The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1905-06-16

Distance
'NursfnG
Copyright, 1901, bU 4. S. Richardson

OoOSOsOeOoOeOO oOeOsOsOsOsO
Miss Kent stood in the hospital door
way and repented of her folly.
Six months before she had resigned
a position as under nurse in New
York hospital for that of superintend-
ent or head nurse in hospital in the
heart of West NirginiG's mining dis
trict. Her predecessor had left the
staff well organized, and' there was'no
special work to counterpct the home
sickness which naturally followed her
arrival. The biggest ward in the thos-
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 at the
mines yielded to typhoid sooner or
later 1t was part of the process Of ac-
climation. The cases were,rarely seri-
GUS, the patients uniformlyfstolid. The
fever ran its course, the Grimm Coal
and Coke company paid the hospital
charges, and the patients as, stolidly
" TIC ~ NpoAS -
their wages deducted each month"; and
applied on this hospital account.
The deadly monotony was gettngion
Marion Kent's nerves. At st. Paufs
there had been no monotony. The op-
Grating room had been the workshop
Of some Of the most LSarvelous 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 kents pres
ent mental condition was work, activ-
ity and a patient who was Mt least IN
teresting She felt Wild inclination
to go into the convaleScent ward and
stir ND 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
Derintendent's special car, attached TO
tic construction train engine, was slow
ing up by tie water tank. y cot was
carried out of the car, and four bear
ers brought out limp figure swathed
in Il blanket. Another typhoid patient
no doubt, probably 4 little worse than
ordinary or the special would not have
| been called into service.
She was further surprised atfew 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 | warn
| ed Mr.. Grimm that it would come,
| feel responsible for the boy. Give
| him tile best nurse you have and as
much of your own time as you can
spare"
You call him boy?" said Miss
Kent.
Yes; 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
Oh to me; but. just the same. l don't
imagine he will be any too gentle with
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 cooling sponge bath, and he
looked ut her with eyes that sbone with
something beside fever. My, but that
felt good and it is awfully jolly, don't
you know, to see a woman's face
again"
Miss Kent turned up the lamp q
trife and bent over her new patient
4 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.
Il wanted 'em to give me IL shave be
fore they brought me down. l knew
would give you women an awful start
look so like tramp
Here was novelty with a vengeance
IL patient who cared how he looked II
the presence of the nurses.
! Miss Kent sat down beside him. She
| felt somehow as if she ought to ad
dress him as n willful boy.
You know this is sort of low fevel
YOU have, and you'll get very tired Of
it and of u.s.
mot of you, you bet! Say, did yor
ever sleep on the hard side of straw
tick?"
; Miss Kent shook her head and con
tinued her little moral lecture. Il jus
want you to realize that while yoI
. don't feel very sick you're liable to b.
a good deal worse II you are not {
good patient"
l "Oh, I'll De good, all right. You jus
- watch me-"
And Miss Kent did watch him close
r ly more as q psychological study thai