The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-12-23
THE SAILOR IN
THE HOSPITAL
Or the Nautical Story of the
Five Thousand Dollar
0VerCOat.

1
L had lived half century in Amos
perfect health. / learned some whole
some lessons there, and not the leas
of these lessons, TO be able to sympa
thize with the sick, somehow I ha,
not the least fear of dying, though al
my friends and the doctors thought i
would be my last sickness, as L haC
the double pneumonia. / first had the
doctor to see me in the office of Yer
non II. Brown during the day. He gave
me a prescription to fill and take, and
did not seem to think I was very ILL.,
but that evening l had him come to
see me at my lodging house in Brook
| lyn, and when he had tried my temper
ature, he found it so high, he did not
take me to his own hospital, but to
the Seeny, because that was close at
hand. Had he tried my temperature in
the morning | have no doubt he would
have found it the same. All the doc
tors said they never saw a person so
sick that still hold the head erect.
Never during the twenty-One days 1
was in the hospital, but L could have
got up and gone anywhere, but for
twenty days they tried TO keep me
still and did not want me to lift my
head. It was midnight when l reached
the hospital, and the doctor in charge
advised me to 90 into the ward, rather
then to have a private room. He said
there would be something to attract
my attention. l did not care what they
did with. me, but l think it was good
advice, for surely the time passed slow
enough, the clock seemed to have stop.
ped, it moved so slow, but L watched
every patient that came into the room.
1 think there were eighteen in that
ward and always full, quite often one
went out never TO come back. l knew
by instinct. and the way the patients
were treated whether they were grow
ing better or worse. They would not
tell me how l progressed, or let me
look at my temperature card. Nurse
said, cit was better for me not to
know (she forbid my counting my
puise), said L could not count it cor
rect any way, and that even doctor
when sick, did not seek to know, but
left it to the one taking care of him. "
/ said, al am in the habit of doctor
inT myself, for have no doctor to call
when at sea-" but / obeyed orders as
would at sea, and / think was very
good patient. / was called the Cham
piOn Pill Taker, for / could take them
without trouble. while others had to
have water, and hard time getting
them down. / used TO open my mouth
when / saw the nurse coming with the
pills in her hand, and we got so we
made fun of it, and they would watch
US from the other cOuehes. 1t was all
the same, white ones or brown ones,
large ones or small ones, she popped
them into my mouth and down they
went. 1t was a mystery to many how
/ did it, but | learned as a boy, if you
hold your breath you cannot taste, and
l can swallow anything that does not
burn. The hardest dose l had was the
first night | arrived. They gave me
a dose, that was awful. Had | known
it was so bad / would have taken pre-.
cautions, but not thinking, / must have
gu bhC tdcAt. All lHluh VI WAS
the dose they gave Charles the Second
of England, when he was dying, and
according to Maeaulay. that consisted
of, GA loathsome volatile salt, extract
ed from human skulls, was forced into
his mouth" q wonder sometimes if
the remedies given today will not be
laughed at in another hundred years.
l could think of nothing else but that
dose that could taste so bad, and the
horrible taste lasted so long, | finally
asked the nurse, and she gave me
drink of something that took it away.
| think that seventeen days was longer
than any one year of my life.
From earliest bOyhOOd I had been
out of doors, and to be confined to a
bed was awful. / did not worry about
my ship or anything; / only wanted to
be up and moving. | reeolleet mother
said ! was good boy when | was sick;
Another thing | learned rs | Law there
/ found had lots of friends;
the nurses said | had more friends than
anyone who had ever been in that hos
pital. There were only two DAYS visi-
tors were allowed, and one of them was
Sunday, but every day in the week men
came to see me, and would not be re-
fused, no matter what ii cost | think
they must have paid to get in, for
saw no others that had visitors except
on the proper days, and some of my Wis
ltOrS (their time was valuable(, for
the first time in my life, realized that
there were men who cared for me. /
think / have valued the friendship of
men more since that time; and now, as
| look back about thirteen years, what
a number of those friends that came to
see me have passed away; even the doe
tor, who was much younger than my
self, has been gone several wears. An
other lesson ! learned. The Seenv Hos
pltal Is called the Methodist Episcopal
Hospital, and ] believe an the nurses
were members of that church. Every
Sunday afternoon a number of members
of that church came over and SANG to
as (there was a piano in the ward). II
don Z know how it affected others. hut
TO have choir of healthy people laugh
ing and enjoying themselves bv singing
popular church music. while | was in
agony from every breath ! drew. only
TO CURE A COLD IN ONE DAY
Take Laxative Bromo Ouinine