May I pay ourselves even the least little compliment, as to our being a little less conceited than last year? Were we not as conceited in 1872 as it was possible to be? You shall tell. Are we, in 1873, rather less so? And, without having any one particularly in my head--for what I am going to ask is in fact a truism--is not our conceit always in exact proportion to our ignorance? For those who really know something know how little it is. Would that this could be a “secret” among us! But, unfortunately, is not our name “up” and “abroad” for conceit? And has it not even been said (“tell it not in Gath”): “And these conceited ‘Nightingale’ women scarcely know how to read and write?” Now let no one look to see our blushes. But shall we not get rid of this which makes us ridiculous as fast as we can? But enough of this joke; let us be serious, remembering that the greatest trust which is committed to any woman of us all is, _herself_; and that she is living in the presence of God as well as of her fellow-women. To know whether we know our Nursing business or not is a great result of training; and to think that we know it when we do _not_ is as great a proof of want of training. The world, more especially the Hospital world, is in such a hurry, is moving so fast, that it is too easy to slide into bad habits before we are aware. And it is easier still to let our year’s training slip away without forming any real plan of training ourselves. For, after all, all that any training is to do for us is: to teach us how to train ourselves, how to observe for ourselves, how to think out things for ourselves. Don’t let us allow the first week, the second week, the third week to pass by--I will not say in idleness, but in bustle. Begin, for instance, at once making notes of your cases. From the first moment you see a case, you can observe it. Nay, it is one of the first things a Nurse is strictly called upon to do: to observe her sick. Mr. Croft has taught you how to take notes; and you have now, every one of you, two leisure times a week to work up your notes.