Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1906-04-11
THE TOY HOSPITAL.

THE TOY HOSPITAL.
Frances had been in the hospital
q long time. At first she did not no-
tice anything that was going on be-
cause she was i'll, but after while
she began to feel little better and
look about. The room she was in was
large and airy, but instead Of being
square, as her room was at home, it
was long, with number of little beds
In 1t just like her own, and each bed
held little sick child. At the win
dows were number Of canaries in
bright cages.
All the children were kind to
Frances. This was very nice, but you
know how quickly little sick people
tire of things, and after a few days
even the little birds seemed to worry
Frances, and she wished they would
sit still on their swings instead of
jumping about. Then Frances was SO
tired of staying in bed, even sitting
up, that she wished she were lame,
like the little boy who went about on
clutches.
The little lame boys name was
Peter, and all the children loved him.
They called him the little postman,
because he used to bring round the
books and cards that the children
looked at in the morning, and collect
ed them again at night; and then he
was always glad to go and get drink
for any Of the children, and some of
them wanted water often.
One day Frances seemed more tired
than usual. and she said right out
loud, 20 dear, wish had something
to do"
The head nurse, Miss Blair, was go
ing by. and she stopped and spoke to
Frances. Miss Blair had such beau
tiful face, Frances thought. She liked
all the nurses, but Miss Blair was
her favorite, and she always watched
for the nurse who wore the black
band on her cap. Miss Blair talked
with Frances while. and when she
was going. she said. TRY to be pa
tent, dear, and will find something
for you to do this afternoon"
Right after dinner Miss Blair came
over to Frances bed with large
piece of cardboard and put it on her
lap. Then she brought a large box and
placed 1t on the table next the bed,
and last of all she passed Frances
little can of glue. brush and some
tissue-paper. Now what do you sup
pose Frances was going to do? Well,
her small bed was to be turned into
hospital for little toys. The box
was full of all kinds or dolls, with
eyes missing and legs and arms
broken, and all sorts of things the
matter with them; and besides, there
were fuzzy dogs and poor lit lie pussy
cats with ears and tails of, and all
the animals from Noahs ark; even
Noah himself had some serious
trouble, and Frances was to keep
them there until they were all ours
She was Doctor Frances, of course,
and Peter was her assistant. Frances
would mend an arm or leg, and Peter
would sit very still and watch her,
and when the doctor told him, he
would place the little toy at the foot
of the bed. and it would have to stay
there until it was quite well.
Each morning new set of toys
came to the hospital, and each after
pnor a cot NJ tho,,, want homo. hut
sometimes some of them had to stay
much longer than others, just as the
little children who were more i'll than
the rest often had to stay many
weeks. The work made not only
Frances and Peter very happy, but all
the children watched and were inter-
ested, and perhaps one or them would
shout, is the black bear going to
leave the hospital today?" or, rs the
clown well enough to go home?"
Many times during the day Frances
would get tired and have to give up
the work for while; but she would
never rest very long, for she imagined
the little toys were as anxious to go
home as she was, and SO she would
try hard to send them home before
night.
So after the little hospital was
opened, the days did not seem nearly
so long, and before Frances really
knew it the day came for herself to
go home. Soon little Peter and all
the other children Went home, and
different little sick people are now in
their beds. Frances often comes in
to visit them, and brings them gifts,
but what she likes to do is to go over
to the little toy hospital bed and talk
with the children about the time when
she and little Peter were there and
kept the first toy Observation-Disclosures
S. Foster in the Youths Companion