It is nice for the nurses not to be so rushed as we used to be, but I am not quite sure that it is such good training; I don't think they feel quite so personally responsible for their patients' welfare as they did when there was no one equally responsible with them; it is rather difficult to explain exactly what I mean--for one thing, the staff nurses now have two days off together each month, so we have a senior probationer who takes over their work for those two days, and I find they get much more out of touch with what has been ordered for the patients than they did when they were away only for one day; but I am getting used to it now. The ward I had when I first came back was rather dingy, and I regretted all the nice flower-pots and vases I had left behind in the ward I had when I was last here, to say nothing of my nice stock of children's clothes (I had heaps of white sailor blouse tops for the small boys, and muslin pinafores for the little girls, with pale blue frocks to wear under the pinafores on high days and holidays); but I did not spend much on vanities in that ward, as it was not worth while for a short time, and the more fancy things you have the more it costs you in washing, as the hospital won't pay for vanities, though it does make a difference to the look of your ward when visitors go round, and the mothers just love to see their poor little kiddies dressed up "like a real little lady" instead of in flannelette! I liked both the night and the day staff nurse in that ward, and they were very nice to me (sometimes staff nurses are _not_ nice to a sister doing temporary work, as they often think they might have been allowed to do the sister's work themselves). The ward had been noted for never being without squalling babies, and I was rather amused to hear from another old nurse of mine that these staff nurses had learnt that I was very particular about tidiness, and very anxious that the babies should have no reasonable excuse for squalling; so they were determined to try to please me in those respects. One day I came down from the theatre (after being up for several operations) just at tea-time, and I thought the ward looked rather untidy, but I wanted my tea so badly and the ward-maid had it all ready for me, so, after taking a look at the operation cases, I--rather unwisely--concluded I would drink it before going round to tidy up, and, of course, before I had finished tea the Matron came in, and I had to escort her round, inwardly fuming at some crumbs by a child's cot, and some of the trays brought down from the theatre and not put tidily away; but Matron was very amiable, and when we got to the door she said, "Sister, I never remember seeing the ward so trim and neat after a theatre afternoon, and not a single baby squalling!"--so of course I told the staff nurse, and she was mightily pleased.