“Let us hear it,” said the Captain.
“How would it be to write him, each of us, a short letter of thanks, just a few words, and at the top of each letter paste a snapshot of the girl who has written it? Then bind them all in a sort of cover or folder with our motto and a print of our flower on the outside.”
“I think that is simply a splendid idea,” cried the Captain. “Don’t you think so, girls?”
Of course everyone did, and it was settled that Rosanna should go and buy the paper for the letters so they should all be alike. As for the cover, Miss Hooker, who was an artist of more than ordinary talent and skill, offered to illuminate the cover with the cornflower as the motif; and she decided to illuminate it on parchment, with the deep blue of the flowers and dull gold lettering. The girls who had no snapshot of themselves promised to have one taken at once. Before they finished, the “Thanks Book” as they called it, promised to become a beautiful and very attractive affair. Miss Hooker warned them all to write natural and simple letters.
“How many of you have been over to see Gwenny in her new home?” asked the Captain. “After the holidays, I think it would be a very kind thing for you to each give up an afternoon once in so often (you can decide how often you can spare the time), and go spend the afternoon with Gwenny. Her mother feels that she should do a little work now and that faithful little Mary is taking care of a couple of children over here on Third Street every afternoon, to earn her share of the household expenses. So Gwenny is left very much alone.”
“My mother has been in the Norton Infirmary for a month,” said one of the girls, “and she said the nurse told her that it would mean a great deal to some of these patients if we girls would only come in once in awhile, and talk to some of the patients who get so lonely. Mother said there was a boy there with a broken hip, and he was always going to be lame, and he grieved so about it all the time that it kept him from getting well. And there was another patient, a girl about my age, with something wrong with her back. She is in a plaster cast, and her only relative is a father who travels, and he is in California.”
“Now there is an idea for you all,” said Miss Hooker. “I want to talk all these things over today, because if I am away at any time I want to feel that I know just about what you are doing. I should think that it would do a lot of good to visit those poor young people. There is just one thing to remember if you want to be popular with the nurses and helpful to the patients: always stay just a little shorter time than you are expected to. Then the nurses feel that you are wise enough to be trusted without tiring the patients, and the patients are left with the desire to see you soon again.”
“That is just what my mother said,” said the girl who had spoken. “She says so many people come who just stay and stay and if the nurse does not get around in time to send them home, why, they have the patient in a fever.”
“Perfectly true,” said Miss Hooker. “Make your visits short—and often. Next,” said the Captain, “I want to tell you that Lucy Breen has passed the examinations successfully in two subjects. She is now entitled to wear the merit badge for Horsemanship and Clerk.”