The Washington times., 1918-10-20

they were reunited, but not until
death had separated the boy and the
girl could the old man be reconciled.
"Ill take care OF my boy" he told
the waiting motor corps women. I'M
able to scale that wall of prejudice
and the lay fear of hospitals. they
drove off with an empty ambulance.
"And I thought knew something
about life" said the youngest woman,
as she threw the clutch into high and
speeded back to the station to take
another case"
. 1t proved to be the young girl war
worker. In her lucid moments she
told US she had come from California
to do war work, that the room we
found her in was the best shelter she
could find, that she paid SO a month
for 1t, pnfurnished, that she had put
IN the cot and the kitchen table, that
i what with all her other expenses, IL
was as much as she could afford. She
had been i'll two weeks. With no rela-
tives here. no friends. only the casual
\ acquaintance one makes in a strange.
/ overcrowded city, she had taken care
Of herself as best she could I'm
much better than was" she assured
me. No one had the heart to tell her
the influenza had developed into
/ pneumonia.
1 A1AG NOAN mt blAN Alau DEGu "IlAEHB
a book, and that she had been work
1 ing on It for a long time. The little
nurse from the Food Administration
who had reported the case thought she
was "out Of her head ~ -..--
But the expensive typewriter on
| the kitchen table with the unwashed
milk bottles and the fine leather
manuscript case which she would not
let out of her sight and which she
, begged to have taken to the hospital
and placed at the head OF her bed,
told their own story-told something,
too. of the literary fire that cheer
fully economies in living expenses
! in order to buy a. typewriter. paper
and stamps.
orders Come Fast.
State, War and Navy building to
get man." came the next order The
doctor in charge OF the emergency
room-his name doesn't matter. but
his heart that is full Of the milk of
human Blindness does-turned overl
/ to@-the sdGveE a young mdn,~ dazed
partly by fever and partly by grief. |
His young wife had expired. the day
! before, a victim of the plague. He
had nursed her to the end.
Hes got it," explained the doctor.
temperature. 1O2. BE good. TO him
Back at headquarters. a lieut5n
| ant was reporting that she had gone
to the address given her, found the
door locked. the windows shattered
| and no sign of human habitation.
| The. neighborhood' was one of the
worst in the city She had Appealed
to a soldier doing police duty and
had left the headquarters telephone
number with him. Even as she fin
ished. the telephone bell rang. The
regular officer on the beat had sue
ceeded in gaining admittance. Would
the ambulance come at once? 1t
would.
1t was thought advisable TO take
along a stout young soldier, both
soldiers and sailors being among the
/ assistants of the motor corps, some
detailed there and others serving as
volunteer workers in their spare
time.
The first room entered looked like
an empty storeroOm. There was
nothing in ii but an old square
piano and n chandelier. Dust hung
| everywhere. In back We found
rickety flight Of stairs At the top
in a room into which n saving ray
OF sunshine never penetrated. cold
with that CLEANLINESS that comes
from no ventilation lay woman
lully " rSSth- IltE ndlE WAS tang rec.
She hid her head under the bed
CLOTHES as the motor corps women
entered. The carpet nore stains
upon stains mute and mUsty cvi-
dence of many midnight carousals
The husband had been taken out oil
the same bed and removed to "a hos
pital in a critical condition from the
influenza. His wife's condition was
hourly growing worse
She Had No Care.
Although a man and woman, the |
former somewhat the worse for a re-
cent visit to Baltimore. sat az the |
bedside, there was no evidence that
any care had been given the sick |
woman. Still, she did not want to 20 |
to n hospital. The police officer. who |
knew the woman OF old. gave her
some sterling. but firm advice. Then !
and only then did she consent 10 be |
placed on the stTetcher and carried |
to the ambulance.
They're bOOtleEEers," the policeman |
explained. "Many's the time I've
backed the wagon up to this place" |
Calls were still coming in thick and |
fast at headquarters. As evening ar ]
rived. the brawniest member OF the
corps. who really ought to he boy |
and who is straininE at the bit To |
drive an ambulance overseas. only the |
state Department says she is too dis
gustingly young to be given u pass
port, was reporting.
Captain, that wildly sick. uncon- |
scious man you sent me for at the