Martha Spreull/A Professional Nurse

by Henry Johnston

CHAPTER XIX.

A PROFESSIONAL NURSE.

OO, before I go on, I maun tell ye an incident that gied me as bonny a red face as I have haen for mony a day. I had spent three or four very pleasant days i' the country wi' Mrs. M'Cracken, wife o' the cabinet-maker in Renfield Street, at her summer hoose, and, as I had a mile to walk to the railway station, she sent her servant wi' me to carry my portmantay. She had been unco serviceable during my visit, brushing my skirts, and what not, so as I wis stepping into the train I put my hand in my pocket to gie her a mindin' for her trouble.

"O, no," says she, "I'm sure ye needna fash wi' onything o' the kind."

"Toots, lassie," quoth I, "dinna be sae blate; ye've been real kind—tak' it and buy something to yersel'." Wi' that I gets into the train, but I had barely won oot o' the station when I discovered that the twa-shilling-piece I ettled to gie her wis still in my pocket. The coin I had pressed on her, to buy something to hersel' wi', wis only a bawbee. I felt mortal affronted when I thocht o’ the ostentatious way I had pressed her to tak’ the gratuity; but I made up for the mistake when I got back to the town, for I went straight to the Polytechnick Warehouse, and bocht as muckle print-claith as wud mak’ a new wrapper, the which I despatched the same efternoon by the Kilmarnock carrier. When I got hame, I found a letter waiting for me from Maister Fleming, the writer, to say that his housekeeper had been seized with a grievous bodily ailment, about which he wanted to consult me. Poor man, he wis sorely put aboot, having had but little experience o’ sickness in his ain person or family. Weel, as he had dune services to me at divers times, it wis but the pairt o’ a Christian wumman to do what lay in my power for him in his time o’ need. He had twa servingwomen, but they had nae hands for a sick invalid that needed carefu’ and constant attention. So I saw Dr. Dandylyon wha attended the case, and, wi’ his approval, engaged the services o’ a professional sick nurse. This wis a sair job! But efter speirin’ here, and speirin’ there, as to the moral character, steadiness, and the like, o’ the candidates, I fixed on ane wi’ an excellent Christian character, written by a minister. Noo, thinks I, here is just the wumman for the place, so I gaed hame wi’ her, and saw the body settled. Maister Fleming, I must alloo, wis unco uplifted at getting this service done for him, and visited me twa or three times a-week to seek my advice. At first ho wis just as jocose and licht-hearted as a man wi’ a sick hoosekeeper at hame could be, but at the end o’ the second week I saw he had something on his mind. “ Noo,” says I, “ what is’t that’s fashin’ ye ? I shouldna offer advice to a professional man, still I’ve heard tell that doctors dinna like to prescribe for themselves. If ye hae ony trouble at hame, maybe I can help ye.” He wis unco sweert to speak oot. “ There is trouble at hame,” says he, “ but, though I have the gravest suspicions, I have no direct proof. It has been borne in upon my mind that the nurse you were good enough to send me is of intemperate habits.”

"What!” says I, “surely that canna be; she wis recommended to me by the Rev. Mr. Pinkerton, wi’ a character three pages lang.”

“ True,” says he, “ yet my cook and housemaid have been with me three years come the time, and I have never heard any ill o’ them.”

“ But,” quoth I, impatiently, “ hae ye missed onything ? ”

“ I am sorry to say I have,” says Maister Fleming. “ I had six bottles of port, three bottles of sherry, and a bottle of whisky, in the sideboard, but they are all empty, and no body can tell how the thing has occurred. Somebody has been guilty, yet there is no conclusive evidence against any one; and, as one might lay himself open to an action for defamation of character, I am at a loss to know how to act.”

“ Maister Fleming,” says I, “ this is a thing only a wumman can get to the bottom o’. Will ye leave it to me ? ”

Of course he left it to me. It wis a question that couldna be settled in court, for nae respectable lawyer wud rin the risk o’ layin a public charge against onybody’s character that he wisna prepared to prove. Next day I went to the hoose, and precognosed the cook and housemaid. “ Tell the truth,” says I, solemnly—-just to impress them wi’ a sense o’ the awfulness o’ justice—“Any attempt at prevarication or deceit will bring doon a terrible punishment on the head o’ the offender. I '11 hand ye a’ ower to the tender mercies o’ the law, and put the hoosc under the surveelance o’ Sherra-offishers.” Thus warned they telt me as plain and straight-forward a story as ever cam

oot in evidence, from which it wis clear that this person.

wha had been sae highly recommended by the Rev. Mr. Pinkerton, wis the party that had thefteously gone into the sideboard, and abstracted therefrom the spirituous liquors, already described by Maister Fleming when he put the case into my hands. In fact, she had been stovin’ wi’ drink from the hour she entered the place, and, on the cook speirin’ ance or twice what wis the matter wi’ her, she complained that she wis just a wee thing fatigued. This wis enough for me. I discharged her on the spot, and felt that wis necessary for the appeasment o’ justice. I learned efterwards from Mr. Pinkerton that he had written her character on the report of a Bible-wumman, who was a friend o’ her ain. I wis greatly praised for the courage and legal acumen I showed in managing the case, but that is neither here nor there, what I want to impress upon ye is this—and I think it may be looked on as the moral o’ the Chapter—hooever much ye may respect ministers for their public and private virtues, dinna put muckle dependence on their written testimonials o’ character.