s toil. Times were to come
aplenty, to be sure, when the old call of untrammelled freedom stirred
her senses to mute rebellion; but, as often, her all-absorbed interest
in the work silenced it speedily.

Right at the outset Rose experienced the same shock which hundreds of
other would-be nurses have had. She, mistress of a home for years, was
obliged to learn to clean, to scrub, to make a bed! For two whole months
of probationary training she had to labor at the bedside or in the
classroom, doing the commonplace, practical tasks which, to many, seemed
merely unnecessary drudgery; but, if she occasionally felt that Donald's
prophecy was coming true with a vengeance, more often her level little
head held a prescient understanding of how important this unlovely
foundation was to the structure which should some day be built upon it.

And, although the Superintendent said nothing to Smiles, she noted with
secret appreciation that her new pupil possessed, in addition to her
sustaining enthusiasm, a no less valuable thing--the innate ability to
use her hands by instinct and without clumsy conscious effort. Had not
this girl, who was scarcely more than a child in years, for a long time
been both a homemaker and an ever-ready nurse to all those who became
ill within the confines of the scattered mountain settlement?

The second milestone was reached at last. Rose was one day summoned
alone into the Superintendent's sanctum, and the door was closed to all
others. A little later she came out with tears adding new lustre to her
shining eyes, for the talk had been very earnest and heart-searching;
but they were tears of happiness, for upon her gleaming curls now sat
the square pique cap which was the visible sign that she had safely
traversed the first stretch of the long, hard road. To be sure, she knew
well that even this, the so dearly desired cap and pale blue dress which
went with it, did not make her fully a pupil nurse, yet that afternoon
it seemed that life could never hold for her an honor more precious.

The afternoon on which this momentous event occurred was one of liberty
for Rose, and she hastened with the news to her dear Miss Merriman, the
precious cap smuggled out under her coat; but, after they had rejoiced
together, and she had admired its reflection in the glass, she suddenly
became doleful, and wailed in mock despair, "Oh, doesn't it seem as
though I'd never, _never_ be a real nurse. Why, now I've got to _leav