The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-11-24

|
The doctor entered the kitchen. She
was a trim little figure OF woman
| without a trace of mannishness about
her to relieve the oppressive femin.
Unity. Old Ronald removed his pipe
from his mouth, pulled his spectacIes
down on his nose, and stared over
them as If viewing a new breed of
cattle brought into the district. Ten
year-old Flora, wide-eyed, stood root
ed to the floor. looking as if she had
seen a ghost. Big Mary hustled about
the little woman, handed her a towel,
busted with her apron the chair that
| was offered.
| The keen gray eyes Of the doctor
went round the circle. The atmOs-
| phere was saturated with prejudice.
There was a respectful bearing, but
| not a sympathetic face 1t was Big
Mary McKinnon against all the 9TH
ers!
In five days the doctor had told
them, the change would come.
Let's give her till the fifth day."
SllCu DIS -hdiy, dS the relatives CldAH-
ored.
The fifth day came and went; the
sixth day waxed and Waned, and the
night of the seventh was come, and
it did not require a professional eye
to see that Donald was in desperate
straits. One after another the air.
cells in the sufferers left lung had
become sOlidified, as you would pour
melted wax into a beehive. Donald
was pulling the air into his lungs in
jerky, granting inspirations. His face
was as purple as a plum. If he turn
ed his head to the right, there was
cry of anguish; if he turned it to
the left, all previous pain, in Donald's
experience, was balm compared to the
asonizing darts that pierced his breast.
But if Donald's strength could hold
out until resolution occurred, Donald
would be safe.
The sick-chamber presented tragic
spectacle. When all eyes were not
resting wistfuily on the sufferer, they
We're bent sternly on the doctor. On
chair stood the tank of oxygen, its
red cross staring like a blazing eye
at the sick-bed Near at hand, the
sister rocked herself and her woe, re-
fusing to be comforted Over Donald
bent the girl who loved him with .one
hand waving fan to and frO which,
like the flame in the Peruvian shrine,
had never ceased from the beginning.
With the other she at times removed
the red splashes from the sufferers
lips, giving no heed to the doctors !
warning to be careful of contagion. |
AS we'll have asked her brother of the
Prince Edward Island contingent to
be careful when he carried wound |
ed comrade from under CrOrje's guns. i
Astrde the bed was DOnalds cory
mate, with the invalid's head aSair.st .
his broad chest-an easily adjustable
and appropriate pillow in the present
eXigency.
Pull. Donald pull" he cried, en-.
as if a gale of wind was
going and they We're ''rousing" the
dory up to windward against a big
sea-"
you can't pull with your head IN
Ter water!" gasped Donald.
BY the bedside sat the doctor,
gearning for the moment Of the crisis.
To tell the truth. it was her first
pitched battle. There had been vOld
and young babies, mere out
post skirmishes. but here was strap
Ding young adult; here was a Trojan
If diseases. Her professional fate,
he right of woman to act beyond a
.ertain circumscribed sphere, seemed
rembling in the balance.
In her prophecy concerning the
fifth day she had taken expediency
" the hand, and now expediency was
'inching her fingers She hated to
all a con>iultant to rob her of the ,
Tory she felt was impending. and for I
which she had waited so long. Any ,
ne but Mckenzie, She had been weak ,
ncugh at one time to defer to THAI ,
entieman's judgment, and the con. !
ascending manner in which he had
reated her continued to hurt.
one Hdu ta!i6u up ffrl. caroline &
thirty miles away, and that
trOng- minded woman had soOthed g.,
onscience that was pricking in spots ,
18th the assurance that her conduct
nd treatment throughout the whole
ase was beyond criticism. ,
Morning and evening" responding to
~ opportunities Of the patients sis
n. she had dictated for his parents :,
t home a rose-colored and hopeful !,
ulletin, which was straightway trans :
tied into cold, depressing truth, and ,
espatched. And now, despite all her
cal and attention, it began to look !,