In the matter of the hospital inventory, various forms may be adopted, according to the purposes for which the inventory is intended. It may be a simple list of the furnishings of the hospital, made up without any special plan, and with or without the value or cost of the article attached. In case of loss by fire, this inventory might have special value as an insurance record. Such books should of course be kept in the safe, with other documents and articles of value. As convenient as any way of keeping a hospital inventory, is to have the contents of the building arranged under the heads of the rooms for which the articles were purchased. The kitchen, storerooms, diet kitchens, offices, reception rooms, wards, private rooms, etc., all have stationary furniture especially for them, and for purposes of reference it will be most convenient to list this in connection with the room containing it. If the value of each article is attached a recapitulation will show at a glance the total value of the hospital furnishings. Once each year, at least, the housekeeper should make a business of finding out the average cost per day of feeding her hospital family, and the average cost of feeding one patient. This knowledge is valuable not alone for statistics, but for her own satisfaction. It should give confidence in her administration, or show whether there is a weakness that might be corrected. CHAPTER II. [Sidenote: The Main Entrance] “There is nothing in a hospital small enough to be careless about,” is a remark frequently heard in hospital corridors. It is important for the housekeeper to bear in mind that, although oft quoted, this statement happens to be true. Perhaps no one thing will produce a more lasting impression on a casual visitor than the manner in which he is received at the front entrance. Two trained nurses who spent a couple of days in visiting hospitals in an eastern city related the following experience: At hospital number one the door was opened by a very untidy-looking, irrepressible colored boy, who seemed to feel it his duty to do the gallant thing according to his ideas of gallantry. After an entirely unnecessary speech, his concluding remarks were that he would just love to go through the hospital with them, but he “ain’t got no time,” and he guessed he’d have to ask Dr. —— to go with them. At hospital number two, no one specially seemed to be in charge of the door, and, after repeated rings, a resident physician, who, judging from his hair and general appearance, had been napping, came rushing through the hall—the door was open—getting into his coat by the time he reached the door. The climax was reached at hospital number three, which was a maternity hospital, an adjunct of a large city hospital. Here the door was opened by a colored woman in the last stages of pregnancy. At hospital number four a pert maid, none too tidy, was on duty at the front entrance. Her distinguishing feature seemed to