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Nursing in America 147 Dimock, who had taken pains to visit Kaiserswerth and study training school organization there a systematic graded course with instruction carried through one year was begun. The medical women were enthusiastic, Dr. Dimock, of rare charm and soul, leading; the first nurses, women of more than usual standing and character, shared the ardour she inspired. The first class graduated in 1 873, and one of its members was Linda Richards, who has been widely known as the "First Trained Nurse in America. " Miss Richards had a remarkable path- making career for many years, and wrote, in her Re- collections, a book which no nurse should fail to read. The high standards and intelligent careful teaching of the New England hospital justify it to a great extent in its claim of priority as a training school. It was, however, at first not strictly on the Nightingale system, as it had no superinten- dent of nurses until 1882, and Miss Nightingale had always denied that physicians alone could teach nursing. As to this point, however, it is fair to point out that Miss Nightingale had men in mind. Among the very first schools on the ^ ^ , ^ St. Cather- American Continent to acknowledge ine's in Miss Nightingale's inspiration was the Canada first training school in Canada, which will be met in a later chapter.