Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1917-03-22
Amusing Thing in a Hospital


letter from ye editor of The News,
asking what contribution l was going
to make to Ollapodrida. By the way,
who said that word came from Swe-
den? 1t is Spanish, pure and simple.
Ola pronounced oP-ya) kettle; po-
tde-tda) is rotten or decayed. 1t is
the past participle of podrie-decay.
T am told the two words used in con-
junction have acquired some other
meaning in the English language, but
of this I know nothing, personally.
The ola is the clay kettle which ev-
cry Latin-American peon carries with
him on all occasions. The respecta-
BILE American is not properly equipped
for a Journey without at least a tooth
brush, while the Englishman carries
his bathtub, even if it be to the ends
of the earth. The Mexican or the
South American, with his ola in a
string bag, slung over his shoulders
is ready for any trip. Men, women
and children travel for weeks over
mountain trails, visiting some shrine,
or making a pilgrimage to some mir
acle-wOrking image-equipped with
an ola and ruana-a piece Of cloth
five feet square, with an opening in
the center through which to pass the
head. When hungry, these travellers
hang their kettles over somebody's
fire, beg, buy or steal a few vegeta-
bles, and cook for themselves a meal.
Just out OF the hospital, anything
that | might write at present for OIL
lapodrida would be perfumed with
ether, | fear. It is not easy to rid
ones mind of the remembrance of
the megaphone, which day and night,
as rapidly as possible, calls out on
every floor the names of the doctors
in the buildings. At such speed are
the names repeated that it. is impossi-
BILE to distinguish the words The
doctors themselves may be able to
make out their own names, but it is
confusing to the weary patients to
listen by the hour, for weeks at
time, to rapid calls for CDR Kanga-
roo! DR.. Kangaroo! DR.. Ham-and
Eggs! DR.. Ham-and-Eggs! DR.. Tur-
key Trot! DR.. Turkey Trot DR..
Murder-em! DR.. Murder'em! ETC.,
etc!" 1t was battling! And the worst
of it was, / never found out what
those doctors names really were!
On one occasion when a man came
to visit a patient, he was feeling his
way along awkwardly in the unknown
world of the hospital, as everyone
does on his first visit Just as he
stepped off the elevator, the mega
phone called out what sounded to him
like, Drop your quarter! Drop your
quarter" Judging that entering the
hospital must be like using a public
telephone, only little more expens-
i've, he looked around, inquiringly,
and asked, "Where shall I drop my
quarter?"
One afternoon a poor visitor was
greatly distressed as she listened to
the constant repetition of doctors
names. She seized a nurses arm,
and exclaimed, "Some poor woman
must be dying, and they can't find a
doctor in the hospital! Can't you go
to her? They should not let her die
all alone!"
DR.. Sippy (who, by the way, said
that he was a neighbor of mine, as he
"was brought up on milking-stool in
Richland county') is one of the great
est specialists in Chicago. When I
was under his care, he had two pa
tients from Tennessee, little negro
boys, four and six years of age, each
of whom had eaten out his esophagus
by drinking quick lime. One day when
the great man was giving clinic to
five hundred students, he sent for the
four-year-old boy. The child arrived
before he was needed, and waited
some time. At last, growing impa-
tient, he reached up and gave pull
at Dr. Sippy's coat tails, as he called
out, "Say, Docther, isn't you'se most
trough? Use gettin' pow'fu1 hum
gry."
MAUDE NEWELL WILLIAMS
Baraboo, Wis.