The Monmouth inquirer., 1926-03-04
RE7z1z ESsy.

TN A hospital every little noise has
4 meaning all its own. There is
so little to see and so much to hear
that one quickly learns to read and
interpret the numerous sounds Of the
day and night
In an early story of Fl. G. Wells a
man reaches a country I'm Africa in
which all the inhabitants are blind.
At first he is impressed with his ire
mendous advantage over the natives,
but before long he discovers that he
is the one who is handicapped. So
keenly developed are the senses Of
hearing and touch of these people
that the newcomer is forced to blind
himself lest he be outclassed in the
struggle for life. Tie story was re-
called to me by the realization of
what a sensitive receiving station"
my ears had become during my long
sojourn in hospital room.
OF all the days noises the dominat-
ing ones are the bells. From early
morn until late at night bells mark
and punctuate the passing hours.
They begin at five o'clock in the morn
ing with the delicate tinkle of the
bell carried by the nun who precedes
the priest and his spiritual aid. Then
follows the chapel bell, summoning
the patients who are able to attend
services.
A special ring heraids each doctors
entry into the hospital; another bell,
in the hall, signals that he is ready
to make the rounds with senior
nurse. A welcome bell is the one
which indicates that broth has left
the diet kitchen, and genuine thriller
is the one procIaiming that meal trays
are ready for distribution.
One Of the most exciting sounds to
a shut-in is the peal of the telephone
bell. 1t carries with it suspense that
it never has in the Office or home. /
could hear 1t every time it rang while
I was in the human repair shop, and
often / waited what seemed an age
for the nurse to come down the hall
with the message and stop at my
door-or go to another.
In the gamut of hospital bells, how
ever, the most sinister and most i'm
pressive is the ambulance bell. 1t is
the black sheep of the bells. Many
times was awakened from deep sleep
by that somber gong and listened with
sorrow and fear to its clangor, shat
tering the calm of slumbrous streets,
as the ambulance tears away on It's
unknown mission.
The Imagination tried to follow and
fill In the picture. What awaited the
inferno at the end of the journey? A
tenement house FIRE? A child run
over? A murderous brawl? Or per-
haps some weary soul who had found
the fight too hard and tried to cut the
threads of fate. Then / would lie
awake, waiting for the ambulance to
return-for the first faint, brazen clat-
ter that increased with steady cres-
cendo until the machine roared past
the corner and stopped at the hospital
entrance. It was easy to tell when
there was a passenger, for then the
ring was unusually loud so that the
stair In the accident ward could be
ready for instant action
No bell in the hospital can arouse
such sheer terror as the firebelI. One
night some electric wires got crossed
and the fire gong sounded. lay help
less, waiting for the nurse to come
man eternity of GREATNESS appre-
hension it seemed. When the signal
for fire drill is sounded the nurses are
required to take their stations at the
hall telephones and there await in
structions. Though it is only few
minutes before they come to tell the
patients 1t is only drill, in that short
space of time the imagination can
startle one with mental pictures Of
what fire In hospital would mean.
But of them all the most exasperat-
ing, the most nerve-racking is--the
bell that isn't answered.