River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1878-07-03
With the Doctor at Bellevue Hospital.

We pass with the class from ward TO
ward and fiona cot to cot, the doctor treat
ing the patients with heartiness that
forces an evanescent smile to the saddest
faces, and explaining the cases and opera
tons to the class with so much perspicuity
and simplicity that the thickest- headed
student would have unlmaginablc diff
Guilty in not understanding. A mite of a
boy is sitting in big chair by himself, a
Tiny Tim of boy, with large, liquid eyes,
| the whitest of faces, and the sunkenest of
cheeks. allow arc you to- day, Sirl" the
doctor enquiries, in a Tremendous tone,
that makes the piping answer sound
ridiculously small. Pretty well, thank
you, Sir" eCan you walk2" II guess so,
SIR and the second answer is in still
shriller key, for the voice has not yet re-
covered from the exhaustion of the first.
Tiny Tim is lifted out of bis chair by the
doctor, whose hands are almost rs large
as the child's body; he is sufferer from
an obscure disease of a joint, and was
brought to the hospital as an incurable
case The doctors speciality is diseases
of the joints, and by that pre-, eminer
skill which has cheated death many a
time he HIS saved the child's life. Tim
limps across the floor and back again,
the longest journey that he has made
out of the urse's arms for some months
months; faint flush smile of satisfac-
ton tighten his face as he climbs into the
chair again. He is out OF breath, but
when the doctor asks ii the exertion hurt
him, he readily answered, Mot a bit, SIR
s'Now, gentlemen" says the doctor to his
class, taking the repaired limb in his hand,
''this is very But we are not report
ing the doctors lectures. We stand by
the bedside of woman whose life is eb-
bling away under the strain of q cancer,
and here our good Samaritan speaks more
cheering words-the most he can do, for
| the case is irremediable. One Of the
white capped nurses Of the training school
is watching the patient; she is a fair,
wholesome looking girl, intelligent, neat
ly dressed, and agreeable in manner. We
ask her if there is muc1 extreme suffering
In the ward.
"That is our worst case, Z she says, point
ing to the woman by whom the doctor
and his class are standing; ''the poor
thing has been here eighteen months
without any hope of recovery.
mo one has been to see her-no relative
or friend-in all that time" "Can she
last much longer2' mot more than
three months; she is anxious for death
and prays for itn At this moment we
feel that the CLASSY eyes Of the sufferer
are bearing upon us, her face is colorless,
and her lips are pursed as though she de-
sired to hold back the low moan that es-
capes them. Is nor the sight enough to
convert one to the doctrine Of legalized
suicide by proxy. or any scheme OF
euthanasia2 On the next bed q wrinkled
and very thin old woman is mutterng
deliriously and sometimes inaudibly; she
is over seventy years OF age, and hers too
is fatal case. The nurse is young, pref
tv, and blooming, and her appearance OF
health and cheerfulness in the midst OF
4 pallid disease seems almost out of place
1t is a consecrated life, the sacriticial inn
pulse of religious fervor2 No; her motive
is the earning Of a livelihood, and she is
the pupil of an institution which has
opened new and practicable field OF
work for American women.-W. II.
RIpEING, in Harper's Nagaziee for July.