The sun., 1908-10-04
HOSPITALS HAVE HEUYRSI
AND on BAD DAYS THEY ARE
ALL or 4 0UIVER. ~ ~,

N0tning UNUSUAL May Have Happe1e4A
but wave Of Unrest spreads 1sef
Patients and Attendants and Eves5s
thing Goes WroRg--A Case In PalTts
Three women In popular tea room the
other afternoon had Just Welcomed b be-
lated friend. As the newcomer received
her cup Of tea her hand shook 80 thattsEe
china ratified. 80
THAT'S what comes OF being In a hospis
tai on one-of It's bad days, she said WitliK K
little laugh. Every nerve have 10 quivs
ering." .o'tsTs
did anything happeni" asked a par
ticularly placid member OF the group.
"Happenl Something always happ4na
in hospital. But the queer thing abosss
1t Is that no matter what happens the eeii<
eral atmosphere will be quite calm and
cheerful until all Of sudden a day comes
when the whole institution seems TO be
as am now, all Of a nervous quiver. Fefa
-You know I've been spending most Of
my time lately with my mother in 80
Hospital. She is getting along ni6ely
and read to her or we talk, and occa-
sionally make little round OF calls in the
rooms near hers and bring back news TO
her Of her neighbors, most Of whom she
has never seen.
Generally there is something rather
restful TO me in being there. The NURSES
60 about quickly and cheerfully, the
doctor comes with his morning Joke, one
sees flowers and visitors going TO the
different rooms and one has feeling of
hopefulness about everybody.
AOne gets used even to the smell Of the
disinfectants and to the occasional moans.
If these are especially bad you cay cheer
fully:
Somebody s comm out from under the
annsthetic He'll feel better soon.' s..
4You hear a nurse humming to herself
along the hall. and on mothers floor there
is young fellow. operated on for appen-
dicitis a little while ago. who whistles
softly when he can't think OF anything
else to do. All the doors stand open. and
the whole life OF the institution seems tohe
going smoothly and pleasantly. 81. !,
@Then all OF a sudden everything ie
changed. knew this morning the mo-
ment got above the first floor that things
were not going well.
Most of the doors were closed. Mother
to place her in q comfortable position.
They couldn't get her fixed right. OF
course they couldn't. This was the day
when nothing was right for anybody.
-She let them go when I came in, but
she wis in the state Of nerves where she
| jumped almost out Of her bandages wsaen
nurse dropped q dish somewhere down
the hall Nurses always drop things on
! such days anyway.
Il hadn't been in the room two minutes
before a wailing moan began next door.
| The two rooms he'd communicating
door, though why in the name OF all that
| is sensible it should have been put there
I don't know. At any rate it made the
moans from next door quite as audible
as IL they had been in our own room.
And they were such unacceptable
means. long and wailing and mingled
with brok en- exclamations, that you
couldn't help trying to interpret. though
you didn't want to know what they were.
! | had left the door into the hall open and
no sooner had mothers neighbor begun
to groan than somebody else across the
hall joined, but with little staocato gfuntt
/ and sighs that you could hear all over
the floor. ~
Il went to the door to close it. A nurse
rushed by with a nervous. preoccupie.i
expression. The house doctor paced
with scarcely a good morning. siids
Il could hear the bells ringing in tho
nurses room at the end of the hall. asif
every patient on the floor had finger
on the push button and meant to kes.5
1t there till a response came tJaa,
i went back into the room. but the
moaning next door went on and on till
I thought / should scream myself - 7
had left the transom open and / could
hear nurses scurrying up and down the
hail. low exclamations, doors opening
and shutting, the rumble Of the cart
bringing patient from the operating
room. -{
Il saw the head nurse before / cams
away and ask ed her If there had been
anything Unusual in the way Of opera
thing really out Of the ordinary happened.
Not thing! 1t was just bad day. islis
-They come about once in 80 often
and it's like 700 then. You've been
in a menagerie when a sort Of wavs Of
unrest goes through it. haven't youf
II spreads from cage to cage until all tie
animals are bowling, or roaring. or snni-
ping and even the crowd gets nerE0iss
and the keepers are cross and there 4 E
a general powwow, tA
well" with sigh of eShaustion.
that's the way 1t is in hospital on ai5ad
day, and this one has tuckered(me olsan
>,,ku Il fTsfftFpF