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The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917, May 15, 1916, NOON EDITION, Image 22

Image and text provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1916-05-15/ed-1/seq-22/

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CONFESSIONS OF A WIFE
A GLIMPSE
I expect, little book, you have for
gotten, that some days back I started
to tell you that I"hadread something
new in my little nurse Alice's face,
and then went wandering off into the
realm of speculation on my own ac
count I sometimes wonder what makes
nice, refined women take up the pro
fession of nursing. It seems to me
the most terrible thing a woman with
any feeling could do t6 earn her liv
ing. I imagine that the thought of
relieving pain, of making some poor,
tortured body better able to bear its
agony, has something to do with it
But to me the dealing with people
whose bodies are not normal would
be more than my nerves would stand.
Alice has been telling me some of
her experiences, and I tell you, little
book, I'd rather scrub floors than be
a nurse.
"Of course, Mrs. Waverly," she
said, "when we get a case like yours
we are very happy but most of the
time the work is hard, monotonous
and repugnant and repulsive."
"Yes," I said, rather shyly, "I think
you have improved in your health
and good looks since you have been
with me. I thought when you were
waltzing with Pat last night that you
were the prettiest woman in the
room."
Alice blushed and made a depreca
tive gesture, then her, face suddenly
paled.
"What is the matter, child?" I
asked. "Surely you know that you
are a pretty girl and a very dear girl
a girl whose mistakes and misfor
tunes have made better instead of
worse."
Alice impulsively rushed forward
and said: "Oh, Mrs. Waverly, do you
really think that is true or are you
saying that to comfort me?"
"I think it is true, my dear. Don't
misunderstand me. You will always
bear, the scar on your soul, of your
OF A SOUL
experience. You can never have the
wonderful fullness of joy that may
come to your more fortunate sisters,
who from being better protected have,
either resisted temptation or had no "
temptation to resist ft
"But there are compensations, my
dear child, even in such a lot as
yours, and that makes me have faith
in life. You have grown very sympa
thetic with bodily ills, and very char
itable with ills of the soul. I believe
you would try to help any one."
"I certainly would," she answered.
'"Even your whilom lover?" I whis
pered softly.
She hesitated and then said almost
under her breath: "Him most of all
for he needs help, as much as L"
After a moment she put a letter
into my hand and said: "Please read
it" Then she left the room. I opened
the sheet and read:
"You must not write to me any
more, Harvey, for you should know
as I do that the book in, which your
story and mine was written is fin
ished. Looking back oh! how I
hate to look back I wonder how it
was ever begun.
"You are a nice boy, Harvey, as
boys go, but I have found that I must
find a real man to love, if I should
ever love any one.
"I hear you say, 'Surely, Alice, you
loved me?' and I must answer, 'I
thought I did at the time, but when
you let me suffer that awful disgrace
for you I began to see that I must
get over loving you.'
"You can get over loving, Harvey.
Love sickness is like any other sick
ness. You either die of it, or you
get well. I think just now the worst
pang I have is that I am over it It .
seems rather weak in me to have
made the sacrifices I did for some
thing that did not last
"In fact, paradoxical as it may
seem, my greatest hurt is not that 1
loved you and lost you,. bu that i
i
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