Still following up the subject of rural sanitation, Miss Nightingale prepared a paper on “Rural Hygiene: Health Teachings in Towns and Villages,” which was read at the Conference of Women Workers at Leeds in November, 1893. It was written in her usual clear and incisive manner, going straight to the root of the matter and illustrating her points with humorous illustrations. “What can be done for the health of the _home_,” she asks, “without the women of the home?... Let not England lag behind. It is a truism to say that the women who teach in India must know the languages, the religions, superstitions, and customs of the women to be taught in India. It ought to be a truism to say the very same for England.” Referring to the village mothers, she says, “We must not talk _to_ them, or _at_ them, but _with_ them.” As an instance of the happy-go-lucky style in which sick cottagers are occasionally treated, Miss Nightingale relates the following amusing stories:-- “A cottage mother, not so very poor, fell into the fire in a fit while she was preparing breakfast, and was badly burnt. We sent for the nearest doctor, who came at once, bringing his medicaments in his gig. The husband ran for the horse-doctor, who did not come, but sent an ointment for a horse. The wise woman of the village came of her own accord, and gave another ointment. “‘Well, Mrs. Y.,’ said the lady who sent for the doctor, ‘and what did you do?’ “‘Well, you know, miss, I studied a bit, and then I mixed all three together, because then, you know, I was sure I got the right one.’ “The consequences to the poor woman may be imagined! “Another poor woman, in a different county, took something which had been sent to her husband for a bad leg, believing herself to have fever. ‘Well, miss,’ she said, ‘it did me a sight of good, and look at me, baint I quite peart?’ The ‘peartness’ ended in fever.” The manners of the women to their children in many cases are greatly in need of reform, and Miss Nightingale quotes the injunction of an affectionate mother to her child about going to school, “I’ll bang your brains out if you don’t do it _voluntally_.” Miss Nightingale deals in her paper with the need for drastic measures to promote rural sanitation such as drainage, proper water supply, scavenging, removal of dust and manure heaps from close proximity to the houses, and the inspection of dairies and cowsheds. In regard to the latter she writes, “No inspection exists worthy of the name.” This was in 1893, and the alarming facts about the non-inspection of rural milk supplies exposed in _The Daily Chronicle_ in 1904 show that matters are little improved since Miss Nightingale laid an unerring finger on the defect eleven years ago.