oth or a bit of tenderloin, hovering softly in a sudden
regard, and at length a healthier thought is born. It is to arise with
desperate will, put a fresh rose in the bonnet and a delusive veil over
the face, creeping down to the street with what steadiness can be
summoned. There one meets friends, and is pretty well, with thanks, and
is congratulated. Affairs grow brilliant, but the veil never comes up;
underneath there is some one forty years old and an invalid. Having thus
moved against the enemy's works, it is best to retire upon what spirit
there is left. It is after this sally that, when the landlady hears a
hammering of a Sunday, she comes directly to the room of this robust
person, who is obliged to confess that, even if so inclined, she has not
strength enough to break the Sabbath.

But the anxiety of every one to show some friendliness to a sufferer is
only equalled by the usual inability. We all read of that Union soldier
in the hospital visited by an elderly woman bound to do something when
there was nothing to be done, and who finally succeeded in bathing the
patient's face, while he, poor fellow, still struggling in the folds of
the towel, was heard to exclaim, "That's the fourteenth time I've had my
face washed to-day!"

Far more unobtrusive is the benevolence which goes into one's kitchen,
sending thence to the sick-room those dainties which, after all, are so
much too good to be eaten. It seems to be taken for granted that sick
persons eat a great deal, and that most of them might share the
experiment of Matthews, who began the diary of an invalid and ended with
that of a gourmand. I fear that these kindly geniuses would sometimes
feel a twinge of chagrin at seeing their elaborate delicacies in process
of being devoured by the most rubicund people in the house. But it
matters not; it is the sending and getting that are the dainties. Amid
all these niceties, however, the office of nurse might certainly be made
a sinecure; and just at this point her labors are really quite arduous;
for any invalid blessed with many favoring friends soon would sink under
the care of crockery and baskets to be properly delivered, while to
attend to the accompanying napkins is little less than to preside over a
small laundry. And then, as every one tastefully sends her choicest
wares to enhance their contents, the invalid also finds that she is the
keeper of all the best dishes of the best families.

There is nothing like