EVOLUTION OF TOWNS AND VILLAGES.
VICTORIAN ORDER OF NURSES.
One of the risks, and a very real one, which the pioneer women in
the settlements ran was the lack of medical attendance, and especially
in those states in which women "love to be who love their lords." Fortu-
nately in most settlements there was some "auld wife" skilled in mid-
wifery. Two we may mention who brought numberless children into the
world without medical assistance were a Mrs. Fergus of Northeast As-
siniboia and Mrs. Joseph Cope, of Broadview. There was also a lady in
the Moose Jaw district-whose name eludes us-who claimed that from
first to last she had brought hundreds of cases through without losing a
case. Here and there there might be a regular nurse, but the trained and
certificated nurse had yet to become a regular institution. Lady Aber-
deen, wife of the then Governor-General, was a lady who took great inter-
est in public affairs; and she devoted a part of her wonderful energies
to establishing what was known as the Victorian Order of Nurses.
The first member to be admitted in Saskatchewan was a Miss M. 0.
Dahms; and we may remark that it was considered a real honor to become
a member of the Order. At this time there was a Cottage Hospital in
Regina at which Miss Dahms rendered exceptionally good service. The
occasion of her admission was signalised by a quasi-public ceremony,
which took place at Government House when Lieut.-Governor Forget
pronounced the following formula: "Maud Ottelie Dahms: You have
been recommended to the Board of Governors of the Victorian Order by
Chief Lady Superintendent of the Order as a nurse possessing the quali-
fications and training which the Order requires, and as one who has
proved through your training your efficiency in all nursing work, and
your willingness to observe all the regulations of the Order. Therefore,
in the name of the Queen, and by the authority of the president and Board
of Governors I have the honor of admitting you formally into the ranks
of the Victorian Order of Nurses. May you be enabled to carry into
action the true spirit of the Order, and may God's best blessing rest upon
you." Those who attended the ceremony were Miss Dahms, Mr. D. J.
Goggin, Dr. Low, Miss Brown, Rev. J. A. Carmichael, Mr. W. Trant, Dr.
0.C. Edwards, Rev. R. Milliken, Mrs. Milliken, Rev. Mr. Bowering, Mr.
C.W. Peters, Mr. H. M. Cherry, Mrs. John A. Kerr, Miss M. Clark,
Assist. Commissioner McIllree, N. W. M. P.; Mrs. McIllree, Mrs. Mc-
Cusker, Mrs. Constantine, Mrs. Bell, Mrs. J. S. Dennis, Mrs. W. C. Par-
sons, Mrs. J. H. Benson, Mrs. Kate Hayes, Mrs. J. W. Smith, Hon. G. H.
V.Bulyea, Mrs. Bulyea, Miss Shaw, Miss Simpson, Mrs. W. Rothwell,
Miss G. Douglas, Mrs. W. M. Longworthy, Mrs. F. N. Darke, Mrs. J. H.
Ross, Mrs. Walter Scott, Dr. Martin and Mr. Z. M. Hamilton.
For years there was no regular hospital in the Territories, and cases
had to go to Winnipeg. Then a hospital was established at Medicine Hat.
We remember a case which went from Whitewood to Medicine Hat, a
distance of three or four hundred miles. The man was brought in from
the farm; I went with him as far as Regina. I couldn't afford to go any
farther, and from Regina he pursued his way alone, receiving every
kindness from the train hands. I doubted much if he could reach the
hospital alive, but he did so. He had to be rested for a week before the
operation, but he never rallied. We mention this as a typical case. Un-
der these primitive conditions without trained nurses, and hospitals it can
be imagined that the responsibility resting on the pioneer doctor was
often of the most arduous kind. Perhaps he travelled a long distance
to a patient, only to find that an immediate operation was necessary, an
operation which would ordinarily require two doctors and at least two
nurses, and this he would have to undertake in a shack with such help as
he could get. The territory of a doctor in one of the small towns on the
C. P. R. extended to the international boundary and as far north as there
was settlement; except in such cases as Prince Albert, Battleford and
Fort Qu'Appelle, and North East Assiniboia. In the whole south coun-
try, afterwards served by the Souris Extension Railway, there was no
doctor within a hundred miles. We should like to mention the whole of
the doctors who in the eighties and nineties, often in terrific weather,
braved the elements to help the afflicted, but we can only recall a few-
Dr. Low and Dr. Cotton of Regina, Dr. Routledge of Moosomin, Beanish,
Bird, Mordy, Elliott, Seymour, and last, but not least, Dr. Patrick of
North East Assiniboia. Our immediate object is, however, to pay such
tribute as we may to the women, who under conditions of isolation, and
often of poverty either suffered themselves, or tended and nursed those
who were suffering. Their fortitude and self-sacrifice cannot be too
highly extolled.
Bibliography follows:
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