in your bed, unless you keep
yourself warm and quiet for a few days. Widow Wadman can take care of
the ward alone, now the men are so comfortable, and have her vacation
when you are about again. Now do be prudent in time, and don't let me
have to add a Periwinkle to my bouquet of patients."

This advice was delivered, in a paternal manner, by the youngest
surgeon in the hospital, a kind-hearted little gentleman, who seemed to
consider me a frail young blossom, that needed much cherishing, instead
of a tough old spinster, who had been knocking about the world for
thirty years. At the time I write of, he discovered me sitting on the
stairs, with a nice cloud of unwholesome steam rising from the
washroom; a party of January breezes disporting themselves in the
halls; and perfumes, by no means from "Araby the blest," keeping them
company; while I enjoyed a fit of coughing, which caused my head to
spin in a way that made the application of a cool banister both
necessary and agreeable, as I waited for the frolicsome wind to restore
the breath I'd lost; cheering myself, meantime, with a secret
conviction that pneumonia was waiting for me round the corner. This
piece of advice had been offered by several persons for a week, and
refused by me with the obstinacy with which my sex is so richly gifted.
But the last few hours had developed several surprising internal and
external phenomena, which impressed upon me the fact that if I didn't
make a masterly retreat very soon, I should tumble down somewhere, and
have to be borne ignominiously from the field. My head felt like a
cannon ball; my feet had a tendency to cleave to the floor; the walls
at times undulated in a most disagreeable manner; people looked
unnaturally big; and the "very bottles on the mankle shelf" appeared to
dance derisively before my eyes. Taking these things into
consideration, while blinking stupidly at Dr. Z., I resolved to retire
gracefully, if I must; so, with a valedictory to my boys, a private
lecture to Mrs. Wadman, and a fervent wish that I could take off my
body and work in my soul, I mournfully ascended to my apartment, and
Nurse P was reported off duty.

For the benefit of any ardent damsel whose patriotic fancy may have
surrounded hospital life with a halo of charms, I will briefly describe
the bower to which I retired, in a somewhat ruinous condition. It was
well ventilated, for five panes of glass had suffered compound
fractures, which all the s