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to my frame of mind; and I went across and went straight in。



I found the children's hospital established in an old sail…loft or

storehouse; of the roughest nature; and on the simplest means。

There were trap…doors in the floors; where goods had been hoisted

up and down; heavy feet and heavy weights had started every knot in

the well…trodden planking:  inconvenient bulks and beams and

awkward staircases perplexed my passage through the wards。  But I

found it airy; sweet; and clean。  In its seven and thirty beds I

saw but little beauty; for starvation in the second or third

generation takes a pinched look:  but I saw the sufferings both of

infancy and childhood tenderly assuaged; I heard the little

patients answering to pet playful names; the light touch of a

delicate lady laid bare the wasted sticks of arms for me to pity;

and the claw…like little hands; as she did so; twined themselves

lovingly around her wedding…ring。



One baby mite there was as pretty as any of Raphael's angels。  The

tiny head was bandaged for water on the brain; and it was suffering

with acute bronchitis too; and made from time to time a plaintive;

though not impatient or complaining; little sound。  The smooth

curve of the cheeks and of the chin was faultless in its

condensation of infantine beauty; and the large bright eyes were

most lovely。  It happened as I stopped at the foot of the bed; that

these eyes rested upon mine with that wistful expression of

wondering thoughtfulness which we all know sometimes in very little

children。  They remained fixed on mine; and never turned from me

while I stood there。  When the utterance of that plaintive sound

shook the little form; the gaze still remained unchanged。  I felt

as though the child implored me to tell the story of the little

hospital in which it was sheltered to any gentle heart I could

address。  Laying my world…worn hand upon the little unmarked

clasped hand at the chin; I gave it a silent promise that I would

do so。



A gentleman and lady; a young husband and wife; have bought and

fitted up this building for its present noble use; and have quietly

settled themselves in it as its medical officers and directors。

Both have had considerable practical experience of medicine and

surgery; he as house…surgeon of a great London hospital; she as a

very earnest student; tested by severe examination; and also as a

nurse of the sick poor during the prevalence of cholera。



With every qualification to lure them away; with youth and

accomplishments and tastes and habits that can have no response in

any breast near them; close begirt by every repulsive circumstance

inseparable from such a neighbourhood; there they dwell。  They live

in the hospital itself; and their rooms are on its first floor。

Sitting at their dinner…table; they could hear the cry of one of

the children in pain。  The lady's piano; drawing…materials; books;

and other such evidences of refinement are as much a part of the

rough place as the iron bedsteads of the little patients。  They are

put to shifts for room; like passengers on board ship。  The

dispenser of medicines (attracted to them not by self…interest; but

by their own magnetism and that of their cause) sleeps in a recess

in the dining…room; and has his washing apparatus in the sideboard。



Their contented manner of making the best of the things around

them; I found so pleasantly inseparable from their usefulness!

Their pride in this partition that we put up ourselves; or in that

partition that we took down; or in that other partition that we

moved; or in the stove that was given us for the waiting…room; or

in our nightly conversion of the little consulting…room into a

smoking…room!  Their admiration of the situation; if we could only

get rid of its one objectionable incident; the coal…yard at the

back!  'Our hospital carriage; presented by a friend; and very

useful。'  That was my presentation to a perambulator; for which a

coach…house had been discovered in a corner down…stairs; just large

enough to hold it。  Coloured prints; in all stages of preparation

for being added to those already decorating the wards; were

plentiful; a charming wooden phenomenon of a bird; with an

impossible top…knot; who ducked his head when you set a counter

weight going; had been inaugurated as a public statue that very

morning; and trotting about among the beds; on familiar terms with

all the patients; was a comical mongrel dog; called Poodles。  This

comical dog (quite a tonic in himself) was found characteristically

starving at the door of the institution; and was taken in and fed;

and has lived here ever since。  An admirer of his mental endowments

has presented him with a collar bearing the legend; 'Judge not

Poodles by external appearances。'  He was merrily wagging his tail

on a boy's pillow when he made this modest appeal to me。



When this hospital was first opened; in January of the present

year; the people could not possibly conceive but that somebody paid

for the services rendered there; and were disposed to claim them as

a right; and to find fault if out of temper。  They soon came to

understand the case better; and have much increased in gratitude。

The mothers of the patients avail themselves very freely of the

visiting rules; the fathers often on Sundays。  There is an

unreasonable (but still; I think; touching and intelligible)

tendency in the parents to take a child away to its wretched home;

if on the point of death。  One boy who had been thus carried off on

a rainy night; when in a violent state of inflammation; and who had

been afterwards brought back; had been recovered with exceeding

difficulty; but he was a jolly boy; with a specially strong

interest in his dinner; when I saw him。



Insufficient food and unwholesome living are the main causes of

disease among these small patients。  So nourishment; cleanliness;

and ventilation are the main remedies。  Discharged patients are

looked after; and invited to come and dine now and then; so are

certain famishing creatures who were never patients。  Both the lady

and the gentleman are well acquainted; not only with the histories

of the patients and their families; but with the characters and

circumstances of great numbers of their neighbours … of these they

keep a register。  It is their common experience; that people;

sinking down by inches into deeper and deeper poverty; will conceal

it; even from them; if possible; unto the very last extremity。



The nurses of this hospital are all young; … ranging; say; from

nineteen to four and twenty。  They have even within these narrow

limits; what many well…endowed hospitals would not give them; a

comfortable room of their own in which to take their meals。  It is

a beautiful truth; that interest in the children and sympathy with

their sorrows bind these young women to their places far more

strongly than any other consideration could。  The best skilled of

the nurses came originally from a kindred neighbourhood; almost as

poor; and she knew how much the work was needed。  She is a fair

dressmaker。  The hospital cannot pay her as many pounds in the year

as there are months in it; and one day the lady regarded it as a

duty to speak to her about her improving her prospects and

following her trade。  'No;' she said:  she could never be so useful

or so happy elsewhere any more; she must stay among the children。



And she stays。  One of the nurses; as I passed her; was washing a

baby…boy。  Liking her pleasant face; I stopped to speak to her

charge; … a common; bullet…headed; frowning charge enough; laying

hold of his own nose with a slippery grasp; and staring very

solemnly out of a blanket。  The melting of the pleasant face into

delighted smiles; as this young gentleman gave an unexpected kick;

and laughed at me; was almost worth my previous pain。



An affecting play was acted in Paris years ago; called 'The

Children's Doctor。'  As I parted from my children's doctor; now in

question; I saw in his easy black necktie; in his loose buttoned

black frock…coat; in his pensive face; in the flow of his dark

hair; in his eyelashes; in the very turn of his moustache; the

exact realisation of the Paris artist's ideal as it was presented

on the stage。  But no romancer that I know of has had the boldness

to prefigure the life and home of this young husband and young wife

in the Children's Hospital in the east of London。



I came away from Ratcliff by the Stepney railway station to the

terminus at Fenchurch Street。  Any one who will reverse that route

may retrace my steps。







CHAPTER XXXIII … A LITTLE DINNER IN AN HOUR







It fell out on a day in this last autumn; that I had to go down

from London to a place of seaside resort; on an hour's business;

accompanied by my esteemed friend Bullfinch。  Let the place of

seaside resort be; for the nonce; called Namelesston。



I had been loitering about Paris in 

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