I. The Sick Baby

“Ruth, I wish you would stop at Doctor Marcy’s office on your way to school,” said Mrs. Duwell[193] a few days later, “and ask him to come to see the baby. The little thing has a high fever.”

“Oh, dear, I hope baby won’t be sick!” exclaimed Ruth, kissing her mother good-by.

All the morning she remembered her mother’s troubled look. At noon she did not stop to talk with the girls, but hurried home as fast as she could.

Wallace was there before her, though, having run all the way. He met her at the door.

“Ruth,” he whispered, “I met Doctor Marcy as he came out, and he says that the baby has pneumonia,[B] and it is a bad case. Mother doesn’t know I am home. Can’t we get some lunch ready to take to her?”

“Yes, indeed,” replied Ruth, tiptoeing into the kitchen. “You put the kettle on the fire and I’ll make some tea and milk toast.”

Mrs. Duwell looked very pale and weary when the children appeared with the lunch tray.

“I didn’t know you were home, Ruth,” she whispered, stepping into the hall. “How quietly you must have worked, children.”

“Is there anything else we can do to help?” asked Wallace.

“Why, yes, there is, Wallace. You may take[194] this pre-scrip-tion to the drug store to be filled. Ask the druggist to send the medicine over as soon as possible.”

Just then the baby gave a pitiful little moan, which made the mother turn again to the crib. The children stole softly downstairs.
Wallace at drug store

“I’ll run right over to the drug store, Ruth,” Wallace said, forgetting his own lunch.
II. The Druggist

“Good morning, Mr. Jones,” he said breathlessly as he entered the store. “Baby is very ill, and mother wishes this prescription filled. She[195] told me to ask if you would please send the medicine over just as soon as possible.”

“Baby sick? How sorry I am, Wallace,” said Mr. Jones. “Of course we will send it soon. I will see to it at once.”

“Oh, thank you.” Wallace drew a sigh of relief. “How much will it be, please?”

The druggist examined the queer Latin words of the doctor’s prescription. “This calls for one very expensive medicine, Wallace,” he said; “so we shall have to charge seventy-five cents.”

“That will be all right,” said Wallace.

When he reached home Ruth had a nice lunch spread for him.

“I am not going to school this afternoon, Wallace,” she told him. “I’m going to tidy up the house, and help mother.”

“Look at the clock, Ruth!” exclaimed Wallace suddenly, “I must start right away—the medicine will be seventy-five cents.”

“I will have the money ready,” said Ruth. “Good-by.”

The druggist’s boy came with the medicine a few minutes after Wallace left, and the baby was given the first dose at once.

When their father came the children had supper ready, but no one ate much.

[196]

“I am glad you can be so helpful, children,” he said.
III. The Trained Nurse

For five days the whole family did everything they knew to help save the baby’s life. Mr. Duwell was worried not only about the baby but about the children’s mother.

“I agree with the doctor that it would be much wiser to have a trained nurse,” he said on Saturday afternoon.

“But mother cannot bear the thought of letting anyone else take care of the baby,” said Ruth.

“I know that mother is a splendid nurse,” Mr. Duwell continued; “but a trained nurse knows all the best new methods of nursing, and could give much relief to mother, who is tired out.”

Just then the bell rang.

“It is the doctor,” said Ruth. Mr. Duwell went to the door, followed by the little girl.

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