The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1886-09-18
He HAD 1T OFF.
Why An Honest Workman Parted
with His Arm.

In the ST. James Hospital the mans
surgical wards are at the top of the
building, That is where the accidents
are brought in. Any moment of the
day or night whistle through the tube
may announce that a fresh case is COM
ing up. Possibly it may prove mat
ter of Il spraned ankle, possibly of in
juries only just short of death. Out
siders imagine life in the surgical ward
to be constant succession of shocks to
the nerves But all who enter there
leave nerves behind, or, to speak more
correctly, the nerves are kept tense,
guarded, ready for all surprises and all
demands. Still, have heard Nurse
Wilmot confess to a strange sensation,
though more of excitement than of
dread, when she sees the form of the
foremost OF the two policemen bearing
the stretcher appear around the corner
of the door. The questions must rise
unb' dden-What poor soul is this
brought here for its appointed measure
of painp and what destiny is this days
work to consummatep Is it death, or
lis it life weighted with some crippling
injuryp Is it moral salvation or moral
ruinp The drift of a life, or, perhaps,
many lives, may be determined this
hour.
But one can only imagine such re-
Elections occupying the mind as the
nurse watches the new patient carried
to bed under some one else's charge.
If he is to be under her own care there
is no margin left for them, all her
power must be summoned to the front
and absorbed in the duty of the
moment. His hurts have been attended
to down stairs, dressed and bound, but
there is still much for the nurse to do
which requires prompt attention and a
steady hand. She must fly hither and
thither, alert yet composed. If it is q
case of fracture special bed must be
prepared. If the vital heat is lowered
by the shock hot bottles must be ut once
procured. Then the patient must be
made as clean and comfortable as his
condition permits, and if he is neither
ansensible nor too ill he must, during the
process, be cheered and soothed by
kindly speech.
Nurse Wilmot has told me many
stories of patients that have come under
her care, and one of them l will set
down here as nearly as can remember
as she told it to mo:
At about half-past six O'Clock one
winter afternoon the well-known sound
came up the tube, and Sister Janet
directed that one of my beds should re-
ceive the newcomer. 1t was a young
man, strapping fellow. OF his face I
could see little. for it was bound up for
injuries to the head and jaw, and one of
his arms was broken. l expected to
hear that he had fallen from scatfold,
or had been run over in the street, but
the policeman said they had brought
him from his own home, where they
had been told he had fallen down stairs
The story could have only one meaning,
feared The majority of the cases
come to us through drink, and the
policeman as he told it made sign
which was sufficiently satisfactory, if
any explanation were needed.
''There was an old woman mixed up
in it, his mother, and take it they'd
been soaking together" said he.
The new patient took no part in these
explanations. Though he had not ut
tered a groan Icouh see he was in great
distress and he could speak only with
difficulty.
'I'm glad, at any rate," said 1, ''that
you appear to have no wife and family
to be pinched while you're out of work.
You're better off than great many that
come here"
He nodded his head and looked at me,
and saw at once that he had been mis-
judged-he had not been drinking.
The look was too direct and intelligent,
and so expressive of manly endurance
that my sympathy went out to him at
once. We have sympathies us tender as
other women, we nurses, hope, though
sometimes we joke and laugh when
other women would cry.
"You are not drinking manp' ]
asked.
He shook his head.
''The doctors will tell You tomorrow
morning that's in your favor"
Hicks, the stout cabman in the next
bed, overheard the remark. "Now,
nurse, come, we amt no need to be
told that, We amt under no delusion
rs 10 the voos in this ERE place, and II
wo WAS 'ere's Thomson at and to OK
pound em to us hany hour of the day
hor night"
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