Polly of the Hospital Staff

ction o

rtensia Price was straight and tall, with somber black eyes and thin, serious lips. Many of the c

ng story!" And she beamed up

cowled th

tan harsh, yet Elsie shran

pening on her delicate cheeks, "and it made the children want some c

remarked, "What I came down to say is this: I shall send you th

swer. "We shall be glad to welc

ay," whispered Maggie O'Donnell

eated Ethel, in a

and tall and everything, and Miss Lucy's kind o' short and little and so darling, and they ain't any relatio

hendingly, as she scraped her pl

boy,- Brida MacCarthy, Isabel Smith, and Moses Cohn. Polly did her share in routing the evident fears of the small

wer as long as he remained in the ward; the tender little slumber song, which Polly's mother had taught her, pu

ttle, an' runnin' round, an' playin', she'd pop right over on her back, jus' as funny! She'

atients, hushing, with her ready tact, quarrelsome tongues, and winning every heart by her gentle, loving ways. Oh, the ward would be lonely inde

funniest stories and singing the merriest songs, and making her little friends half forget that the good times were not going to last. The children never guessed that this was almost as much to help herself over the hard place as to cheer th

was waiting for her,-only Aunt Jane, in the cramped, dingy little tenement,-Aunt Jane and her six unruly girls and boys. Poly did not permit

and see us. P'r'aps she won't let you come at all-oh

ce. "Of course-why, Polly!" For the little girl had been brought suddenly face to face with a

to the next and the next. Her course was straight to the door through which the physician had entered, and by the time he was halfway across the room she had wriggled herself clear of the last cot, and was over the sill and in the corridor, the twilight aiding her escape. Regaining

doing down her

sant, but the answer

ght-I'd j

ce send you f

ild detected a r

no!

is too late to be running around for

ly meekly, and turned to see Dr.

forward, which she did, with dow

thought you would like to take a ride up to Warringford. I shall be back be

and, leaning against the Doctor

her, the creeping flight across the ward, and the baffled attempt at hiding. As he listened, his eyes grew grave and tender, for in the broken litt

let her monopolize my little Polly. Now, run along and get on your hat and coat, for the air is

but presently was down in th

aid soberly, "I guess I'd better stay with them

Doctor. "They are n't willing anyb

nt me to tell them a story, s

them than to go for a joy

umed a scowl o

ow I'd rather go with you,"

ender shoulders, "and I won't make it any harder for you. Go and tell your sto

doorway, and then he heard her

the day when he had first seen her, lying so white and still, with the life all but crushed out of her. It had not seemed possible then that she would ever again dance around like the other children; yet her she was, without even the bit of a limp-and going home to-morrow! Home! He could im

away; but he did not go in the direction of Warringford. He tu

following the Doctor's directions until t

Polly, at the first chance. "Aimee saw you, an' Brida saw you, an' Francesca saw you; but we did n't

y good-night," c

ll tell you sometime

er another, taken upon herself, performing each with even more than her usual ca

n o'clock that Dr. Dudl

!" he

was pathetic, for her lip quivered, as

ned, and taking her hand in h

ile," was all he said, as t

sion, but she could not be afraid with Dr. Dudley; so she smiled to all the gentlemen, and answered their ques

n low tones with the white-haired man at the hea

the hospital all summer, and help Miss Lucy

he gleam of a sunny brook. She clasped her small hands ecs

, and said something about "Miss Polly May," to which the little girl did n't pay much attention, and th

thing to tell you," th

e alert. A solemn hu

n;-"Polly May is a full-fledge

. Black eyes and brown eyes, blue eyes and gra

ughed. "Well, it means that Polly is n't going h

houts and shrieks of jo