The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-05-09
THE EVENING STORY
In Ward Seven.
(By Temple Baileyo

| Hush said the nurse, and bent over
him and tucked him up.
Her cheeks were very red as she went
out of the ward, and when she was
alone in the diet kitchen she said under
her breath, 1.-The idea"
| That afternoon she carried a wee
| bunch of violets to the small boy, and
pinned them on his little, white night
| shirt. Il picked them in the yard" she
told him; spring is coming and saw
a robin on the lawn"
The small boy eyed her adoringly, and
when the doctor came he whispered,
THE nurse gave 'em to me. The pretty
one with the blue eyes"
Nurse Isabelle?'' asked the big, fair
haired doctor
yep" said the small boy, 1.-THE one
you're stuck on
The doctor stared at him through his
thick eyeglasses. The idea" he said;
thea with the red coming into his face.
Don't talk, Jimmie, it's bad for you."
But when he had tended the poor lit
tie throat and the boy lay weak ana
pale on his pillow the doctor whispered,
May have violet, Jimmie?" and the
small boy nodded, and the doctor laid
the little blue flower carefully in his
pocketbook between the prescriptions
and the unpaid bills.
Unpaid bills were the reason that, In
spite Of his thirty-f1ve years. the doctor
had not INDUCED in romance Notwtth-
standing his success in his profession,
the expenses of city living and mort
gage on his mothers farm kept him in
a state of chronic insolvency, with
consequent constant shabbiness.
At the door Nurse Isabelle helped him
on with his rusty overcoat
There's a button off, she told him;
"I'll sew it on if you will wait.
AS she looks deft stitches. the doctor
looked down at her white-capped head.
From beneath the cap little blond locks
curled against her round throat.
''Jimmie's right he said aloud, and
when Nurse Isabelle said "What?'' in
a startled way, he stammered, oh,
nothing. Let me know how the boy is, )"
and went away.
That night he took an account of ways
and means and found that it wouldn't
do. There was big balance yet to be
paid on the mortgage, and he must still
travel the path of loneliness.
"Oh, 1 say Jimmie informed him
week later, you amt dom 1T right"
why not2' the doctor asked.
Jaw, you ought to bring her a rose or
some violets,'' Jimmie told him; "she
likes EN-
doctor stated briefly and Nurse Isabelle,
coming up, heard him.
With her head held high, she helped
him examine Jimmie, and after the doc
tor had gone, the small boy said shyly:
well, anyhow. I'm dead stuck on you.
nurse, dear She kissed him, with her
cheeks blazing.
That night she telephoned to the doc
tor, Jimmie is worse"
When he came the small boy was
fighting for breath. "Tell-me about
the robin he begged, feebly, and Nurse
Isabelle bent over him and sang softly.
THE robin is dressed in his feather and
down,
With warm, red breast and his wings or
brown
and then she stood back that the doctor
might see him.
She knew that things were very wrong.
The doctor gave orders quickly, and she I
followed them, and for hours they fought |
with death
At midnight they thought that the |
end had come. Jimmie lay very still |
with his little face gray in the shaded |
light -
Isabelle, bending over him, began to |
cry. silently at first, then Historically. |
"Oh, why can't you save him?" she |
gasped, why can't you save him?
Hush the doctor warned, hush.
But she was worn out, and the sobs |
came faster and faster. as with shaking |
hands she tried to hold Jimmie up.
The doctor took the boy from her.
go and get me hot water" he order |
ed. plenty of it. I'm ashamed OF you,
When she came back he had his coat |
off and his sleeves were rolled up ITS
the last chance" he said, and she help
ed him lift Jimmie into the bath
The tears ran down her cheeks and
iripped into the tub. Once she looked
at the doctor, II am ashamed of my
self" she whispered. Butt haven't
many people to love me- And she Sob
ped under her breath.
The doctors hair was wet, his face
was red and his shirt was open at the
neck showing the cords of his strong
neck He lifted the little steaming BODY
n his arms, and held the boy while
Nurse Isabelle enveloped him In heat
I'd blanket
Jimmie opened his eyes as they laid
lin on his little cot, Tell me about
he robin" he murmured, dreamily,
md went to sleep. holding tight to
Nurse Isabelle's finger.
The doctor, warm and rumpled,
ooked at the two.
fYou haven't any business nurs- |
n.y. he said to Isabelle
fraid you would say that she quav-
red. "'I was such a-fool."
"You are not a fool" the doctor t
lazed, "but some women aren't any I
more fitted to be nurses than I am to
70 the Angel Gabriel"
Nurse Isabelle was not so sure Of /
is unfitness for the sacred Office, as I
e stood there in his strength and dig
ity with his halo of fair hair.
emarked abruptly, "I'd marry you" !
"Oh!" Nurse Isabelle tried to rise, 1
ut Jimmie's thin fingers held her. a
Please don't" she begged.
Don't disturb my patient" was the
octor's peremptory command. He
an his fingers through his hair. eff
-asn't so dead poor" he ruminated.
"a woman who breaks down at
UGH an important moment isn't fit to a
e in a hospital" he continued. "She
ught to be in a home where the ten t
erness would not be wasted"
He came around to Nurse Isabelle's t,
de. It was very still in the big room.
he screen around Jimmie's bed hid a
lem from such wakeful patients as \
light be in Ward Seven. a
''In my home it would not be "