The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-10-27

soap and water for that matter, before
undergoing a surgical operation in a hos
pital A gentleman who had leg ampu-
tated at Bellevue tells the following
amusing story of his experiences with
several superstitious patients there: 1T
was announced to me that the operation
would be performed on a certain Tuesday
afternoon" he said. I'm order to prepare
for it I had a barber summoned to my
bedside to shave me and cut my hair
which had grown long, for ! knew l
would not have another opportunity to
make myself presentable in long time
There were several convalescents sitting
together at one end of the ward, and when
the barber made his appearance ! noticed
that they manifested considerable curios-
ity in his doings. But when they learned
that l was the one who had summoned
him, an expression of dismay came over
their faces. One of them hobbled over
to me where / lay, and said, in warning
tones:
You don't mean to let that barber
shave you, do you?
" Certainly, / replied. Why not?
" Because it's an i'll omen for them as
is goin' to be slashed and cut to go into
the operatin' room already prepared for
the coffin. It's time enough to be washed
and shaved after you're a corpse. So take
my advice and don't let that fellow touch
a razor to YOU
q was in such a highly nervous con
dition at the time that this warning COM
pletely upset me. I became suddenly
possessed with a superstitIous dread. and,
after making the best excuse / could in
vent to the barber, l dismissed him. But
it happened that I was not operated upon
that afternoon, nor in fact, for a week
afterward. BY that time my beard had
grown to such a length that my most in
innate friends could hardly have recog-
niZp1 NV U9lpgppnt friends how
ever, told me that it was a good omen,
and that satisfied me-"
In every large hospital where patients
are kept in wards screens are useds to
stand around the beds of dying patients
toward the last, so that the others may
not witness the death scene. In Bellevue
this screen is regarded with the greatest
adherence, for whenever 1t makes its
appearance, the inmates know that one
of their number is doomed. Once shut
from view by that fatal screen, the suf-
ferer is never seen by his fellow patients
again. What goes on behind the dread
curtain is a mystery. At intervals the
nurse slips back to it, perhaps to see that
the dying person is passing away easily
but the superstitioUs patients do not give
him credit for any such humane motive
According to their belief, the screen has
been put up to conceal some act of base
| treachery from their eyes.
They are confirmed in this idea by the
end, which is generally not long in com
ing. The nurse pays a last visit behind
the screen and, on reappearing, quietly an
nounces that the sufferer is dead. Then
he summons assistance to prepare the
body for the morgue. This is the work Of
but few moments. The corpse is
stripped; the relaxed jaw. the hands and
| the feet are tied in position, and all is
| ready. Yet scarcely is it wrapped in it's
| coarse winding sheet before the measured
| tread Of heavy boots is heard coming to-
ward the ward The patients exchange
Plances and nod their heads Significantly
They need not be told the meaning Of
| those sounds. They know that they are
! made by the stretcher carriers coming
| from the morgue with the dead box to
! carry the corpse away Presently they
| enter the ward and go behind the screen
| There the dead box is opened, the body
swung into it and, before the frightened
/ patients have fully recovered from the
/ shock they have received. the tramp
tramp, tramp. of the stretcher carriers
! is gradually lesseninG in the distance Five
minutes have scarcely elapsed between
the announcement of death and the re-
movll Of the body to the morgue
The superstitious among the patients
believe that the dead are hurried off In
! this manner in order to remove all traces
/ Of what may have transpired behind the
| screen. They believe also that more peo-
| pie are nailed up in collins alive in Belle
vue than the most credulous would dare
/ to surmise