The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1902-03-07

II.
out OF her head all night, calling police and
everything under the sun
II heard all about it. 1t is too bad, poor
old soul. What is it, Celestine? Won't YOU
take some coffee or something's" Celestine
understood, from the sweet expression of
the face under the cap, that she meant to
console her, and tear trickled down her
cheek and the withered lips muttered: ..My
MY brudda's dead My brudda's dead!''
There, be quiet, Celestine; he was here
yesterday
Celestine turned away disappointed and
mumbled over and over her one complaint
till she fell asleep.
The student was writing up his orders
when she woke, and stopped as Celestine's
shrill voice filled the room with the same
heartbroken wall: My brudda's dead! Nv
brudda's dead!"
is that 59l again, Miss Hanson?"
Yes, and | don't know what to do with
her Those opiates do not seem to do her
any good, and she pulls her splint loose al
the time. just look at her now She will
INSIST on sitting up. She cried, too, pitt
fully yesterday because [ would not give her
a piece OF bread, but sister says she cannot
have it."
She did? don't see why, for Celestine
had no fever to speak Of
He stopped before the bed and took her
temperature. "Wie fuhlst du, Celestine?"
Her face lit up at the familiar tongue, and
she pouted out stream of condolences, but
he had exhausted his vocabulary, and she
seemed to feel that he did not understand.
They gazed at each other a moment across
chasm neither knew how to bridge, then
she closed her eyes YEARLY and he went
to the door and paused Il wouldn't let
her see anyone; it only excites her.
Her mind began to wander again, and
girl in the next bed began to cry, at which
an old-timer opposite called out: Don't
take it to heart, child; you'll get Used to
more than that when you're here week.
No, l won't. Why don't that German
lady in the corner stay come by her? She
is just lonely, without soul she can speak
to, and just hollers out to herself"
mo, dear, she don't know even what she
is talking about? Sister Benedict won't
allow patients to go about the room that
way. Sh! There she comes now
Each one simultaneously tugged at her
coverings to smooth out the wrinkles she
had tossed them in and law down rigidly,
exactly like soldiers on parade.
Indeed, pale, sweet face peeped in at the
door and smiled
"Well, we'll! You all look scared, bless
your hearts. You're not afraid of me, are
you! How is Celestine? Oh, no; l can't
come in; I'm so busy over in my ward I'll
run in tomorrow. Where is Sister Bene-
dict? Here she is now"
What's all this racket in here? Pull in
the blinds, Miss Hanson. Did you wish to
see me, Sister Fidelius?"
The two paSSa1 ont +oratbor opl A.,
nurse went to class. The patients took the
liberty to chat and even to laugh. Celestine,
the one outside, was babbling softly to her
self
She was back in far-off Alsace, child
amid the vineyards. Her mother had
whipped her for tearing her frock, and
Henry had found her with her tousled hair
wet with tears He carried her off in his
strong arms to the foot of the hill, where
they wandered together, and he hunted
bright blossoms to crown her with
The scene shifted. The smoke of cannons
hid the hills and a hostile army filed the
valleys. Henry, priest-her brother! her
ldol!-walked amid the dead and wounded,
mlnlstering to the dying. The shout went
up Down with the priest!" and she raw
HIM tall amid the angry rabble, deserted By
his fieelng countrymen. Good God. /: had
burned itself into her brain.
A long, tremulous wall broke from her
lips; then she would seize the beads and
pray feverishly until the old memory would
come back-how she ran barefoot with her
little brother from home of plenty, hunted
down like rats by the Prussian troopers, for
Napoleon Ill had fled and Alsace WIS given
to Germany. AT last she fell into peaceful
sleep.
When she awoke fresh evening breeze
stirred the odor of early roses through the
drug-scented rooms. What was it made her
feel so we'll? Where was she? Her serses
grew keener as she raised herself on her
elbow and peered out over the clustering
flower beds. Yes, yes, she remembered now
She had fallen down the stairs at home and
broken her leg in two places, but she felt
well now, and tomorrow she'd 60 home
with John. The fever of spring ran through
her veins; it did not matter if she had been
lonely; she was we'll now. How she longed
to be out with her basket of rosy fruit,
trudging along the levee where the river
gllstened IN the sun and the wild flowers
crept up the embankment. Did the saucy
little barefoot waits miss the poor old ped
dler who gave them apples?
The night nurse tiptoed in with the medi-
cine, and again all was still An organ
grinder was serenading out in the deserted
streets beneath the children's building and
the music tloated up through the open win
dows, soothing some OF the weary ones to
sleep
The Sabbath broke clear and calm. Most
OF the patients woke refreshed to listen to
the soft chant of the white-rohed sister
down in the chapel. The sound seemed to
gather in volume till it swept over the white
beds like a triumphant hallelujah and
breathed new life into the quiet figures.
Celestine did not hear it, for sol was empty.
She had gone farther even than Alsace, to
join her "brudda. IN. o. Times Democrat.