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410 AN.HOUE IN THE HOSPITAL-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
"The Sick Are In A Better Case Than The ...
Anns , for instance , we know ; and look at the Charleses and Maries and Johns ; how impossible to fix on two of the same name and the
same idiosyncrasies , and never were two Anns more diverse than my two . Here was one with an incurable contraction of the foot , caused
by a fit when an infant , and this was her second stay of months in the sick ward . Only on Saturday had she undergone a painful
operation , the cutting- of some tendon in a most sensitive part of the footand she was smiling * and chatting merrily with us , not a shade _.
of imp , "Was atience it very and bad distress , Ann , upon to bear her ? " _joleasant said I , sitting face . on the bed . I
do not know what Miss Nightingale would have said , but it seemed more cosy to be quite near her , and she had drawn her arm _throtLgh
mine . _" Yes , teacher , it was sharp , "but he says he shall make a cure of
it , he thinks , and he is so very kind . " " Did you cry much ?"
" Teacher , I could not help crying some , but the doctor he patted me on the back afterand said as I was a very good girl , and as he
, expected I should a' cried out a deal more than that . " She turned up her gown , and showed me the drawn , distorted foot ,
bandaged lightly up . _" Across that passage is the room -where they operates . Oh I
they calls out dreadful sometimes ; I didn't go in there , they does any little operation like mine here where we are . "
Aye , comparison !—that ' s how we may learn to bear our woes lihtly . Pier painshe thoughtwas nothing weighed against what
she g had witnessed ; , so it acted on , a healthy mind however , and so it should act with us all . This also seems tome another benefit arising
from hospital attendance ; at home the poor sufferer would brood too engrossingly over " my troubles ; " here is called out that heavenly
grace of sympathy , the blessed bond that links man to man throughout all the world .
I remarked on the pleasant singing of the bright copper teakettle , large and suggestive of the best meal of the day .
" Yes , teacher , it is a big one , and we has our tea when we likes ; the nurse she ' s very good ; that ' s her , miss , ironing in the corner ;
and that clock , teacher , isn't it a beauty ? That was presented , that wasand one for each of the wards , " Ann spoke with a kind of
, pride in the institution , very pleasant to see . " And that cupboard holds books , but I've read ' em all over 'n over ; I was in before ,
you know . " I inquired what was the matter with the poor girl on the next
bed . A man sat on the foot of it , looking somewhat nonchalant I thoug'ht ( and yet I might be judging wrongfully , ) and a woman
beside it . , The invalid was deadly pale , nursing one arm with the other , and rocking , but talking with a quiet resigned smile , first to one ,
then the other ; in her lap curled a kitten , most of the wards had a kitten or a cat , Ann said , and the patients petted them . So it
woiild seeni no bad lot to be an hospital kitten .
410 An.Houe In The Hospital-
410 AN . HOUE IN THE HOSPITAL-
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1860, page 410, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081860/page/50/
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