The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1914-10-06
AN INCURADLE CASE
BY IzoLA FORESTER.

BY lola FORESTER.
should humor him until the crisis
Is past, Miss Powell. In these typhoid
cases, we find some peculiar manifesto
tons as the patient loses strength. He
Is totally unconscious of who you are.
and merely connects you with this
other mental picture You under
stand?"
Yes, doctor" returned Beth, obedi-
emily She stood by the cot after the
door had closed, looking down at the
patient He had been brought in the
week before from one of the large
hotels. She understood that he
seemed well supplied with money. His
doctor had engaged a private room
and nurses. She was the night nurse.
1t was her first year OF active serv-
ice. Up home In Oregon they had
taken it as sort Of joke when Beth,
Joyous, outdoor-lov1ng Beth, decided
to leave her garden. and books and
mountain life and go down. to San
francisco to enter, the hospital.
"Beth's never been Just like the rest
OF US, though" Margaret had de-
clared Shes been like Joan of Arc,
don't you know. seeing visions In her
garden. Now Val and Dot and never
think of hospitals or troubles OF other
people. Lordy. haven't we enough of
our own to worry over. But Beth;s
been bandaging her dolls ever since
| can remember. and putting Ice
bags on their poor little heads. It's
too bad because girl loses all her
chances going way of like that"
Chances OF what?" Val had asked,
interestedly. Val was fifteen, and Gu
rious over the vital issues of life. 81
think Beth's wonderful"
Lots of good it will do her shut up
In hospital. The very best they ever
do Is to marry a DOCTOR" said Mar
garet vaguely.
Yet Beth had gone down to the
hospital for her years OF training
That summer she had had her first
long visit back home, but when the
first tang OF GOODNESS came, in the fall
air, 1t had called her back to the long
white wards. and the duty that was
her life.
Her second case was the typhoid
one, and it bothered her. She had
never before lost her professional
grip on herself, but there was some
thing about this brown-haired boy ly,
ms back on the pillows. his voice
pleading with her all through the long
hours of the night, that had stirred
an unsupported force lying dormant
In her nature
He was about twenty-six, with face
and body that told Of clean. right liv-
ing. Sometimes he called her Carol,
sometimes his mother At first she
had tried to quiet him, to turn his
mind on something else, when he
would beg pitifully for her to stroke
his head for him. to slip her cool palm
under his cheek so that he could rest
Then he would lay It across his lips,
and kiss it. 1t was all very discon-
certing when one was alone, and the
hours stole by slowly.
The doctor had told her he had
wired for his mother from the East,
and she would arrive any time. She
wondered If Carol would come with
her, II she had right 10 come. Oddly
enough, she began to resent the idea.
But the days passed and no one came
for the patient In 1875.
The day nurse was an oid-timer.
cheerful and thoroughly used to habits
and customs of typhoid cases.
My goodness, they all make love
to you sooner or later" she laughed.
when Berth asked her rather shyly II
the patient acted strangely In the day
time. Tive had more proposals from
my typhoids than any others It seems
to be part of the disease. their falling
In love with their nurses"
"Oh. but it isn't with me. He only
takes me for somebody else" said
Beth. hastily. He calls ms by girls
name"
Hell call you by your own before
he's sitting up. my dear. About three
weeks clears the brain. and they never
remember who they loved before Do
you like him?"
Beth flushed hotly. resentfnliy. and
the day nurse laughed.
"Oh. you needn't tell me II you don't
want to. always enjoyed my typhoid
cases my first year OF two. He does
seem a pretty. wellbuit youngster.
and he talks well, too. Doctor says
his name is Randall Sears, and he's
from Pittsburgh"
had heard from his mother, and she
had been abroad. Beth thought Of her
good deal the night OF the crisis. He
had sunk into a stupor, breathing
slowly and tiredly. His forehead was
cold and damp. She bent over him
after the doctor had made his rounds
and laid her hand on his head, but he
did not stir. And strange thing hap
pened in 1875 through the weary hours
before the gray dawn showed under
the window shade. Beth knelt beside
her patient. praying over him. talking
to him. pleading him to fight against
the gray mist that was closing In
around him. begging him to hear and
to fight, fight. fight for life.
She did not care then what he called
her, his mother. or Carol. or any
name, just so long as he listened and
heard her, and 1t gave him strength.
Several times she fancied she felt q
pressure from the fingers she held In
hers, but when he looked at her, hts
eyes seemed to have lost their bril-
liancy, and he did not rave any more,
only slipped back into the sleep that
seemed the last
1t was after four when the doctor
came In He smiled at sight of the
night nurse. She was on the chair
beside the cot. her hands holding the
patients against her own warm glow
ing face as II she would have given
him some of her strength So
Better, nurse7"
Yes. He's all right, I think Isn't
he sleeping normally nowf"
The doctor nodded.
His mothers downstairs. She can't
come up, but she won't go away. You'd
better go down and calm her. Tell
her he's out of danger now, but can't
be seen for day or two"
She was the only person in the re-
ception room. Plump and rather tall.
with beautiful gray hair curling around
her fresh young face. and eyes just
like the patients upstairs. Beth caught
her breath as they looked at her be-
seechingly
You're Randalls nurse, the doctor
tells me. My dear, Ia he really bet