Miss Perrin looked at every baby to be sure no careless doctor had left it to kick off its covers.
“I have a friend who is here in the hospital,” said Miss Chandler. “I want to see her for a few minutes. Would you two like to stay with the babies? Which is Mrs. Stoddard’s baby?”
“This person here,” said Miss Perrin, indicating a crib. “She is five days old.”
Lucy and Dora went to look at the friend’s baby. It was sound asleep.
While Miss Chandler went to see Mrs. Stoddard, Lucy and Dora looked at all the babies. Then Miss Perrin took them into another and much larger room. Even this big room was full of babies.
They were not sleeping in bassinets like those in the smaller room, but their beds were just as comfortable. Each one lay on a mattress in a wire basket which looked something like Mother’s dish-drainer. When a nurse wanted a special baby, she picked it up, basket and all, and carried it off.
In the middle of the room was an odd table, with wheels and two shelves. One of the nurses was collecting wire baskets, each with a wee baby. She set the baskets side by side on the shelves of the table. When there was room for no more, she wheeled the table and the babies into the corridor.
“They are going to their mothers,” said Miss Perrin. “The mothers are in another room and it is time the babies were fed.”
“How do they know which baby belongs to which mother?” asked Dora. “There are so many that I should think they would get mixed.”
“No, they are never mixed,” said Miss Perrin. “We are careful about that, for of course each mother prefers her own baby.”