Middletown transcript., 1916-12-23

with KS little watch.
Out of all the long, hot days, two
periods stood out clearly, to be waited
for and cherished. One was when,
early in the afternoon, with the ward
in spOtless order, the shades drawn
against the August sun, the tables COW
cred with their red covers and the
only sound the drOne of the bandage-
machine as Sidney steadily turned it.
Doctor Max passed the door on his
way to the surgical ward beyond, and
gave her a CHEEKY greeting. At these
times Sidney's heart beat almost in
time with the ticking Of the little
watch.
The other hour was at twilight,
when, work over for the day, the night
nurse, with her rubber-SOled shoes and
tired eyes and jangling keys, having
reported and received the night ORDERS
the nurses gathered in their small par
lOr for prayers. 1t was months before
Sidney got over the eXaltatiOn of that
twilight hour, and never did it cease
to bring her healing and peace. In
way, it cryStaIlized for her what the
days work meant: charity and its sis
ter, service, the promise of rest and
peace. Into the little parlor filed the
nurses, and knelt, folding their tired
hands.
"The Lord is my shepherd" read the
Head out of her worn Bible; 81 shall
not want"
And the nurses: "He maketh me to
lie down in green pastures: he leadeth
me beside the still waters"
And so ON through the psalm to the
assurance at the end, "And will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever"
Now and then there was a death be-
hind one of the white screens. 1t
caused little change in the routine of
the ward. A nurse stayed behind the
screen, and her work was done by the
others. When everything was over.
the time was recorded exactly on the
record, and the body was taken away.
At first it seemed to Sidney that she
could uOt stand this nearness to death.
She thought the nurses hard because
they took it quietly. Then she found
that it was only stoicism, resignation,
that they had learned. These things
must be, and the work must go on.
Their philosophy made them no less
tender. Some such patient detachment
must be that of the angels who keep
the Great Record.
On her first Sunday half-hOliday, she
was free in the morning, and went to
church with her mother, going back to
the hospital after the service. So it
was two weeks before she saw LIE
MOyne again. Even then, it was only
for short time. Christine and Palmer
Howe came in to see her, and to in
I spect the balcony, now finished.
But Sidney and LIE MOyne had few
words together first.
There was u change in Sidney. LIE
MOyne was quick to see it. She was q
| trifle subdued, with a puzzled look in
her blue eyes. Her mouth was tender,
as always, but he thought it dropped.
There was a new atmosphere of visit
fulness about the girl that made his
heart ache.
They were alone in the little parlor
with it's brown lamp and blue silk
shade. X. never smoked in the parlor,
but by sheer force of habit he held
the pipe in his teeth.
"And how have things been goingg"
asked Sidney practically.
"Your steward has little to report
Aunt Harriet, who left you her love,
has had the complete order for the
Lorenz trousseau. l thought I'd ask
you about the veil. We're rather in
quandary. Do you like this new
fashion of draping the veil from be-
hind the coiffure in the back"
Sidney had been sitting on the edge
of her chair, staring.
"There," she said-'I knew it This
house is fatal They're making an old
woman of you already" Her tone was
tragic.
He sucked calmly at his dead pipe.
"Katie has a new prescriptiOn-rec-
ipe-fOr bread. 1t has more bread and
fewer airhOleS. One cake of yeast"
Sidney sprang to her feet.
'Its perfectly terrible!" she cried.
Because you rent a room in this house
is no reason why you should give up
your personality and yOur-yOur intel
Iigence. Mother says you water the
flowers every morning, and lock up
the house before you go to bed. IL
never meant you to adopt the family ~
X. removed his pipe and gazed ear
neStly into the bowl.
"BiII Taft has had kittens under the
porch" he said. "And the grOceryman
has been sending short weight. We've
bought scales now, and weigh every
thing"
"Ycu are e1ading the question"
"Dear child, l am doing these things
because l like to do them. FOr-for
some time I've been floating, and now
I've got home"
Sidney gazed helplessly at his i'm
perturbabIe face. He seemed older
than she had recalled him: the hair
J over his ears was almost white. And
: yet he Mas just thirty. That was
Palmer HOwe's age, and Palmer
seemed like boy. But he held him.