"PAYING GUESTS"; AND A. MEMORIAL TO FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—It seems to be well known beforehand that far the greater proportion of the old people in the workhouses will prefer to stay where they are rather than apply for the old- age pensions. The reason is not far to seek. Mr. Lloyd George talks of the old people being paying guests in their relations' houses. So they may be, so long as they can. look after themselves and help in the house, but when they become a trial and a charge they are not wanted. It sounds terrible, but it is true.
Suggestions, we are told, are asked for regarding a national memorial to Miss Nightingale. Being a Nightingale nurse myself, may I suggest that homes for the aged should be established and managed by retired nurses, with needy women to work under them ? Management comes easy to a nurse, and when she retires from active service she would in most cases be most glad to make herself useful so long as she is
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