Rex Hospital School of Nursing - Nightingale Yearbook (Raleigh, NC)

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C560 NIGHTINC-ALE m W ,D 54 UHJIIIIIUIIIIIW' 1. ,s 0-m people-years that have cost them so many heartaches, throbs, and joys. Yes, about as reasonable as most mortals! Well, we will see what we can do. I will stir the coals on my altar, but you will have to watch closely to catch everything, for a vision is like life-a transient thing which cannot be given again. I quickly rubbed my eyes, though I assure you they did not need to be opened. He stepped, or rather tripped, to an altar on which lay a pile of coals. He stirred them-with what, do you suppose? His foot! I was so surprised that I almost lost what came next. When I looked around for the funny old man he was nowhere to be seen. I was alone and was trem- bling. I quickly remembered what he had said, however, and fixed my eyes on a mist which was slowly rising from the altar. Up and up it rolled until it formed a white, ever-changing cloud of mist a few feet from me. It changed so constantly that I had to strain my eyes to catch what was happening. But were there not moving forms, and a house, too? Yes, a dear little white cottage with green ivy around the curbstones. A young woman came out just as a car drew up in front of the door and greeted Jim and two children in endearing terms. I looked at the face closely and was both pleased and not at all surprised to see that it was our own little Frazier. Oh, how perfectly happy she looked! But the scene was changing, and I seemed at sea. Yes, surely enough at sea, and during a storm. Oh, how thrilling!-at sea in a beautiful white and gold ship! There was a row of white beds, and I realized that these beds held sufering forms. But wonders would never cease, for there bending over one of these very beds was Miss Howard. She was soothing one of the patients, and I heard her say to him, Don't worry, I am the nurse in charge of the ship, and you are safe. I was so happy that I was going to call her, but suddenly she had vanished and another scene caught my eyes. I was in a large assembly room. People greeted each other on all sides, and I noted that the guests were in full evening attire. Everybody seemed so excited, and tried to talk at once. I wanted to hear what an elderly lady with spectacles on her nose was saying, but there was such a hub-bub that I could not hear myself think. Singling out a rather kind- looking old gentleman who looked like a F.A.C.S., I asked him if he could enlighten me as to the entertainment. He checked a surprised look and Twenty

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C569 NIGHTINGALE 'vzmmmmmv mv Amnmlrmmmmm 'uw' QQIMJ Glllrophecy T WAS the Spring of 1937, one of those warm Spring days that makes the house almost unbearableg at least it seemed that way to me. Thank heavens! my work was done for the day and I was free to get out in the open, which was calling me. I turned the lock on the operating room of the New Hope Hospital of the State of l and, catching up a rug and pillow, I started out for my favorite haunt under the elm. My! but it was cool and refreshing. I sank back, determined for the moment to be a lady of leisure. Then it suddenly came to me that it was the twelfth of May. Ten years ago today I had received my diploma and started out on my determination, for I certainly had nothing else. I had been busy and the time had passed so rapidly that I had lost track of my classmates and every old association. Letters are so unsatisfactory that I had almost ceased to write, so had not heard lately. How nice it was to lie there and just think! Suddenly, I found myself in the most beautiful of rose gardens, or was it one of Gene Stratton Por- ter's forests? I could not say which, but if Adam and Eve had been there it would certainly have been a perfect Garden of Eden. I had never seen such magnificent roses or lovely foliage in any of my travels. I reached out to take a rose-a whole bunch of them-for a favorite patient, when suddenly I felt a presence and, looking around, saw a little old man-if a man he could be called-he was so tiny. His hair and beard were very white, and I knew at once he must be old. His eyes blinked in such a jolly way that I was not at all afraid of him. Oh, I know who you areg you are Fate! I cried. Do answer just one question for me. And now I know who you are, he said. You are a mortal, for only mortals are curious, and I also know what you wish to ask. You would like to know where your old friends are-and that is a big question all in one. No, I said g I will be satisfied just to know what has become of my classmates of 1927, and what they are doing. He laughed. You are as reasonable as any mortal I have ever found. You want to know, in a few minutes of time, ten years of the lives of five Nineteen

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C569 NIGHTINGALE wm1mm W mmmm , . 11:40 asked if I had not met the noted authoress, Miss Constance Rivers. It was now my turn to keep from looking surprised. On further inquiry I found that the book which she had written was on the use of proteid diet in the treatment of anemia, and had been recognized by the public as the leading work in its line. The F.A.C.S. were highly elated, so gratified that they were giving this reception in her honor. Just then there was a stir near the door, and no other than Connie herself appeared, bowing and smiling. Applause after applause greeted her approach. I wanted to stay longer, but suddenly remembered that I was not an invited guest, and found my way out, thinking of how much pleasure Connie must have gotten out of having a use for all her big words and highly exaggerated expressions. The next scene was equally as interesting. I found myself in a school- room, and the teacher was saying, The visiting nurse will now speak to the children. Forty little faces brightened as the nurse arose. I had had so many surprises that I was not at all shocked to see Miss Smith, who was the visiting nurse. Yes, she was my old classmate in the form of a school nurse. Her hair was piled high on her head and she wore a high, stiff collar. I was just in the act of trying to see if she wore a gold band on her third finger when the scene changed again. But surely this was a foreign country. Rich palms swayed gently in the breeze. The houses were queer and the people were more so. I found myself in a church. The music had a foreign note, but I seemed to have heard it somewhere before. Oh, yes, it was Mendelssohn's Wedding March. Of course, I looked for the bride, and there she came-our Cath- erine on the arm of a gentleman, and in Africa! Then, I remembered that she always had wanted to be a missionary. The preacher was calling the names, and I heard him say Verne. In a few minutes it was all over and I was just going to speak to them when someone shook me violently. Wake up there, you sleepy-head! Don't you know that we have a Caesarean posted in thirty minutes, and have been looking for you everywhere? Here is a letter, and you will just have time to read it. I yawned and hastily opened it. To my surprise, it was from Miss Becker, who is touring Europe. She said that she just had to Write and tell me that Miss Marshbanks fshe used to bel and her husband were spending a week with her in Paris. Twenty-one