"
"And who is to blame for their judgment?" the doctor asked mischievously.
She hesitated, but her mother wit soon extricated her from the
difficulty.
"There's lots of folks doing what the Lord didn't intend them to
do--doctors as well as others."
"Well done, Mrs. Blake, I will retire from the field before I am
annihilated altogether."
"You needn't be in a hurry to go. We'd like to get this business
settled first," Mrs. Blake said, a trifle anxiously, misunderstanding
the doctor's meaning. He threw me a meaning glance, and afterward
whispered,--"That woman is a diamond in the rough. Given a fair start
in life, she would have found a proper sphere in almost any calling."
"I believe she would. She has done more for me than any other single
individual."
"She!" he asked with keen surprise.
"Yes, she wakened me from selfish ease to see the sufferings of others,
and to realize my sisterhood to them."
"Yes, but you must first have had a heart to be touched, or all the Mrs.
Blakes on this planet could not have wakened it."
"Even allowing your words to be true, does it not show power amounting
very nearly to genius to be able to arouse another to a painful duty, and
help them to take hold of it--I won't say, manfully?"
"No, a better word is needed in this case. Woman's fine sympathy and
instinct are too perfect to be called after any masculine term wholly
human."
"You can pay nice compliments," I said, laughing. He bowed his head
gravely--a very fine and shapely head I noticed it was too, set well on
a neck and shoulders that betokened the trained athlete.
Pages:
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176