IN HOSPITAL.
The pain Tony was suffering kept him partially conscious of what was
happening to him. He knew that he was carried gently into a large hall,
and that two or three persons came to look at him, to whom his new friend
spoke in eager and rapid tones.
"I know you do not take in accidents," he said; "but what could I do
with the little fellow? He told me he had no home, and that was all he
could say. You have two or three cots empty; and I'll double my
subscription if it's necessary, rather than take him away. Come, doctor,
you'll admit my patient?"
"I don't think I could send him away, Mr. Ross," answered another hearty
voice. "We must get him into bed as soon as possible."
Tony felt himself carried up stairs into a large room, where there were a
number of small beds, with a pale little face lying on every pillow.
There was a vacant cot at the end, and he was laid upon it, after having
his tattered clothes taken off him. His new boots were gone altogether,
having been left behind on the steps of the warehouse. His hands and
knees, bruised with crawling along the frosty stones, were gently bathed
with a soft sponge and warm water. He was surrounded by kind faces,
looking pitifully down upon him, and the gentleman who had brought him
there spoke to him in a very pleasant and cheering voice.
"My boy," he said, "you have broken your leg in your fall; but the doctor
here, who is a great friend of mine, is going to mend it for you. It will
give you a good deal of pain for a few minutes; but you'll bear it like a
man, I know."
"Yes," murmured Tony; "but will you let me go as soon as it's done?"
"You could not do that," answered Mr. Ross, smiling. "It will be some
weeks before you will be well enough to go; but you will be very happy
here, I promise you."
"Oh! but I must go!" cried Tony, starting up, but falling back again with
a groan. "There's Dolly and Mr. Oliver,--they'll think I've run away
again, and I were trying all I could to get back to 'em. She'll be
watching for me, and she'll fret ever so. Oh! Dolly, Dolly!"
He spoke in a tone of so much grief, that the smile quite passed away
from the face of Mr. Ross, and he laid his hand upon his, and answered
him very earnestly:
"If you will tell me where they live," he said, "I will go at once and
let them know all about your accident; and they shall come to see you
to-morrow if you are well enough to see them."
Tony gave him very minute and urgent directions where to find old
Oliver's shop; and then he resigned himself, with the patience and
fortitude of most of the little sufferers in that hospital, to the
necessary pain he had to bear.
It was Sunday afternoon when old Oliver and Dolly entered the hall of the
Children's Hospital and inquired for Tony. There was something about the
old man's look of age and the little child's sweet face which found them
favour, even in a place where everybody was received with kindness. A
nurse, who met them slowly climbing the broad staircase, turned back with
them, taking Dolly's hand in hers, and led them up to the room where
they would find Tony. There were many windows in it, and the sunshine,
which never shone into their own home, was lighting it up gaily. The cots
were all covered with white counterpanes, and most of the little
patients, who had been asleep the night before, were now awake, and
sitting up in bed, with little tables before them, which they could slide
up and down as they wished along the sides of their cots. There was no
sign of medicine, and nothing painful to see, except the wan faces of the
children themselves. But Oliver and Dolly had no eyes but for Tony, and
they hurried on to the corner where he was lying. His face was very
white, and his eyelids were closed, and his lips drawn in as if he were
still in pain. But at the very gentle and almost frightened touch of
Dolly's fingers his eyes opened quickly, and then how his face changed!
It looked as if all the sunshine in the room had centred upon it, and his
voice shook with gladness.
"Dolly hasn't had to fret for Tony this time," he said.
"But Dolly will fret till Tony gets well again," she answered, clasping
both her small hands round his.
"No, no!" said old Oliver; "Dolly's going to be a very good girl, and
help grand-pa to mind shop till Tony comes home again."
This promise of promotion partly satisfied Dolly, and she sat still upon
Oliver's knee beside Tony's cot, where his eyes could rest with
contentment and pleasure upon them both, though the nurse would not let
them talk much. When they went away she took them through the girls'
wards in the story below; for the girls were more sumptuously lodged than
the boys. These rooms were very lofty, with windows reaching to the
cornice of the ceiling, and with grand marble chimney-pieces about the
fireplaces; for in former times, the nurse told them, this had been a
gentleman's mansion, where gay parties and assemblies had been held; but
never had there been such a party and assembly as the one now in it.
Old Oliver walked down between the rows of cots, with his little love
clinging shyly to his hand, smiling tenderly upon each poor little face
turned to look at them. Some of the children smiled back to him, and
nodded cheerfully to Dolly, lifting up their dolls for her to see, and
calling to her to listen to the pretty tunes their musical boxes were
playing. But others lay quietly upon their pillows half asleep, with
beautiful pictures hanging over their feeble heads,--pictures of Christ
carrying a lamb in his arms; and again, of Christ with a little child
upon his knee; and again, of Christ holding the hand of the young girl
who seemed dead, but whose ear heard his voice saying "Arise!" and she
came to life again in her father's and mother's house. The tears stood in
old Oliver's eyes, and his white head trembled a great deal before he had
seen all, and given one of his tender glances to each child.
"I wonder whatever the Lord 'ud have said," he exclaimed, "if there'd
been such a place as this in his days! He'd have come here very often. He
does come, I know, and walks to and fro here of nights when the little
ones are asleep, or may be awake through pain, and he blesses every one
of them. Ah, bless them! Bless the little children, and the good folks
who keep a place like this. Bless them everyone!"
He felt reluctant to go away; but his time was gone, and the nurse was
needed elsewhere. She kissed Dolly before she went, putting a biscuit in
her hand, and told Oliver the house was open every Sunday afternoon for
the friends of the children, if he chose to come again; and then they
walked home with slow, short footsteps, and all the Sunday evening they
talked together of the beautiful place they had seen, and how happy Tony
would be in the Children's Hospital.