The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-05-18
HE LOVES HER YET

San Juan Hill is over on the west
side of the city, about Sixty-first and
SiXty-second streets, where Tenth
avenue is more politely called Am
sterdam avenue. 1t is inhabited by
blacks and coIored folks of many hues,
and by whites. It's police record is
persistently bad. Battles occur at fire.
quent intervals, sometimes between
blacks and whites, at other times be-
tween various gangs. None but sturdy
and courageous patrolmen are ever
assigned to San Juan Hill.
1t was from San Juan Hill she came
to the hospital. She was old. She
was dirty, repulsive in filth, a wreck
Of a woman. The dirt was scared
into the lines of her scanned face. Her
hair was matted So that it's untangle-
ment seemed hopeless. l was about
to order it clipped, but something
made me change my mind, and l di-
rected that it be bound up in oiled
silk, and soaked every four hours with
liquid Vaseline There was chance
that the hair might be combed out,
and no woman likes to lose her hair.
Beneath the dirt that was caked and
hardened could be seen traces of her
death-like pallor. The left side of her
face was gone. Cancer had eaten
away her cheek, her nose, the upper
and lower lip, and was attacking the
eye on that side. She was repulsive
and hideous, almost unbelievably So
Beyond doubt she was the most un-
| clean, the most uncared for case we
had ever seen in the hospital.
And she was silent. Her name, she
| said was Mary Jones. Her business,
| she said, was Just a cleaner" She
was born, she said, in Europe. But
nothing more about herself would she
tell. She could be silent, deeply, re-
motely silent, when asked anything
she did not wish to answer She
seemed to hear the question, then
mentally she appeared to fit away,
| far off from the bed, far from the
room, far off into unknown regions
of thought And answer she would
not. Speak she would not, unless she
asked for something to ease her.
To me she was a mystery. Day by
day the good, patient Dominican nuns
cared for her. Little by little the
tangled hair was unwound. Cleanli
ness took the place of the filth from
the beginning. The good food and the
relieving treatment brought sleep
comfort, Improvement in every fea
ture. The awful pallor slowly ameli
grated. The blanched lips became
tinged with pink. The wan and life
less eye on the right side of her face
: became bright. Her manner was
more vigorous. She sat up in the bed
: She looked about at the other pa
tients, with evidence of interest. Blu
never a question did she ask. Day b!
day her attitude remained unchanged
To questions about her condition o
the day she would reply courteously
Her speech was that of a cultivated
woman. There was strange accen
in it, merely trace, but a pleasan
accent, that always made me try tt
recall who it was that l had heart
p. with the same or similar accent
AS the tangled hair was cleaned i
proved to be silvery and lustrous. TIL,
scanned face filled out in the RICH
side. Day by day the patient seemed
more and more to me like someone
had known.
She was as uncommunicative to tn,
Sisters as to me. In truth, she talket
more with me than with them. l men
toned the religion of the Sisters, thei
, devotion to the nursing work, the sac
) rifices of their lives. She nodded AM
spoke to me no more that day. In
stantly over her came that strang,
look that made the beholder thinl
that her entire mentality was thou
sands of miles away.
AS l left the hospital one day, like
flash came to me the recollection
OF the similar accent l had heard. l
was the voice of the beautiful Polisl
actress, Helena Modjeska. Yes, thi
patient spoke something like Mod
jeska. That fine actress and estima
r BILE woman was then retired, living OIL
t her estate in California.
From the moment that the recogni
ton of the similarity of accent of tn,
cancer patient to the speech of Mod
r Jeska came into mind, the face of tn,
patient would recur to me again AM
: again. The mind acts, in such cases
independently of volition. Leapin.
2 suddenly again and again into m,
4 mind was the persistent, recurring
/ haunting belief that l had known O
: met this silent, mysterious cancer pa
2 tient in some other surroundings thai
: those of the hospital / would be read
ing the newspaper or humming an air
5 when, like magic, my mind woult
t again be obsessed with the puzzle
: Where had met her? Of whom dit
she remind me if l had not met her
Yes, had met her. l had seen he
: some time, somewhere, long befor,
5 she came to the hospital"
, I entered the ward one day. Sh,
l was in the bed farthest from the door
: nearest the window She was sittin,
upright in the bed. Through the win
: dow streamed the brilliant warmth
and rays of the mid-winter sun. He
profile was exactly outlined, so clear