The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-08-02

Once upon time. not so very long ago
1 was asked to spend a few hours in a
sick room. The day nurse was exhaust
ed. and temporary assistance was neces-
sary. OF course, consented to serve
though 1 would gladly have scrubbed
the sidewalk instead had l been per
mitted to exercise my preference.
The general reader may think this is
a hard-hearted statement, but when
say that 1 have the same dislike-yes
more than this. contemplation my own
sick rooms it may throw different light
on the matter 1 never remember to
have had a pain in my life that 1 didn't
feel disguised with it,
Well, L passed into closely shut
might say Theoretically sealed-apart-
ment where the steam and vinegar
treatment had been in operation for the
relief of pneumonia. The patient lay on
her back, with what seemed a cushion
about a foot high on her chest. 1 dis
covered later that it was fiaxseed poul-
tice.
The tired nurse msde some final
touches to the invalids toilet, gave me
some instructions in a dismal undertOne
and left me to my misery | was not to
speak to the patient and allow no one
else to enter the chamber, and on no
account must / permit a breath Of air to
float in. High screens were placed
against doors and windows.
Now, if L had my way, / should have
thrown that poultice as far as | could
send it, and after bathing the chest in
warm water / should have covered it
with soft, light flannel. and then /
should have turned the sufferer slightly
on her side, covered her comfortably,
opened a window at the bottom and top
and let in some of Gods fresh air, which
believe is more important in pneu-
monia than in health.
But l was under orders, and perhaps it
is just as WELL for 1 might have killed
her, because as she was frightened at
the very thought of air and everybody
else in the house was in the same con-
dition my sense of what was right could
scarcely have borne the weight of the
opposition.
For a few moments there was nothing
to do of any consequence. The nurse
had applied the half peck, more or less,
of flaXseed that went to form the pouI-
tice, and had plenty of time to think.
rs there any need of this condition."
L asked myself, and something which is
TO me like the voice of God replied:
mo, there is not"
Once the patient moaned, with a fee
BILE movement of her hand toward the
"Oh, so heavy"
Shall I take il off?''
mo, no; kill me, kill me-" she whis-
pered hoarsely.
Well, she passed on a few days later,
and though l had previously speculated
about this peculiar method of suffocating
patients with foul air and pressing the
breath out of them with heavy weights,
l never quite realized till that day how
utterly unscientific and cruel such treat
ment was.
l shall probably be accused of a
colossal conceit when 1 say that 1 be-
lieve l could have cured this patient at
this critical moment if 1 could have been
allowed the freedom of my will, to
have raised her will from the living
grave into which it had been plunged
not by her malady, but by the concen-
trated thought of every member of that
household that she was doomed and by
the filthy and barbarous method of the
attendant physician. But / have said
it, all the same, and know 1 am speak
ing the truth-Eleanor Kinks Idea.