Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-09-07
The Gift
Supreme
BY
George Allan England
Author Of
Darkness and Dawn"
"The Alibi." etc.
CHAPTER XIX.

CHAPTER XIX.
st. Philips hospital looked out
thru austere windows that gave on
the steep slope of Hull street-out
over the dreary stretch of Cops
Hill tombstones, the reeking ,tene-
nsents beyond, the Charlestown navy
now dour beneath gray skies, now
9glinting under summer sunshine.
Something OF the contrast between
past cloud and present sunNhad come
upon the hospital, these past weeks,
lighting the dull wards with unusual
cheer, comforting the comfortless,
bringing whatever happiness could
possibly be brought to this sad house
OF pain. For Sylvia Alden had taken
refuge there; now covering under
! the blows Of fate, but strong In the
bravery OF steadfast heart that,
rising superior to personal grief,
faces the pains and sorrows OF the
world with purpose to bind UP and
balm its wounds.
Consecrating herself to the life OF
service, withdrawn from all the &c
tivities OF the world, beyond the heal
ing Of the sick, she had-under en-
other name offered herself as a
probationer and been accepted Some
past experience in nursing had eased
her way into this new, hard and i'll
rewarded life. And as q nun closes
behind herself the doors Of existence,
with eyes fixed on, other visions and
ideals than those the void pursues.
SO she had dedicated herself to the
binding up OF the tired In body, the
bruised In heart and soul.
From the hour Of her coming to
st. Philips, sunshine had entered
those dark rooms, as well. The pity,
the understanding and compassion
that Had flowed from her to the hurt
creatures cast there by varying mis-
chances OF poverty and accident and
sin, now were already given back to
her in love, crudely and haltingly ex-
pressed, but voicing itself as best 1t
could In broken dialects and stam-
n,ering words. Old Vinton's blow
would have embittered another type
OF character than Sylvia's, and
turned. 1t downward to the ways Of
evil; it had only directed her, sad
dened and chastened. to a life of
service and renunciation. The fire
which would have melted baser met
al, had wrought no other change in
Sylvia's gold than to refine 1t.
Into this hospital. then, where the
new probationer's coming and al
ready worked a vivifying change.
5Ialia Graun- crushed and
broken. stupefied with drugs and
bleared with every degradation-ha had
now been borne. And after the sur
a.eons had done all that could be
done, knowing even as they worked
it could not prove other than In vain,
she had been laid upon narrow bed
In the women's ward, screened from
I'LL the other sufferers. and had been
given oye-,,to the ministering hands
Of Sylvia
ed thru the door OF the upper hall
way. loomed into. the ward. White
walls. white ceilings, white beds all
eerily blanched its vagueness; and
from the white screen, too, that shut
off the dying woman's bed, the
shrouding pallor was reflected
Groans, signs and heavy breath
ing proclaimed the sleeping oblivion
or the waking misery Of this place
OF torment. Heavy and close, the
air lifelessly brooded, with the eter-
nal hospital odor-iodo form, carbolic,
drugs, all stately intermingled.
"A scent OF ether also spread its
ssicklyI pungency thru the ward. It
emdhdted from behind the screen, a
kind IF reeking aftermath from the
operating table. Came, too. a hoarse
and broken grooming. broken by "a
cough. Then a faint plea arose:
Water! Water!'
The soothing voice Of the proba-
toner, behind the screen, denied the
prayer:
I'm sorry, but you can't have wa
ter now.
Il gotta, have drink-Pm dyin'
for q drink" the patient moaned.
''Water-just a drop. just DROP"
I'D give it to you if 1 could" an
swered Sylvia. 'sYou know. after an
operation. they never give it,
"A faint, choking laugh rose like a
wrath Of mockery.
Lot O difference It'll make, :"
gasped Lalia, with me ready to cash
in, anyhowl"
There, there" the nurse tried to
soot1e her, you mustn't talk that
way"
.But It's the truth, amt it? It's
the truth! You can't put nothin' over
on MEL Lalia spoke thickly, as If
the drug that had betrayed her still
was half-paralyzing her tongue. 81
know! I'm all gone, inside" Came
a pause, sound Of hard -labored
breathing. "An' I'm punk, anyhow.
got no come back to me, now. That's
true, too. This stage o. the game, 1
don't care who knows it. Punkl So
I'm all done. An what's the idea not
easin' me UP by giving me a drink"
I'LL ask the night superintendent"
answered Sylvia, gently, "and if she
says you can have little hot wa
ter"
Go to it, quick! Tn chokin'!"
Sylvia emerged from behind the
screen. The simple blue and white
uniform Of ST. Philips probationer
accentuated the quiet strength and
fine competence of her bearing. Her
white cap was pinned to the lux
ur1ant tawny masses of he~ hair,
parted on one side and drawn away
to the back Of her finely-molded
neck. Quietly she left the ward,
walked down the hall and turned in
at the door of the night superin-
tendent's office.
The superintendent, busy under her
green shaded incandescent, did not