The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-05-15
'QH. WHY HAVE y0y (vN[?'

She moved restlessly. and the sister laid
cool fingers upon her hot head. You must
try not to worry and fret yourself" She
said, we want you to get WE'LL
Whats the use of my getting well?
What is the object of saving a useless life
like mine? 1t was a pity anybody ever
brought me in here. why couldn't they
have let me die in peace?'
Sister Helen was a very tacttul, and q
very s~yrnpatheti. woman. She saw t2iAt
her patient was excited and over:jred, and
that this was no moment for talking to
her. StroEinE her hand very softly again
with those cool, firm fingers whose touch
in itself was %restful, she said:
II think we must have a ak some time,
Just now have several patients to see be-
fore Their bedtime! And ] want you TO
promise me to try to go to sleep. and do
not think of any worries for a while. Will
you do this to please me?" There was
something in Sister Helen's quiet voice,
and in the glance of her grey eyes; not
to say in the compelling touch of her hand
that always made her patients anxious
to please her. The woman in No. & bed
was no exception TO the rule. She smiled
up into her nurses face, and a more rest
ful look came over her own.
IN try and do what you wish" she
said, and sometime, when you are not
busy, ] should like to talk to you-aboA-
about-oh!-many things"
And Their. as the sister moved away, the
patient turned her face to the wall again.
Sister Helen's thoughts that evening
very often went back to the woman in No.
s bed; whose name, as set forth on the
hoard that hung over it, was Elsie Dang
erfield. She had been brought into the
hospital a week before, sent by a doctor
who said that he had found her, in a mis-
cradle lodging house, desperately i'll, and
apparently on the verge of starvation.
The sister remembered noticing, as she
helped to undress the woman, how old
and worn her clothes were: her boots al
most in holes: her dress t~hreadbare. She
recollected too how she had realized that
this woman in spite of her worn and hag-
gard face was not really old: and that she
must once have possessed great beauty,
traces of which still fingered in spite Of
the ravages which time had made.
Sister Helen's heart had ached often and
often over the wreck Of womanhood that
lay in No. 6 bed; but today was the first
time that Elsie Dangerfield had spoken in
any way of herself or her past. She had
been civil and pleasant to her nurses. but
beyond that she had never gone until to-
"a her words about the farm and
the apple blossoms in the orchard had
reused Sister Helen's interest in her
afresh. 1t was not till late on the follow
ing afternoon that the busy sister had a
moment to sit down beside Elsie Danger
field. and she began her talk with the sick
NoAAoH ny spSdhiuS pleasantly OF Other
matters, and not of the patient herself.
Then. after a little pause. she said, tact
fully and gently:
Last night we settled to have a little
talk. didn't we? ] wonder whether you
will tell me now about your old home
and lovely orchard you spoke Off"
The woman'S face flushed; she moved un-
easily.
II don't know that 1 want to tell you
now, she said sullenly: "it all belongs to
the past-the stupid old past, which / have
forgotten"
There was defiance in her voice, The
present is enough for me. the future is
a blank
oh: surely not that?" Sister Helen
spoke soothingly. II think perhaps you
will find the future has some good things
in store for you.'
Elsie Dangerield laughted harsnly.
mo- It," she said, there are. no good
Things In store for me-. 1 have made my
bed and ] mus lie on it, even If it il a
bed of nettles."
She was silent for a few seconds. then
she burst out suddenly: