A STUDY IN AN OMNIBUS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 62, 6 December 1907, Page 5

A STUDY IN AN OMNIBUS.

•;•■ . « ■ A wise' nurse "keops her diagnosis within the compass of her own brain. Yet to an experienced and observant woman, many things are visible; and to hoar her own conclusions afterwards corroborated. by the medical man is one of tho keen interests of nursing. . With tired-out muscles, but brain alert, I one day boarded a passing omnibus, and, securing an airy seat by the door, proceeded to spend my "off-duty" time in diagnosing (unobtrusively) my fellow-passengers—physic-ally andiphysiognomically. Opposite me sat>a weary-looking mother, nursing a crying babe. It was fretful and wailing, with a faint purple tint of the eyelids and around tho mouth. I folt , -almost certain.by its appearanco that investigation would have proved it to be. one of the little victims who "-'as a bit of what wo 'avo ourselves." It looked strumous, rickety, and its milk , 'teeth wero decaying as,, they cutthrough,its gums. Poor baby, itsoutlook on life was not'bright! '" -, ■';.■:.., Just thci' an old'dy gentleman: entered, and drew himself awayJrom.the vicinity of the little wailing piece of humanity. To a casual observer, things wore'going well with him. Ho was well clothed, portly, and bejewelled,' yot plainly over-fed and intemperate. He appeared choleric, too, and unless ho amends his mode of life will probably fall a victim to apoplexy. A mother and. little girl sidled gradually nearer the door, and with a feeling of affinity with her kind, the ono woman confided to the mother of the crying babe that she was "takin , Polly to tho 'orspital with 'er eyes." Polly's strangled sobs and small, heaving bosom testified to the apprehension which this visit caused her... . ... -~ . .-' .-.-.■.'■ Here the bell rang, and wo pulled up-with a jerk. In stepped .two old .maids.. Not "bachelor womon," but real old. maids of tho self-centred type, with the cramping lines of contraction seated deep in their faces. One had an .appearance .slightly less aggressive than the other, and I concluded that she was the ruled member. The whole, world ovidently hinges around themselves, their hand-bags and their affairs ih-'genora). Tlioj seated themselves beside mo, and were manifestly fidgety and unhappy, lost tho conductor should forget thoir exact spot to alight.— "The Nu»"»ng Mirror."