Minnie May has croup all right; she s pretty bad, but I ve seen them
worse. First we must have lots of hot water. I declare, Diana, there
isn t more than a cupful in the kettle! There, I ve filled it up, and,
Mary Joe, you may put some wood in the stove. I don t want to hurt your
feelings but it seems to me you might have thought of this before if
you d any imagination. Now, I ll undress Minnie May and put her to bed
and you try to find some soft flannel cloths, Diana. I m going to give
her a dose of ipecac first of all.
Minnie May did not take kindly to the ipecac but Anne had not brought up
three pairs of twins for nothing. Down that ipecac went, not only once,
but many times during the long, anxious night when the two little girls
worked patiently over the suffering Minnie May, and Young Mary Joe,
honestly anxious to do all she could, kept up a roaring fire and heated
more water than would have been needed for a hospital of croupy babies.
It was three o clock when Matthew came with a doctor, for he had been
obliged to go all the way to Spencervale for one. But the pressing need
for assistance was past. Minnie May was much better and was sleeping
soundly.
I was awfully near giving up in despair, explained Anne. She got
worse and worse until she was sicker than ever the Hammond twins were,
even the last pair. I actually thought she was going to choke to death.
I gave her every drop of ipecac in that bottle and when the last dose
went down I said to myself--not to Diana or Young Mary Joe, because I
didn t want to worry them any more than they were worried, but I had
to say it to myself just to relieve my feelings-- This is the last
lingering hope and I fear, tis a vain one. But in about three minutes
she coughed up the phlegm and began to get better right away. You must
just imagine my relief, doctor, because I can t express it in words. You
know there are some things that cannot be expressed in words.
Yes, I know, nodded the doctor. He looked at Anne as if he were
thinking some things about her that couldn t be expressed in words.
Later on, however, he expressed them to Mr. and Mrs. Barry.
That little redheaded girl they have over at Cuthbert s is as smart as
they make em. I tell you she saved that baby s life, for it would have
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