The devil finds work for idle hands to do， as Mrs<br >Gibson used to say to her daughter， and Alice hadLfound~hat in her case<br >the devil (or her own mysterious inner compulsions) led her to violence.<br >As a child she would strike people who annoyed her and when she was<br >fourteen she attacked her sister with a knife， though no harm was done.<br >But if her hands itched to injure， they were also gifted hands and as she<br >was taught to occupy them with handicrafts， the impulse to violence<br >grew less. Or was sublimated， as she learned to say when she began<br >training to be a nurse.<br > Only her mother had opposed Alice s choice of a career. Perhaps it<br >was only her mother who understood her. But her objections were<br >overruled by Alice s father， by her headmistress， by the school careers<br >officer， and by Alice herself. And certainly Alice did well. There were<br >no unfortunate incidents of the kind Mrs Gibson had feared.<br > Naturally， in her new life， she had had to abandon her handicrafts.<br >One cannot keep a loom or a potter s wheel in one s room in the nurses <br >residence. And there were many occasions when Alice w~ould come off<br > duty worn out， not so much from lifting patients， mal-~ng beds， and<br > running to and fro， as from the exercise of an iron se~. control. The<br > impulse to hit， slap， or otherwise manhandle a patient who had angered<br > her had to be constantly suppressed.<br ><br >