The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-01-29
Bridget'S B roth.
Gy MRS. KATE TASAATT WOODS.

1t was o'clock in the morning, and
the doctor had paid an early visit to
his patient, Mrs. Appleton, leaving in
ant, Bridget.
"She is past the danger line now,
Biddy, so feed her up; we must make
her take nourishment whether she
cares for it or not"
"What will be giving her, doctor,
she jist ates like bird at the best of
times?"
"Try good, strong, lamb broth,
and given her two raw eggs per day;
now feed her up, and we will soon
have her out again"
"Indade, and l will, doctor; it do
seem as if the whole house was gone
with her so still"
"Well, Biddy, it all depends on you
now, if you do not feed her well,
shall have to send in one of my
trained nurses, and you know how
much you like them, eh, Biddy?"
The doctor closed the front door
softly, and went out laughing. Biddy
was a good friend of his, but he loved
to tease her a bit.
AS he got into his carriage, he re-
called with much amusement Biddy's
indignation some two years since,
when Mrs. Appleton was stricken sud-
denly with an acute attack, and he
had inAtalled trained nurse.
Now, there are trained nurses and
trained nurses, as every one knows.
The dear, gentle, faithful souls, who
get into our hearts as well as our
homes.
Biddy could never forget that ex-
perience. The first act of the nurse
was to forbid Bridget to enter the
room. The patient, although speech
less and suffering, longed for her ever
devoted helper, and Biddy was heart
broken.
This time, with young Harold away
at school and Bridget the sole COM
forter of his widowed mother, Bridget
was to reign supreme.
Why not, pray? Had she not lived
with the dear lady in her fathers
home from the time Miss Bessie first
entered a kindergarten, and then did
she not prepare the new home for the
bride? Who but Biddy knew the
agony of those dreary days of early
widowhood, and who could read the
face so dear to her as the one who
knew her best?
1t was sweet, old story of mistress
and maid, and the doctor well knew
how dependent his frail patient was
upon the greathearted Irish woman,
who had no other home aud cared for
none.
When the doctors carriage was out
of sight, Biddy crept softly up stairs
to find her charge resting with closed
eyes. Dear heart of her." said Biddy
softly" she do be making the sign of
the cross with her white hands, and
making for her,"
Down stairs went Biddy, and soon
she was telephoning for supplies.
That duty over, she went into her
well-ordered kitchen, and, while max
ing necessary preparations for the
broth, talked as was her custom, to
herself. "The doctor was laughing, he
was, but praise be the saints, there
will be no more sticking of that mas
ty little thermometer in her mouth,
and no more messes for her to eat,
and she that dainty. l do be coaxing
her all the while. oh, but the airs
of her made me so angrl that | was
doing penance for it. Bridget, sez she:
Il want some steak for my breakfast,
at 8 O'clock sez she, and do you
be cutting it an inch thick, and don't
put 1t on the broiler until | give the
word, for | must have it smoking hot
Another time she came down, and
sez she: Bridget, don't like your
omlettes, or the way you cook eggs,
sez she; will have to show you how
I was taught in the diet kitchen Of
the hospital
"All right, num- sez l. my cook
ing pleases the one who rays me for
It, and that is the chief concern of
Bridget O'Connor'
''Oh, the way she would come down
ordering me around, was enough to
put me in a fever. l do pride me-
self that my ringe and my kitchen is
at neat as any in the city, and it's the
dear doctor, himself, who has said SO
many's the til le; but the high an1
mighty nuIse, down she came, and
sez:-'Bridset, you do need some les
sons in sanitary science, indeed ycu
do
ain what, Miss?' sez +. Which was
wicked of me, for the blessed missls
had told me all about T.. and was very
particular herself; why not. when she
is a director of a cooking school, but
was stupid on purpose, heaven for
give me!
"'sanitary or domestic scIencs. sez