The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1902-11-06
MINNIE'S SAD DEATH.
by CHARLES b. YOUNGER.


haps that was why the medical students
liked her. The average young man con-
siders himself quite charitable when he
will even tolerate baby, and then it
must be of the cheerful sort that laughs
and says "goo goo" and "da da." For
those that are dyspeptic and bawl day
and night they have loathsome esteem
that is proverbai.
But Minnie possessed some hidden
charm that endeared her to all the young
men, and, in fact, made rivals of them.
To one not acquainted with the desire
for scientific research that is inherent in
the young medical mind, glance at Min
MES body would have left him with the
impression that the students had been
in search of the aforesaid hidden charm
One of the baby's ears had been removed
and sewed on again; one OF the eyes had
been taken out, but here evidently the
amateur surgeon had tackled job be-
yond his ability, for it had not been re-
placed: there was hole in Minnie's neck,
but, mind you, it was never made with
the purpose of killing the baby, but on
the presumption that the little one was
on the verge of suffocation from diph-
liberia. and had to be relieved by trache-
otomy. There was long cash on the
right side of the abdomen, but that was
for the removal of a troublesome verm-
form appendix. One leg was missing, but
here again the best interests of the baby
/ had been regarded, for a practiced eye
would see tba. classical amputation had
been performed.
Yet Minnie had passed through all this
Not once did she cry. Few babies can
claim such record. Why should the lit
tie one suffer when all sorts of anaes-
thetics in abundance were at hand? Min.
ME had endured other trials and hard
ships with the same fortitude She had
been "passed up" times without number,
trampled upon, kicked and subjected to
all the Franks that the modern student
can devise. Apparently the little one
| had become Injured to these seeming
abuses. 1t is better to allude to them
as seeming" abuses, for had any one OF
those several hundred young fellows been
accused of mistreating Minnie he would
| have resented it as a personal insult. She
was all the more popular because OF her
experience at their hands
Minnie seemed to be an exception to
all things that are common to babies.
| Even the saying that babies are all
stomach and no conscience" did not ap-
ply to her. She had neither stomach nor
/ conscience, so far as could be ascertained.
| Her mental qualities were nil. She could
| not hear, see nor talk, yet she was ih,-
pressionable to degree. Though expan-
sive, she did not develop. Minnie never
ate or drank, but in spite of this fact
she was always plump and seemed well
nourisned. A doctor would jump to the
conclusion that she vas anaemic, but, on
the contrary, she was even dusky in hue.
Minnie had never enjoyed the luxuries
of bath, and, although this might have
barred her from the exclusive social sets,
she could not have been justly called b
dirty baby. Her legs and arms were
freely movable, but she never used them
of her own volition She was insensible
to the stimuli that would send an ordi-
nary baby into paroxysm of bawling or
| laughing, yet resistant, and, in her own
way, responsive.
| Queer baby was Minnie. She had no
ancestry-not even a father or mother.
| Where she came from no one could tell.
| Medical men like to delve in the myS>
terious, and probably it was this air of
mystery about the little one that account
ed in part for their interest in her Min
ME was certainly several years old, yet
not an inch had been added to her stature
and not a grain of sense had she accumu-
lated. Her growth physically and mental
| ly must have been stunted very early
Nevertheless she was the very idol of the
students, and admittedly the only baby
. 4 Co. ha oil.
ways received their attentions with seem
! ing indifference, neither favoring with
smiles nor repelling with frowns.
The baby had been a special favorite
with the senior class. AT the class meet
ings she occupied a seat of honor beside
| the president She was present at the
| lectures and clinics and every night a
specially appointed committee saw that
she was locked up and secure from the
| ghoulish and envious juniors and "sophs.
| Not a football or baseball game did the
class attempt without the presence OF
Minnie. She seemed to give them ir'
spiration, and it is a matter of record
that they never lost an athletic contes:
when she was among the spectators
These victories were always followed by
q celebration at which the baby-their
mascot--was the center of toast and ap
plause.
But the intense affection for her which
the students had developed only made
their coming sorrow the harder to bear.
One night toward the close of the school
term fire broke out in the medical col
lege and the Changing engines brought az
army of students from their quarters
As they stood in groups watching the
work of destruction flame shot through
one of .he windows of the storeroom and
seemed to arouse them suddenly to Their
senses. Minnie! Minnie!" cried one
big, broad-sHouldered senior in terror
"rhe baby is in there and will be burned
Can no one save herr"
whats that" inquired fireman who
had heard the appeal. "You say there
a baby in there? Where is she-quick
It's like rushin' into furnace, but III
try to save her!"
'In the storeroom. You can't help see
ing her Good luck, old mani"
And the brave fireman hurried away
on his life-saving errand, the students
crowded near to the fire ropes and await