Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-23
HOSPITAL TRANPS.
People Who Pay for the Privilege of
Pretending to BE Ill.
aries Kuchs, Doniphan.
mes Hayes. Atchison.

From the New York Sun.
Yes" said the curly haired nurse that's
the third we've had since I've been here
and I'm sorry to say they're all women.
pay patients too though we call them hos
p'tal tramps. Queer that folks will pay
from $40 to $40 a week just for love of be-
ing catered to, Miss Devout who left yes
terday, has been here twice before Then
We've had Miss Langud and Miss Hope
less. The funniest thing is that they al
ways have private doctor who believes in
them, or pretends to.
The first indication Of a hospital tramp
that we usually have is a request for
hot-Water bag about tempera ture-taking
time. You see, most of us use three-rnin
thermometers. and unless patients are very
Ill we leave them to register while we go
to some other duty. No sooner does the
nurse leave than your tramp removes the
Thermometer from her lips and places il
on the hot-water bag. OF course, the nurse,
on her return, is Mortified at the rise in
temperature, but, unless it is her first ac-
qualntance with the genius. she says moth
ing. She simply returns shortly and takes
the temperature again, this time remaining
while it registers. The thermometer trick
seems to be the most common. though
amazing ingenuity is sometimes displayed
by these freaklets.
when l was first put on day duty for
Miss Devout | noticed her card stated a
one Oh ntT symptoms. 1naDlllIy TO retain
food That seemed queer in view of her
other symptoms. Yet she never ate all the
feod supplied to her. and at the same time
she never went hungry. Her mother came
to see her every day. and always carried
hand satchel. OF course. the rule is no
food brought to patients, but through
mirror in the room while | was behind
screen | once saw the best part of Il cold
chicken disappear. while half of good
sized cake found its way into a little basket
kept on the stand by the bed. Didn't her
mother know better? oh, / suppose she
meant well enough-thought the poor girl
ing, you know.
Her minister called to see her every
week. | once heard him read her an essay
on the saintliness of submission. The bea-
tfC expression her face would have
gone to your heart. When he finished she
sang hymn in token of her sympathy
with the sentiments expressed, and a wo-
man who witnessed the scene was so i'm
pIesseo that she made it the subject of
some touching little verses. She had
sweet voice. and Sunday morning was sure
to find her able to be helped into her pretty
little red neglige gown. and she went down
into the chapel There, at the organ, she
would conduct song service equal to
professional 1t often brought tears to the
eyes of visitors to hear her.
LAS a rule, tramp patients avoid opera
tons, but Miss Hopeless was an exception.
Nothing else would do her. The doctors
held out against it for weeks but ii was
either life patient or an operation. so. as
her own doctor insisted. the hospital staff
was obliged to yield. Then the patient got
well. In fact. l never heard of a case
where Il tramp really went far as to die.
There are different reasons for the ex-
Stence of the order. Sometimes a real ILL
ness will create a desire to prolong the at
tentions received during that time. Every
enc is familiar with the tramp who seeks
to protect himself from the chilly world by
gaining an entrance into the hospital bed
but. fer your moneyed woman to employ
similar devices for invoking sympathy,
Just another instance of the touch of ma
ture that makes the whole world kin"