The secret of success in the kitchen is the same as in other departments of the institution, and, indeed, of life in general. It can be spelled in one word—s-y-s-t-e-m; and be it understood here and now, that system and red tape are not synonymous terms. Just as in a large department store, every yard of ribbon sold has its relation to the whole establishment, or in a great railway system every train dispatched influences the running of every other train, and system is necessary to insure the success of the business or the safety of human lives, so in a hospital every part is vitally related to the great whole. Some mind must plan the details, first of the whole and then the minutæ of the different parts as they contribute to its harmony and success. And yet, while this truth is generally admitted, and its importance is evident, how little training does the average nurse of the present day receive to fit her for the responsibilities of hospital housekeeping—that on which much of the comfort and well-being of the whole institution depends. Most graduate nurses can nurse, they can care for a patient afflicted with an ordinary disease in a satisfactory manner, but how much have they learned regarding the management of the household? How much have they been taught regarding the purchase of supplies, the care of food, the management of the linen room, the laundry and kitchen, the supervision of servants, and other matters of vital importance to every hospital? Is there not much still lacking in our present system of training? If a railway company sent an engineer to conduct a train to its destination as ignorant of, and inexperienced in, the working of the whole train system as some graduate nurses are, who have the responsibility of a hospital, small or large, placed upon them, the public would raise its hands in horror, and brand the railway officials with criminal carelessness. While present methods continue, the success or failure of the nurse as an executive officer and housekeeper depends largely on the thoroughness of the domestic training she received from her mother, her own native ability, and her intuitions as to how things should be done—not on the training received in the average hospital. When the nurses’ course includes practical instruction in the management of every department of the hospital, the purchase of supplies of all kinds and simple accounting, the public, with the nurses, will reap the benefit. In large institutions stewards may be employed, or it may be possible to secure a trained housekeeper from some institute of domestic science. But in the small hospital the superintendent must be her own housekeeper; such superintendents must almost of necessity be nurses, and there ought to be time in a three years’ course to give them some insight into, and experience in, the details of hospital housekeeping. [Sidenote: The Diet Kitchen]