The Dispensary. What is a dispensary? The Dispensary is a room or house
in which medicines and drugs are compounded and dispensed. In all large
cities there are dispensaries where the poor people go and have their
ailments attended to for nothing. When any poor man or woman meets with
an accident he or she, is taken to the hospital where they receive
the best of care. In all boarding schools there is a room near the
Infirmary, where they keep the medicines. In the picture is a little
girl who has just entered the boarding school, and she is looking around
the buildings. She has come down to the Infirmary to see all the sick
girls, and to amuse them. She has stopped at the Dispensary, and as she
never was in one before, the good lady is explaining all the medicines.
She answers all her questions, and translates the name of the drugs for
her. She is a kind old lady, and Mary has promised to go down and see
her often, as she wishes to learn all she can about drugs.
Mary pointed to a large black bottle and asked if there was wine in it.
"Oh no, but vitriol, it burns awful and is very dangerous," said the
old lady. Mary did not wish to hear more, but rushed out of the room,
fearing the bottle would explode. She told the old lady that she never
would touch anything unless she knew what it was--and then she would
not "burn her fingers."
[Illustration: The May Queen.]