The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-01-04
a TOUCHING HOSPITAL SKETCH

ms, written upon the Nv lear OF u litlo
black pocket Testament.
] am fast getting to be an old woman but
/ never shall forget those old hospital days.
And this little book has brought back the
old memories, Just as the sight of old andi-
rons and spinning wheel will carry one
back to grandmother's time. You see, /
haven'talways had gray hairandcrow's-feet
There was a time long ago when / thought
that life meant happiness. But when our
2eighbor's boy 10, whom / had played with
ia my childhood, came TO me and asked
me to make a choice for life, / had to put it
all away; for father and mother died that
year and left four little brothers in an eld-
er sisters care. / did the best I could for
them, but we were poor, and sometimes
the weight was weli-nigh too heavy for
young shoulders.
Well my boys grew up and went ont into
the world; all but Jamie, poor little cripple
boy. / loved him the more because so
dependent on me. But ne took sick, and
one spring day l laid him away in the
meeting house graveyard and went back 10
a lonely home. Nobody knows how my
heart ached for something to love and work
for. And then the war broke out, and as !
hadn't a husband or sons TO give to my
country | thought I'd 60 myself. Not to
1 ukuls " uOs III no " III lO6UlttAs
And so that's how L / happened to 60. | had
been there several months when the battle
of Chilled and wounded SO many of
our boys, You remember. Quite a number
of them were brought TO our hospital. |
saw them carried in aud then went through
the wards to do what / could. AS | was
hurrying from n to another | came to
this one in he corner. l couldn't help but
notice right away how young and boyish
the face was. Somehow / thought Of Jamie,
and my heart gave q great throb. He raised
| ND Oh his elbow as I came near, gave II
cheerful nod and said. Good moring,
| Auntie.'
l wanted to put my arms around his neck
and give him q good motherly hug, but, yop
see, we had to learn to overcome our feel
in8s there. So / only said Good norm
ing" as quietly as ] could, and then went to
work to smooth out TIE army blanket, aud
replaced the hayersack, doing duty as u
pillow, by a wooden shawl of my own. You
see, / was thinking so hard of Jamie, it
never occurred to me that he was wounded
until he put his hand over his breast and
gave a little short breath. "What have
they been doing to you / asked, taking
away his hand.
used me for a target, Auntie. Splen-
did shot, true as you live, = and he smiled
just as though he was talking about some
sport.
Did the surgeon take the ball ontq"
saidI
THAT old fellow with the saw and screw
driver? Whew! lie bored till ] most thought
he was the gimlet and / was the hole.
Guess he didn't find it,"
I saw that it wanted dressing. so / set
about it. 1t didn't look very bad. ven
tured to say so. and you ought to have seen
his face brighten, while he asked so earn
estly: do you think so? Just what /
thought. I'll be all right i'll o few days.
Don't you think / willi'
L shook nay head, / didn't want to disa-
gree with him, but knew il was better than
to give false hope. mo; not III a few days.
Perhaps in o few weeks" / had dressed
the wound by this time, so he said IN his
CHEEKY way that he'd take q little trip into
the land of nod, and then began to snore
like a miscellaneous school boy. I went
about my other duties, but by and by cane
around inst TO see o he was; and snre
enough, he was sleeping just as quietly rs q
baby.
Next morning I stopped he surgeon after
he had gone through the wards, for though.
he was in a hurry, / wanted to know when
my boy was going to get well. | thought
likely as not he'd ask me again and 1t would
be so much better to say the doctor says
So" The way the surgeon frowned when |
asked bim-and he answered 80 sharp,
When? Shot through the lung, madam;
just as surely dead as though his head was
cat off"
1t was we'll that i had so many months OF
discipline among the suffering and dying,
or / could not have heard it and been SO
calm; for, you see, this boy was taking
Jamie's place; so when / went in with the
bowls of polrldge / couldn't smile back at
him, although / saw him raise up On his
elbow the minute / stepped inside the door.
OF course / expected he would be worse,
but he ate the porridge with q boys relish,
and declared he felt good enough to stand
on his head. While I was working for the
others I heard a little tune. now softly
whistled, now sung, coming from that cor
ner. It was something about The "patter
of the rain drops ON the roof, When l
came around again he stopped his u
long enough to ask me il / ever sung it /
told him / didn't sing, but perhaps some
body could.
mo matter any way" he said; .'only
mother used to sing it 70 rs When We we're
little chaps at home. ! thought 1t would
sound sort Of good here, but d mt suppose
anybody could sing it quite like her"
I told him i didn' I believe anybody could.
The next day. to my great surprise. he
seemed q great deal better. / had resolved
to hare him send q letter home that day;
but when he began to talk about getting
well, in his cherry way, it grew harder and
harder.
Don't you suppose III have q iurlough
auntie, after the old hole gets filed up?
you deserve one" / couldn't help but
say. But hadn't you better write to your
mother, so not to brighten herr"
"Oh, no, 'twould scare the little woman
out of her wits. Besides, I want to sur
prise her. Won't she be glad enough to
burst when she sees me walking in that