Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1885-05-02
It was not an extensive institution

men throughout that portion of En-
gland would go nowhere else for care
when they were hurt in their riskey
work. ~ Stir
To one who is familiar with the
stolidily of tho professional hired
nurse; with her. awkwardness; her
solemn countenance her profunc-
tory whining tone Of sympathy her
big red hands, Rnd her general funer-
al appearance, bong sick in hospital
has no condoning feature, except,
perhaps, the successful use of anas-
thetics. Thesatmosphere OF a hospi-
tai is generally one of dreary and ST.
lent gloom but that was not the
case at Walsall. Sister Dora was so
handsome that those who came with
in reach of her winning ways at once
regarded her as beautiful. She was
not only strong, but very handy in
all her motions, ana her bandaging,
giving of medicines, and composing
patients on the pillows were perform
ed with wonderful intelligence and
skill. Everything; was kept in
order, eithst'by her own hand, or I'M
der her eye. But, above all things,
she was cheerful As completely as
it could be done, the solemnity Of the
sick chamber was abolished. If there
was anything in the Situation which
made it possible to take a. cheerful
View Of things, that she was sure to
see and turn to good account. Her
humor was effervescent ! and her
spirits so overlooking, her jokes so
ready, and her laugh So infectious,
that, as one of the men said, "She
would make you laugh il you were
DYING She would read and sing
to the patients, and, in the GONZALES
cent ward, they had. a regular sing
ing school. The Moody and Sankey
hymns were the most popular, be-
cause easily learned, snnd the senti-
ment of the words isrplain, and adap-
ted to the tastes and benefit of the
majority.
In the administration of the hospi
tai, she permitted nothing but what
was thought to be for the good of the
inmates. Tobacco aud other ontra-
band goods were often struggled in
by outside blockade runners, but
they seldom escaped seizure and
confscation. Her shrewdness some
times led the unlearned mill hands
to suspect that she possessed b pow
er of divination.
One afternoon some fourteen men,
burned by the explosion of furnace,
were brought in. It was on such
occasions that her mettle is tested.
The men set up howl for her aid.
Although the hospital surgeons, and
the medical force of the town rushed
in to help, the poor men had fancy
that Sister Dora only could bring re-
lief. The stencil of the roasted flesh,
the cries of so many sufferers, their
desperate state, and the general con-
sternation, were enough to confuse
anybody, and make his fingers all
thumbs, but it was not so with the
sister. She dressed the burns of
them all in turn, all the while talking
to all, and urging them to be patient
and courageous. One man only out of
the fourteen asked her to pass him,
and go to the next, but he had pro-
badly ceased to suffer much, and he
died soon after. For several days
these men absorbed Sister Dora's
care, without rest or sleep. and at
that time only was she known to take
stimulants to keep herself up. They
all died but two, and they owed their
lives to her
When Miss Pattison died, the
whole county followed her body to
the grave-town mayors and officials,
bishops and migisters ofall sects, So
cieties, street Arabs, roughs and har-
lots, all tramped in a motley mass o
mile and O half over the melting