Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-03-20

story of a Hospital Patient--The
New Nurse.

story OF a Hospital Patient--The
New Nurse.
10 not for a moment associate any =
lhil~ fair or girl.-h with our Juliet
BIZ, brown and bearded, he lay in Cot
40 L., Ward X. OF ;hc Army Hospital
Al pILrN. HI. -at ny little. and com
plan H.: not at all. We girls, on our
datN rounds through the wards with
flowers and drlcaci,>. came to speak
Of hm Il, juliet simply by reason of
thu great devotion OF convale-ccnt
conrad" 10y the name of Romeo =
Romeo wilkins. OF course. at any
ilmr. from The hospital register, We
could ra>uI have found his proper
nam" and rank: but moth; NJ 80 pro>aic
was ever thought OF We chose always
rather To have olir own distinct We
titles A. "tch'lir, for him OF the
wuurd, heel. sch Her because, of Il
TASTE III apples similar To that attributed
- thr Great German poet. and Dick
III, because of Il fancied personal re-
-,nhlance I" that popular author. Ii
tErrr WAS only al appearance OF lcvitN
IN this. il WAS only IN appearance. for
our sympathy Was of Il very sincere
aud tcrdrr k.nd. In those early years
of the war. when we looked upon so
much suffering and could do 50 little to
relieve il. we must sonnet ines laugh
To hide the tears we shed. and our pet
names wrr, cndcar NJ rather than dis
respectful
There was nothing at all romantic
about Romeo. He was simply an hon
est. ignorant but exceedingly kind
hearted fellow. not quite well enough
To hr returned 10 duty. but We'll enough
to do many Little kind offices for his
NOR" hrlplr>, comrades. In particular
did he engage himself with services aS
dclcatclN conceived as they were often
twkwardly rendered for his ncimhbor of
Cot No. 10. 1t WAS this that in the be-
ginning. aS have said, led Us to adout
for the object of his devotion The name
of juliet. A.,rrwart. when by chance
one of us read u Hatch" on the cor
ncr of hs pocket ct-handkcrchicf. we re-
iected all suggestions of James or
Joseph or John. and chose to coun; the
INITIAL H. proof positive of Juliet.
lie must have overheard sometime Il
bit of our idle talk. for there was sly
tw nklc in his eye H. he handed me one
day a package marked. For the
Young Ladies. With the compliments
of the fair juliet" Ii proved to he Il
collection of memrntocs. mostly pressed
flowers or pebbles from various battle
fields. daini IL put up. and addressed in
IA scholarly haHd. Little amenities of
this Kind. the n'c,ty of the few per
,onal effects that soldier may carry
with him. the choice Il elton and enun-
citation that belong only to the cul-
iurcd. revealed Juliet To be of distinctly
higher >oc,al grade than most of hi>
comrades. and we pleased our
selves with many Il fine fancy
about him. Some; mos these wrr,.
ba. e.! NJ on the ring. Il laiy's ring. sci
" tn small Il anond. that he wore on
his htlc iii. ger; sonnet mes uron a
small volume constantly under his pill
low. and frequently read. At first we
had rrctt theory that thi, was the
New Testament that he was under tlial
promise to read daily: but this we We're
obi gcd 10 abandon on DIS over mr. the
book Ia b. n copy of Spen>er's "faere
Queen. Ct cours'. tuere was Il cruel
fair one som, where we made no doubt
of tha'.
II can not understand" said Doctor
W. rel orting The case to the chief sur
s"on. why tn man does not i'm
prove. IL wound : comparatively
triiing aiair. there have been no com
plicatlons. and no ini.ammat on, yet
thcrc is ST II no sign of healing"
We girls held to our or ginal diagno-
sis. especially VIXEN the nice morsels
We oursclte, prepared, in the hope of
tempting his appetite. were received
W tn courteous thanks, only to be sent
away. after our departure. scarcely
tas,el.
Poor. simple. faithful Romeo! 1t was
all sad puzzle to him. 1T stands TO
reason he said confidcntialy, one
mo n ny. .thet man thet don't sleep
o n ght- amt ago.n to get well. When
he has nice feather pillow brought to
h m, say it's meant to sleep OH, and
moi To keep verses under thet you We
w.t. when you think cverybody's asleep
and nobody don't know it
Here was another revelation. If we
ad had any doubts before we had none
nuw. y man is not generally given to
W ting verses to his mother or his SIS
rr. and if he had wife she would come
to him. we reasoned. We knew now
that he loved her-we had named her
la t1,iu fhaf che
Kind. and we Eatcd her.
Oic morning there was general
confu- on in the hospital. A telegram
ha ! been received that 4 hospital boat
wolili be in ut noon with one hundred
additional sick and wounded for us.
II WAS Il short notice, and taxed not on
" the entire hospital force, but all our
volultccr service as well. 1t was de-
cdcI To take possession of an al JON
,ng building and remove to it all of olI
nm.u,- who Were able to bear the
r'i','l'-- III ngs % very muc mlXea
~ tfir nasty transfer, ana 1 undertook
The ta.k OF finding the proper owners
nf the various articles rs they We're
gath red up here and there by the at
tend ,n,S Sometimes there was no bet
ter clue for doing this than a letter
with only the indefinite address: ''My
dear Tom" and an equally indefinite
signature. Sometimes there was neither
address nor signature, as was the case
with thcs" verses:
My head l.; tired,
My heart is fired
With no dream bright or bleSt;
My very breath
l. cold as death,
And grave li-c is my breast.
81 can not sing,
can not bring
Eravc thou :ht~ to thee, my dear.