The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1905-01-25
Long MARIA Ss
IN Howells
Nursing ~
Copyright, 1901, by A. s. Richardson
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.


ent or head nurse In hospital in the
heart of West Nirglnlas mining dis
trict. Her predecessor had left the
staff we'll organized, and there was no
sickness which naturally followed her
arrival. The biggest ward In the hos
pital was given over to typhoid pa
TENTS. and, in truth, they overlooked
this ward and took possession of three
others. Nearly every new man ut the
mines yielded to typhoid sooner or
cllmation. The cases were rarely seri-
Gus, the patients uniformly stolid. The
fever ran its course, the Grimm Coal
and Coke company paid the hospital
charges, and the patients as stolidly
returned to the mines to have part OF
their wages deducted each month and
applied on this hospital account
The deadly monotony was getting on
Marion Kent's nerves. AT st. Paul's
there had been no monotony. The OPP
Grating room had been the workshop
of some of the most marvellous sur
geons in America. There had been
fights for lives In which house doctors
and nurses had Joined hands and fal
tered not day or night.
The surest cure for Miss Kent's pres
ent mental condition was work, actlv
ity and patient who was at least In
teresting She felt wild inclination
to go into the convalescent ward and
stir up the men, stolidly sleeping even
before the night.
At this same moment she glanced
down the road which led from the
railway station and saw that the SUI
perintendents special car, attached to
the construction train engine, was slow
ing up by the water tank. A cot was
carried out of the car, and four bear
ers brought out limp figure swathed
in n blanket. Another typhoid patient
no uoubt. probably little worse than
ordinary or the special would not have
been called into service
She was further surprised few mo-
ments later to find herself greeting
the superintendent of the mining com
pany.
Il want you to give this case par
ticular care. He is young Jack Stan
ton, nephew of Mr.. Grimm, president
of our company 1t is the same old
story Of typhoid, and, though l warn
ed Mr.. Grimm that 1t would come, l
feel responsible for the boy. Give
him the best nurse you have and MS
much of your own time as you can
spare"
"You call him boy?" said Miss
Kent.
Eyes; he is only eighteen. Between
ourselves, Grimm claims the young
ster has made him lot of trouble.
He didn't like school, and so Grimm
sent him down here to learn the coal
and coke business from the beginning.
You'll find him rather n decent sort of
patient, and for heavens sake don't
let anything happen to him. Grimm
seemed glad enough to ship the boy
on to me; but. just the same. l don't
lIuuBlIlt ne VIII Dt any tOb Btullt WIFI
me If anything goes wrong"
Ten minutes later Marion Kent was
in the private ward In which young
Stanton had been placed. He had Just
received a cooling sponge bath, and he
looked at her with eyes that shone with
something beside fever. MY, but that
felt good, and It is awfully jolly, don't
you know, to see womans face
again"
Miss Kent turned up the lamp a
trife and bent over her new patient
1t seemed to her that she had never
looked into such marvellous brown
eyes-eyes that could twinkle and dance
and hide the deepest and tenderest Of
feeling She glanced from them to the
boyish features. Stanton lifted his
hand weakly and felt of his chin
II wanted EN- to give me shave be
fore they brought me down. / knew |
would give you women an awful start
| look so like tramp"
Here was novelty with a vengeance,
a patient who cared how he looked In
the presence of the nurses.
Miss Kent sat down beside him She
felt somehow as If she ought to adj
dress him as a willful boy.
you know this is sort OF low fever
you have. and you'll get very tired OF
1t and of US
"Not of you you bet! Say, did you
ever sleep on the hard side of straw
tick?"
Miss Kent shook her head and con-
tinued her little moral lecture II Just
want you to realize that while you
don't feel very sick you're liable to be
a good deal worse If you are not
good patient"
"Oh, I'll be good all right You just
watch me-"
And Miss Kent did watch him close
ly more as a psychological study than
as & patient Without asking questions,
bit by bit she pieced together the his
tory of his boyhood. She saw the
businessllke, uncompromising attitude
Of the uncle to whom the boy had
been left as a legacy by his dying
mother. The wealthy bachelor had
given freely of his money, but not OF
his sympathy. He had made no effort
to understand the boy-to establish In
tfmate relations with him. II teachers
and tutors had said that the boy was
lazy or Indifferent he had accepted the
criticism without question. She was
morally certain he had never looked
into those luminous brown eyes and
read the truth
On the fifth day after he arrived at
the hospital she received a letter:
Dear Madam-Mr. GrimIp has re-
ceiyed word that his nephew, John
Stanton, is confined to your hospital
with typhoid fever. He requests that
you spare no expense to make him
comfortable and to bring about his ul-
Innate recovery. Kindly render
weekly statement to Mr.. Grimm and
notify him II we can ship anything
that will make John more comfortable
or that Will expe-4te his recovery"
The signature was the name of Mr..