespan

21 Developmental Theories
Growth and Development

Traditions of Developmental Theories

Organicism

Psychoanalytic and Psychosocial Tradition

Mechanistic Tradition

Contextualism

Dialecticism

Developmental Theories and Nursing

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

22 Conception Through Adolescence


Selecting a Developmental Framework for Nursing

Conception

Transition From Intrauterine to Extrauterine Life

Newborn

Infant

Toddler

Preschooler

School-Age Children and Adolescents

School-Age Child

Adolescence
Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

23 Young to Middle Adulthood


Young Adulthood

Middle Adulthood

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

24 Older Persons
Variability Among Older Persons

Myths and SterEotypes

Nurses' Attitudes Toward Older Persons

Aging Well and Quality of Life

Community-Based and Institutional Health Care Services

Assessing the Needs of Older Persons

Addressing the Health Concerns of Older Persons

Older Persons and the Acute Care Setting

Older Persons and Restorative Care

Older Persons and Palliative Care

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises


Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

25 The Experience of Loss, Death, and Grief


Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

The Nursing Process And Grief

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

Unit VI Psychosocial Considerations

26 Self-Concept
Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Self-Concept and the Nursing Process

Nursing Diagnosis

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites
References

27 Sexuality
Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Sexuality and The Nursing Process

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

28 Spirituality in Health and Health Care


Historical Perspectives

Spirituality and Nursing Theory

Spirituality and the Life Journey

Critical Thinking

Ethical Spiritual Care

Providing Spiritual Care

Reflecting on Nurses' Spiritual Care

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

29 Stress and Adaptation


Conceptualizations of Stress

Stress Response Systems

Stress and the Immune System

The Relationship Between Type of Stressor and Health

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

Unit VII Scientific Basis for Nursing Practice

30 Vital Signs
Guidelines for Measuring Vital Signs

Body Temperature

Nursing Process and Thermoregulation

Pulse

Nursing Process and Pulse Determination

Respiration

Nursing Process and Respiratory Vital Signs

Blood Pressure

Nursing Process and Blood Pressure Determination

Health Promotion and Vital Signs

Key Concepts
Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

31 Pain Assessment and Management


Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process and Pain

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

32 Health Assessment and Physical Examination


Social and Cultural Considerations

Skills of Physical Assessment

Preparation for Examination

Organization of the Examination

General Survey

The Integumentary System: Skin, Hair, and Nails

Head and Neck

Thorax and Lungs

Heart

Vascular System

Breasts
Abdomen

Female Genitalia and Reproductive Tract

Male Genitalia

Rectum and Anus

Musculoskeletal System

Neurological System

After the Examination

Integration of Physical Assessment With Nursing Care

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

33 Infection Control
Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Process In Infection Control

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

34 Medication Administration
Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process and Medication Administration


Medication Administration

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

35 Complementary and Alternative Approaches in Health Care


Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative Approaches in Health Care

Nursing-Accessible Approaches

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Approaches Requiring Education

Health Promotion: Nutrition in Disease Prevention

Nursing Role for Interprofessional Collaboration in CAM

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

Unit VIII Basic Physiological Needs

36 Activity and Exercise


Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process

Key Concepts
Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

37 Quality and Patient Safety


Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Safety and the Nursing Process

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

38 Hygiene
Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

39 Cardiopulmonary Functioning and Oxygenation


Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

40 Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid–Base Balances


Scientific Knowledge Base

Knowledge Base of Nursing Practice

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

41 Sleep
Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises


Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

42 Nutrition
Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process and Nutrition

Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose

Enteral Tube Feeding

Large-Bore Tube and Nasogastric or Orogastric Suctioning

Parenteral Nutrition

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

43 Urinary Elimination
Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process and Alterations in Urinary Function

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites
References

44 Bowel Elimination
Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process and Bowel Elimination

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

Unit IX Patients With Special Needs

45 Mobility and Immobility


Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

46 Skin Integrity and Wound Care


Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

47 Sensory Alterations
Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

48 Care of Surgical Patients


History of Surgical Nursing

Scientific Knowledge Base

Nursing Knowledge Base

Critical Thinking

Nursing Process in the Preoperative Surgical Phase

Transport to the Operating Room


Intraoperative Surgical Phase

Nursing Process in the Intraoperative Surgical Phase

Postoperative Surgical Phase

Nursing Process in Postoperative Care

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

Recommended Websites

References

Appendix A Practical Nursing in Canada


Objectives

Key Terms

History of Practical Nursing in Canada

Practical Nursing Today: Issues and Trends

Standards and Scope of Practice

Legislation, Regulatory Bodies, and Professional Associations

The Future of Practical Nursing in Canada

Key Concepts

Critical Thinking Exercises

Review Questions

References

Appendix B Laboratory Values

Review Question Rationales


Chapter 1

Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30
Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Appendix A

Index

Special Features
Patient Teaching

Concept Maps

Research Highlights

Nursing Care Plans

Procedural Guidelines
Skills
Copyright

CANADIAN FUNDAMENTALS OF NURSING, SIXTH EDITION


ISBN: 978-1-77172-113-4
Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Canada, a division of Reed Elsevier Canada, Ltd.

This adaptation of Fundamentals of Nursing, 9th edition, by Patricia A. Potter,


Patricia Stockert, Anne Griffin Perry, and Amy Hall is published by
arrangement with Elsevier Inc.

ISBN: 978-0-323-32740-4
Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Previous editions copyrighted 2013, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997, 1989, and 1985.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or


transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher. Reproducing passages
from this book without such written permission is an infringement of
copyright law.

Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be
mailed to: College Licensing Officer, Access Copyright, 1 Yonge Street, Suite
1900, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E5; fax: (416) 868-1621. All other inquiries should be
directed to the publisher.

Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright
material used in this text and to acknowledge all such indebtedness
accurately. Any errors and omissions called to the publisher's attention will
be corrected in future printings.

Notice
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new
research and expertise broaden our knowledge, changes in practice,
treatment, and drug therapy may become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and
knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds,
or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they
should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including
parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.
With respect to any drug or pharmaceutical products identified, readers are
advised to check the most current information provided (i) on procedures
featured or (ii) by the manufacturer of each product to be administered, and
to verify the recommended dose or formula, the method and duration of
administration, and contraindications. It is the responsibility of practitioners,
relying on their own experience and knowledge of their patients, to make
diagnoses, to determine dosages and the best treatment for each individual
patient, and to take all appropriate safety precautions.
To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors,
contributors, or editors assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to
persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise,
or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas
contained in the material herein.

The Publisher

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Potter, Patricia Ann, author


Canadian fundamentals of nursing / Patricia A. Potter, RN, MSN, PhD,
FAAN, Director of Research, Patient Care Services, Barnes-Jewish Hospital,
St. Louis, Missouri [and 3 others] ; Canadian editors: Barbara J. Astle, RN,
PhD, Associate Professor, Director, Centre for Equity & Global Engagement
(CEGE), School of Nursing, Trinity Western University, Langley, British
Columbia, Wendy Duggleby, RN, PhD, Professor, Associate Dean Research,
and Nursing Research Chair Aging and Quality of Life, Faculty of Nursing,
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta. – Sixth edition.

Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-77172-113-4 (hardcover)

1. Nursing–Textbooks. 2. Nursing–Canada–Textbooks. 3. Textbooks. I. Astle,


Barbara J., 1957–, editor II. Duggleby, Wendy Diane, 1953-, editor III. Title.
RT41.P68 2018 610.73 C2017-905541-0

VP Medical and Canadian Education: Madelene J. Hyde


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Preface to the Student
Canadian Fundamentals of Nursing provides you with all of the fundamental
nursing concepts and skills you will need in a visually appealing, easy-to-use
format. As you begin your nursing education, it is very important that you
have a resource that includes all of the information required to prepare you
for lectures, classroom activities, clinical assignments, and examinations.
We've designed this text to meet all of those needs.
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Has sated flame’s conditions,
Its quivering substance plays
Without a color, but the light
Of unanointed blaze.

Least village boasts its blacksmith,


Whose anvil’s even din
Stands symbol for the finer forge
That soundless tugs within,

Refining these impatient ores


With hammer and with blaze,
Until the designated light
Repudiate the forge.

Then came the death of her father, that strong Puritan father who
had communicated to her so much of the vigor of his own nature,
and who bought her many books, but begged her not to read them.
Mr. Edward Dickinson, after service in the national House of
Representatives and other public positions, had become a member
of the lower house of the Massachusetts legislature. The session
was unusually prolonged, and he was making a speech upon some
railway question at noon, one very hot day (July 16, 1874), when he
became suddenly faint and sat down. The house adjourned, and a
friend walked with him to his lodgings at the Tremont House, where
he began to pack his bag for home, after sending for a physician, but
died within three hours. Soon afterwards, I received the following
letter:—

The last afternoon that my father lived, though with no


premonition, I preferred to be with him, and invented an
absence for mother, Vinnie [her sister] being asleep. He
seemed peculiarly pleased, as I oftenest stayed with myself;
and remarked, as the afternoon withdrew, he “would like it to
not end.”
His pleasure almost embarrassed me, and my brother
coming, I suggested they walk. Next morning I woke him for
the train, and saw him no more.
His heart was pure and terrible, and I think no other like it
exists.
I am glad there is immortality, but would have tested it
myself, before entrusting him. Mr. Bowles was with us. With
that exception, I saw none. I have wished for you, since my
father died, and had you an hour unengrossed, it would be
almost priceless. Thank you for each kindness....

Later she wrote:—

When I think of my father’s lonely life and lonelier death,


there is this redress—

Take all away;


The only thing worth larceny
Is left—the immortality.

My earliest friend wrote me the week before he died, “If I


live, I will go to Amherst; if I die, I certainly will.”
Is your house deeper off?
Your Scholar.

A year afterwards came this:—

Dear Friend,—Mother was paralyzed Tuesday, a year


from the evening father died. I thought perhaps you would
care.
Your Scholar.

With this came the following verse, having a curious seventeenth-


century flavor:—
“A death-blow is a life-blow to some,
Who, till they died, did not alive become;
Who, had they lived, had died, but when
They died, vitality begun.”

And later came this kindred memorial of one of the oldest and
most faithful friends of the family, Mr. Samuel Bowles, of the
Springfield “Republican”:—

Dear Friend,—I felt it shelter to speak to you.


My brother and sister are with Mr. Bowles, who is buried
this afternoon.
The last song that I heard—that was, since the birds—was
“He leadeth me, he leadeth me; yea, though I walk”—then the
voices stooped, the arch was so low.

After this added bereavement the inward life of the diminished


household became only more concentrated, and the world was held
farther and farther away. Yet to this period belongs the following
letter, written about 1880, which has more of what is commonly
called the objective or external quality than any she ever wrote me;
and shows how close might have been her observation and her
sympathy, had her rare qualities taken a somewhat different channel:

Dear Friend,—I was touchingly reminded of [a child who


had died] this morning by an Indian woman with gay baskets
and a dazzling baby, at the kitchen door. Her little boy “once
died,” she said, death to her dispelling him. I asked her what
the baby liked, and she said “to step.” The prairie before the
door was gay with flowers of hay, and I led her in. She argued
with the birds, she leaned on clover walls and they fell, and
dropped her. With jargon sweeter than a bell, she grappled
buttercups, and they sank together, the buttercups the
heaviest. What sweetest use of days! ’Twas noting some such
scene made Vaughan humbly say,—

“My days that are at best but dim and hoary.”

I think it was Vaughan....

And these few fragmentary memorials—closing, like every human


biography, with funerals, yet with such as were to Emily Dickinson
only the stately introduction to a higher life—may well end with her
description of the death of the very summer she so loved.

“As imperceptibly as grief


The summer lapsed away,
Too imperceptible at last
To feel like perfidy.

“A quietness distilled,
As twilight long begun,
Or Nature spending with herself
Sequestered afternoon.

“The dusk drew earlier in,


The morning foreign shone,
A courteous yet harrowing grace
As guest that would be gone.

“And thus without a wing


Or service of a keel
Our summer made her light escape
Into the Beautiful.”
XX
JULIA WARD HOWE
JULIA WARD HOWE
Many years of what may be called intimacy with Mrs. Julia Ward
Howe do not impair one’s power of painting her as she is, and this
for two reasons: first, because she does not care to be portrayed in
any other way; and secondly, because her freshness of
temperament is so inexhaustible as to fix one’s attention always on
what she said or did not merely yesterday, but this morning. After
knowing her more than forty years, and having been fellow member
or officer in half-a-dozen clubs with her, first and last, during that
time, I now see in her, not merely the woman of to-day, but the
woman who went through the education of wifehood and
motherhood, of reformer and agitator, and in all these was educated
by the experience of life.
She lived to refute much early criticism or hasty judgment, and this
partly from inward growth, partly because the society in which she
moved was growing for itself and understood her better. The wife of
a reformer is apt to be tested by the obstacles her husband
encounters; if she is sympathetic, she shares his difficulties, and if
not, is perhaps criticised by the very same people for not sharing his
zeal. Mrs. Howe, moreover, came to Boston at a time when all New
Yorkers were there regarded with a slight distrust; she bore and
reared five children, and doubtless, like all good mothers, had
methods of her own; she went into company, and was criticised by
cliques which did not applaud. Whatever she did, she might be in
many eyes the object of prejudice. Beyond all, there was, I suspect,
a slight uncertainty in her own mind that was reflected in her early
poems.
From the moment when she came forward in the Woman Suffrage
Movement, however, there was a visible change; it gave a new
brightness to her face, a new cordiality in her manner, made her
calmer, firmer; she found herself among new friends and could
disregard old critics. Nothing can be more frank and characteristic
than her own narrative of her first almost accidental participation in a
woman’s suffrage meeting. She had strayed into the hall, still not half
convinced, and was rather reluctantly persuaded to take a seat on
the platform, although some of her best friends were there,—
Garrison, Phillips, and James Freeman Clarke, her pastor. But there
was also Lucy Stone, who had long been the object of imaginary
disapproval; and yet Mrs. Howe, like every one else who heard Lucy
Stone’s sweet voice for the first time, was charmed and half won by
it. I remember the same experience at a New York meeting in the
case of Helen Hunt, who went to such a meeting on purpose to write
a satirical letter about it for the New York “Tribune,” but said to me,
as we came out together, “Do you suppose I could ever write a word
against anything which that woman wishes to have done?” Such was
the influence of that first meeting on Mrs. Howe. “When they
requested me to speak,” she says, “I could only say, I am with you. I
have been with them ever since, and have never seen any reason to
go back from the pledge then given.” She adds that she had
everything to learn with respect to public speaking, the rules of
debate, and the management of her voice, she having hitherto
spoken in parlors only. In the same way she was gradually led into
the wider sphere of women’s congresses, and at last into the
presidency of the woman’s department at the great World’s Fair at
New Orleans, in the winter of 1883-84, at which she presided with
great ability, organizing a series of short talks on the exhibits, to be
given by experts. While in charge of this, she held a special meeting
in the colored people’s department, where the “Battle Hymn” was
sung, and she spoke to them of Garrison, Sumner, and Dr. Howe.
Her daughter’s collection of books written by women was presented
to the Ladies’ Art Association of New Orleans, and her whole
enterprise was a singular triumph. In dealing with public enterprises
in all parts of the country she soon made herself welcome
everywhere. And yet this was the very woman who had written in the
“Salutatory” of her first volume of poems:—

“I was born ’neath a clouded star,


More in shadow than light have grown;
Loving souls are not like trees
That strongest and stateliest shoot alone.”
The truth is, that the life of a reformer always affords some
training; either giving it self-control or marring it altogether,—more
frequently the former; it was at any rate eminently so with her. It
could be truly said, in her case, that to have taken up reform was a
liberal education.
Added to this was the fact that as her children grew, they filled and
educated the domestic side of her life. One of her most attractive
poems is that in which she describes herself as going out for
exercise on a rainy day and walking round her house, looking up
each time at the window where her children were watching with
merry eagerness for the successive glimpses of her. This is the
poem I mean:—

THE HEART’S ASTRONOMY

This evening, as the twilight fell,


My younger children watched for me;
Like cherubs in the window framed,
I saw the smiling group of three.

While round and round the house I trudged,


Intent to walk a weary mile,
Oft as I passed within their range,
The little things would beck and smile.

They watched me, as Astronomers,


Whose business lies in heaven afar,
Await, beside the slanting glass,
The reappearance of a star.

Not so, not so, my pretty ones!


Seek stars in yonder cloudless sky,
But mark no steadfast path for me,—
A comet dire and strange am I.

...

And ye, beloved ones, when ye know


What wild, erratic natures are,
Pray that the laws of heavenly force
Would hold and guide the Mother star.

I remember well that household of young people in successive


summers at Newport, as they grew towards maturity; how they in
turn came back from school and college, each with individual tastes
and gifts, full of life, singing, dancing, reciting, poetizing, and one of
them, at least, with a talent for cookery which delighted all Newport;
then their wooings and marriages, always happy; their lives always
busy; their temperaments so varied. These are the influences under
which “wild erratic natures” grow calm.
A fine training it was also, for these children themselves, to see
their mother one of the few who could unite all kinds of friendship in
the same life. Having herself the entrée of whatever the fashion of
Newport could in those days afford; entertaining brilliant or showy
guests from New York, Washington, London, or Paris; her doors
were as readily open at the same time to the plainest or most
modest reformer—abolitionist, woman suffragist, or Quaker; and this
as a matter of course, without struggle. I remember the indignation
over this of a young visitor from Italy, one of her own kindred, who
was in early girlhood so independently un-American that she came
to this country only through defiance. Her brother had said to her
after one of her tirades, “Why do you not go there and see for
yourself?” She responded, “So I will,” and sailed the next week.
Once arrived, she antagonized everything, and I went in one day and
found her reclining in a great armchair, literally half buried in some
forty volumes of Balzac which had just been given her as a birthday
present. She was cutting the leaves of the least desirable volume,
and exclaimed to me, “I take refuge in Balzac from the heartlessness
of American society.” Then she went on to denounce this society
freely, but always excepted eagerly her hostess, who was “too good
for it”; and only complained of her that she had at that moment in the
house two young girls, daughters of an eminent reformer, who were
utterly out of place, she said,—knowing neither how to behave, how
to dress, nor how to pronounce. Never in my life, I think, did I hear a
denunciation more honorable to its object, especially when coming
from such a source.
I never have encountered, at home or abroad, a group of people
so cultivated and agreeable as existed for a few years in Newport in
the summers. There were present, as intellectual and social forces,
not merely the Howes, but such families as the Bancrofts, the
Warings, the Partons, the Potters, the Woolseys, the Hunts, the
Rogerses, the Hartes, the Hollands, the Goodwins, Kate Field, and
others besides, who were readily brought together for any intellectual
enjoyment. No one was the recognized leader, though Mrs. Howe
came nearest to it; but they met as cheery companions, nearly all of
whom have passed away. One also saw at their houses some
agreeable companions and foreign notabilities, as when Mr. Bancroft
entertained the Emperor and Empress of Brazil, passing under an
assumed name, but still attended by a veteran maid, who took
occasion to remind everybody that her Majesty was a Bourbon, with
no amusing result except that one good lady and experienced
traveler bent one knee for an instant in her salutation. The nearest
contact of this circle with the unequivocally fashionable world was
perhaps when Mrs. William B. Astor, the mother of the present
representative of that name in England, and herself a lover of all
things intellectual, came among us.
It was in the midst of all this circle that the “Town and Country
Club” was formed, of which Mrs. Howe was president and I had the
humbler functions of vice-president, and it was under its auspices
that the festival indicated in the following programme took place, at
the always attractive seaside house of the late Mr. and Mrs. John W.
Bigelow, of New York. The plan was modeled after the Harvard
Commencement exercises, and its Latin programme, prepared by
Professor Lane, then one of the highest classical authorities in New
England, gave a list of speakers and subjects, the latter almost all
drawn from Mrs. Howe’s ready wit.

Q·B·F·F·F·Q·S
Feminae Inlustrissimae
Praestantissimae · Doctissimae · Peritissimae
Omnium · Scientarvum · Doctrici
Omnium · Bonarum · Artium · Magistrae
Dominae
IULIA · WARD · HOWE
Praesidi · Magnificentissimae
Viro · Honoratissimo
Duci · Fortissimo
In · Litteris · Humanioribus · Optime · Versato
Domi · Militiaeque · Gloriam · Insignem · Nacto
Domino
Thomae · Wentworth · Higginsoni
Propraesidi · Vigilanti
Necnon · Omnibus · Sodalibus
Societatis · Urbanoruralis
Feminis · et · Viris · Ornatissimis
Aliisque · Omnibus · Ubicumque · Terrarum
Quibus · Hae · Litterae · Pervenerint
Salutem · In · Domino · Sempiternam
Quoniam · Feminis · Praenobilissimis
Dominae · Annae · Bigelow
Dominae · Mariae · Annae · Mott
Clementia · Doctrina · Humanitate · Semper · Insignibus
Societatem · Urbanoruralem
Ad · Sollemnia · Festive · Concelebranda
Invitare · Singulari · Benignitate · Placuit
Ergo
Per · Has · Litteras · Omnibus · Notum · Sit · Quod
Comitia · Sollemnia
In · Aedibus · Bigelovensibus
Novi Portus
Ante · Diem · Villi Kalendas · Septembres
Anno · Salutis · CIↃ · IↃ · CCC · L XXXI
Hora Quinta Postmeridiana
Qua · par · est · dignitate · habebuntur
Oratores hoc ordine dicturi sunt, praeter eos qui ualetudine
uel alia causa impediti excusantur.
I. Disquisitio Latina. “De Germanorum lingua et litteris.”
Carolus Timotheus Brooks.
II. Disquisitio Theologica. “How to sacrifice an Irish Bull to a
Greek Goddess.” Thomas Wentworth Higginson.
III. Dissertatio Rustica. “Social Small Potatoes; and how to
enlarge their eyes.” Georgius Edvardus Waring.
IV. Thesis Rhinosophica. “Our Noses, and What to do with
them.” Francisca Filix Parton, Iacobi Uxor.
V. Disquisitio Linguistica. “Hebrew Roots, with a plan of a
new Grubbarium.” Guilielmus Watson Goodwin.
VI. Poema. “The Pacific Woman.” Franciscus Bret Harte.
VII. Oratio Historica. “The Ideal New York Alderman.”
Iacobus Parton.
Exercitationibus litterariis ad finem perductis, gradus
honorarii Praesidis auspiciis augustissimis rite conferentur.
Mercurii Typis

I remember how I myself distrusted this particular project, which


was wholly hers. When she began to plan out the “parts” in advance,
—the Rev. Mr. Brooks, the foremost of German translators, with his
Teutonic themes; the agricultural Waring with his potatoes; Harte on
Pacific women; Parton with his New York aldermen, and I myself with
two recent papers mingled in one,—I ventured to remonstrate. “They
will not write these Commencement orations,” I said. “Then I will
write them,” responded Mrs. Howe, firmly. “They will not deliver
them,” I said. “Then I will deliver them,” she replied; and so, in some
cases, she practically did. She and I presided, dividing between us
the two parts of Professor Goodwin’s Oxford gown for our official
adornment, to enforce the dignity of the occasion, and the Societas
Urbanoruralis, or Town and Country Club, proved equal to the
occasion. An essay on “rhinosophy” was given by “Fanny Fern” (Mrs.
Parton), which was illustrated on the blackboard by this equation,
written slowly by Mrs. Howe and read impressively:—

“Nose + nose + nose = proboscis


Nose - nose - nose = snub.”

She also sang a song occasionally, and once called up a class for
recitations from Mother Goose in six different languages; Professor
Goodwin beginning with a Greek version of “The Man in the Moon,”
and another Harvard man (now Dr. Gorham Bacon) following up with

“Heu! iter didilum


Felis cum fidulum
Vacca transiluit lunam.
Caniculus ridet
Quum talem videt
Et dish ambulavit cum spoonam.”

The question being asked by Mrs. Howe whether this last line was in
strict accordance with grammar, the scholar gave the following rule:
“The conditions of grammar should always give way to exigencies of
rhyme.” In conclusion, two young girls, Annie Bigelow and Mariana
Mott, were called forward to receive graduate degrees for law and
medicine; the former’s announcement coming in this simple form:
“Annie Bigelow, my little lamb, I welcome you to a long career at the
ba-a.”
That time is long past, but “The Hurdy-Gurdy,” or any one of the
later children’s books by Mrs. Howe’s daughter, Mrs. Laura Richards,
will give a glimpse at the endless treasury of daring fun which the
second generation of that family inherited from their mother in her
prime; which last gift, indeed, has lasted pretty well to the present
day. It was, we must remember, never absolutely out of taste; but it
must be owned that she would fearlessly venture on half-a-dozen
poor jokes for one good one. Such a risk she feared not to take at
any moment, beyond any woman I ever knew. Nature gave her a
perpetual youth, and what is youth if it be not fearless?
In her earlier Newport period she was always kind and hospitable,
sometimes dreamy and forgetful, not always tactful. Bright things
always came readily to her lips, and a second thought sometimes
came too late to withhold a bit of sting. When she said to an artist
who had at one time painted numerous portraits of one large and
well-known family, “Mr. ⸺, given age and sex, could you create a
Cabot?” it gave no cause for just complaint, because the family
likeness was so pervasive that he would have grossly departed from
nature had he left it out. But I speak rather of the perils of human
intercourse, especially from a keen and ready hostess, where there
is not time to see clearly how one’s hearers may take a phrase. Thus
when, in the deep valley of what was then her country seat, she was
guiding her guests down, one by one, she suddenly stopped beside
a rock or fountain and exclaimed,—for she never premeditated
things,—“Now, let each of us tell a short story while we rest
ourselves here!” The next to arrive was a German baron well known
in Newport and Cambridge,—a great authority in entomology, who
always lamented that he had wasted his life by undertaking so large
a theme as the diptera or two-winged insects, whereas the study of
any one family of these, as the flies or mosquitoes, gave enough
occupation for a man’s whole existence,—and he, prompt to
obedience, told a lively little German anecdote. “Capital, capital!”
said our hostess, clapping her hands merrily and looking at two
ladies just descended on the scene. “Tell it again, Baron, for these
ladies; tell it in English.” It was accordingly done, but I judged from
the ladies’ faces that they would have much preferred to hear it in
German, as others had done, even if they missed nine tenths of the
words. Very likely the speaker herself may have seen her error at the
next moment, but in a busy life one must run many risks. I doubt not
she sometimes lost favor with a strange guest, in those days, by the
very quickness which gave her no time for second thought. Yet, after
all, of what quickness of wit may not this be said? Time, practice, the
habit of speaking in public meetings or presiding over them, these
helped to array all her quick-wittedness on the side of tact and
courtesy. Mrs. Howe was one of the earliest contributors to the
“Atlantic Monthly.” Her poem “Hamlet at the Boston” appeared in the
second year of the magazine, in February, 1859, and her “Trip to
Cuba” appeared in six successive numbers in that and the following
volume. Her poem “The Last Bird” also appeared in one of these
volumes, after which there was an interval of two and a half years
during which her contributions were suspended. Several more of her
poems came out in volume viii (1861), and the “Battle Hymn of the
Republic” in the number for February, 1862 (ix, 145). During the next
two years there appeared six numbers of a striking series called
“Lyrics of the Street.” Most of these poems, with others, were
included in a volume called “Later Lyrics” (1865). She had previously,
however, in 1853, published her first volume of poems, entitled
“Passion Flowers”; and these volumes were at a later period
condensed into one by her daughters, with some omissions,—not
always quite felicitous, as I think,—this definitive volume bearing the
name “From Sunset Ridge” (1898).
Mrs. Howe, like her friend Dr. Holmes, has perhaps had the
disappointing experience of concentrating her sure prospects of
fame on a single poem. What the “Chambered Nautilus” represents
in his published volumes, the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
represents for her. In each case the poet was happy enough to
secure, through influences impenetrable, one golden moment. Even
this poem, in Mrs. Howe’s case, was not (although many suppose
otherwise) a song sung by all the soldiers. The resounding lyric of
“John Brown’s Body” reached them much more readily, but the
“Battle Hymn” will doubtless survive all the rest of the rather
disappointing metrical products of the war. For the rest of her poems,
they are rarely quite enough concentrated; they reach our ears
attractively, but not with positive mastery. Of the war songs, the one
entitled “Our Orders” was perhaps the finest,—that which begins,—

“Weave no more silks, ye Lyons looms,


To deck our girls for gay delights!
The crimson flower of battle blooms,
And solemn marches fill the night.”

“Hamlet at the Boston” is a strong and noble poem, as is “The Last


Bird,” which has a flavor of Bryant about it. “Eros has Warning” and
“Eros Departs” are two of the profoundest; and so is the following,
which I have always thought her most original and powerful poem
after the “Battle Hymn,” in so far that I ventured to supply a feebler
supplement to it on a late birthday.
It is to be remembered that in the game of “Rouge et Noir” the
announcement by the dealer, “Rouge gagne,” implies that the red
wins, while the phrase “Donner de la couleur” means simply to follow
suit and accept what comes.

ROUGE GAGNE

The wheel is turned, the cards are laid;


The circle’s drawn, the bets are paid:
I stake my gold upon the red.

The rubies of the bosom mine,


The river of life, so swift divine,
In red all radiantly shine.

Upon the cards, like gouts of blood,


Lie dinted hearts, and diamonds good,
The red for faith and hardihood.

In red the sacred blushes start


On errand from a virgin heart,
To win its glorious counterpart.

The rose that makes the summer fair,


The velvet robe that sovereigns wear
The red revealment could not spare.

And men who conquer deadly odds


By fields of ice and raging floods,
Take the red passion from the gods.

Now Love is red, and Wisdom pale,


But human hearts are faint and frail
Till Love meets Love, and bids it hail.
I see the chasm, yawning dread;
I see the flaming arch o’erhead:
I stake my life upon the red.

This was my daring supplement, which appeared in the “Atlantic


Monthly” (Contributors’ Club) for October, 1906.

LA COULEUR

“I stake my life upon the red!”


With hair still golden on her head,
Dame Julia of the Valley said.

But Time for her has plans not told,


And while her patient years unfold
They yield the white and not the gold.

Where Alpine summits loftiest lie,


The brown, the green, the red pass by,
And whitest top is next the sky.

And now with meeker garb bedight,


Dame Julia sings in loftier light,
“I stake my life upon the white!”

Turning to Mrs. Howe’s prose works, one finds something of the


same obstruction, here and there, from excess of material. Her
autobiography, entitled “Reminiscences,” might easily, in the hands
of Mr. M. D. Conway, for instance, have been spread out into three
or four interesting octavos; but in her more hurried grasp it is
squeezed into one volume, where groups of delightful interviews with
heroes at home and abroad are crowded into some single sentence.
Her lectures are better arranged and less tantalizing, and it would be
hard to find a book in American literature better worth reprinting and
distributing than the little volume containing her two addresses on
“Modern Society.” In wit, in wisdom, in anecdote, I know few books
so racy. Next to it is the lecture “Is Polite Society Polite?” so keen
and pungent that it is said a young man was once heard inquiring for
Mrs. Howe after hearing it, in a country town, and when asked why
he wished to see her, replied, “Well, I did put my brother in the
poorhouse, and now that I have heard Mrs. Howe, I suppose that I
must take him out.” In the large collection of essays comprised in the
same volume with this, there are papers on Paris and on Greece
which are full of the finest flavor of anecdote, sympathy, and
memory, while here and there in all her books one meets with
glimpses of Italy which remind one of that scene on the celebration
of the birthday of Columbus, when she sat upon the platform of
Faneuil Hall, the only woman, and gave forth sympathetic talk in her
gracious way to the loving Italian audience, which gladly listened to
their own sweet tongue from her. Then, as always, she could trust
herself freely in speech, for she never spoke without fresh adaptation
to the occasion, and her fortunate memory for words and names is
unimpaired at ninety.
Since I am here engaged upon a mere sketch of Mrs. Howe, not a
formal memoir, I have felt free to postpone until this time the details
of her birth and parentage. She was the daughter of Samuel and
Julia Rush (Cutler) Ward, and was born at the house of her parents
in the Bowling Green, New York city, on May 27, 1819. She was
married on April 14, 1843, at nearly twenty-four years of age, to Dr.
Samuel Gridley Howe, whom she had met on visits to Boston. They
soon went to Europe,—the first of many similar voyages,—where her
eldest daughter, Julia Romana, was born during the next spring. This
daughter was the author of a volume of poems entitled “Stray
Clouds,” and of a description of the Summer School of Philosophy at
Concord entitled “Philosophiæ Quæstor,” and was the founder of a
metaphysical club of which she was president. She became the wife
of the late Michael Anagnos, of Greek origin, her father’s successor
in charge of the Institution for the Blind, and the news of her early
death was received with general sorrow. Mrs. Howe’s second
daughter was named Florence Marion, became in 1871 the wife of
David Prescott Hall, of the New York Bar, and was author of “Social
Customs” and “The Correct Thing,” being also a frequent speaker
before the women’s clubs. Mrs. Howe’s third daughter, Mrs. Laura E.
Richards, was married in the same year to Henry Richards, of
Gardiner, Maine, a town named for the family of Mr. Richards’s
mother, who established there a once famous school, the Gardiner
Lyceum. The younger Mrs. Richards is author of “Captain January”
and other stories of very wide circulation, written primarily for her
own children, and culminating in a set of nonsense books of
irresistible humor illustrated by herself. Mrs. Howe’s youngest
daughter, Maud, distinguished for her beauty and social
attractiveness, is the wife of Mr. John Elliott, an English artist, and
has lived much in Italy, where she has written various books of art
and literature, of which “Atalanta in the South” was the first and
“Roma Beata” one of the last. Mrs. Howe’s only son, Henry Marion,
graduated at Harvard University in 1869 and from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in 1871, is a mining engineer and expert, and
is a professor in the School of Mines at Columbia University. His
book on “The Metallurgy of Steel” has won for him a high reputation.
It will thus be seen that Mrs. Howe has had the rare and perhaps
unequaled experience of being not merely herself an author, but the
mother of five children, all authors. She has many grandchildren, and
even a great-grandchild, whose future career can hardly be
surmised.
There was held, in honor of Mrs. Howe’s eighty-sixth birthday
(May 27, 1905), a meeting of the Boston Authors’ Club, including a
little festival whose plan was taken from the annual Welsh festival of
the Eistedfodd, at which every bard of that nation brought four lines
of verse—a sort of four-leaved clover—to his chief. This being tried
at short notice for Mrs. Howe, there came in some sixty poems, of
which I select a few, almost at random, to make up the outcome of
the festival, which last did not perhaps suffer from the extreme
shortness of the notice:—

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS, LIMITED

Why limit to one little four-line verse


Each birthday wish, for her we meet to honor?
Else it might take till mornrise to rehearse
All the glad homage we would lavish on her!

John Townsend Trowbridge.


THE “NONNA” OF MAGNA ITALIA

Within the glow shed by her heart of gold,


Warm Southern sunshine cheers our Northern skies,
And pilgrim wanderers, homesick and a-cold,
Find their loved Italy in her welcoming eyes.

Vida D. Scudder.

FIVE O’CLOCK WITH THE IMMORTALS

The Sisters Three who spin our fate


Greet Julia Ward, who comes quite late;
How Greek wit flies! They scream with glee,
Drop thread and shears, and make the tea.

E. H. Clement.

Hope now abiding, faith long ago,


Never a shadow between.
White of the lilacs and white of the snow,
Seventy and sixteen.

Mary Gray Morrison.

In English, French, Italian, German, Greek,


Our many-gifted President can speak.
Wit, Wisdom, world-wide Knowledge grace her tongue
And she is only Eighty-six years young!

Nathan Haskell Dole.

How to be gracious? How to be true?


Poet, and Seer, and Woman too?
To crown with Spring the Winter’s brow?
Here is the answer: this is Howe.

Mary Elizabeth Blake.

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