Of the many who came to us that season, there was but one who never proceeded on his way.  He was a young German, fair of face, but terribly wasted by disease.  His gentle, boyish manner at once made him a favorite, and we not only gave him our best care, but when a physician drifted into town, grandma sent for him and followed his directions.  I remember well the day that John seemed almost convalescent, relished his breakfast, wanted to talk a while, and before we left him, had us bring him a basin of warm water and his beflowered carpet bag, from which he took a change of clothing and his shaving outfit.

When we saw him later, his hair was smoothly combed; he looked neat and felt encouraged, and was sure that he should soon be up and doing for himself.  At nightfall, grandma bade us wipe the dishes quickly as possible, at which Georgia proposed a race to see whether she could wash fast enough to keep us busy, and we got into a frolicsome mood, which grandma put an end to with the sobering remark: 

“Oh, be not so worldly-minded.  John ist very bad to-night.  I be in a hurry to go back to him, and you must hold the candle.”

We passed out into the clear cold starlight, with the burning candle sheltered by a milk pan, and picked our way between the lumber to the unfinished room where John lay.  I was the last to enter, and saw grandma hurriedly give the candle to Georgia, drop upon her knees beside the bed, touch his forehead, lift his hand, and call him by name.  The damp of death was on his brow, the organs of speech had lost their power.  One long upward look, a slight quivering of the muscles of the face, and we were alone with the dead.  I was so awed that I could scarcely move, but grandma wept over him, as she prepared his body for burial.

The next afternoon, we three and grandpa and a few friends followed him to his final resting-place.  After he was gone, grandma remembered that she did not know his name in full, the land of his birth, nor the address of his people.  Expecting his recovery, she had not troubled him with questions, and the few trinkets in his carpet bag yielded no identifying clue.  So he lies in a nameless grave, like countless other youth of that period.

We had patients of every type, those who were appreciative and grateful, and those who rebelled against confinement, and swore at the pain which kept sleep from their eyes, and hurled their things about regardless of consequences.  The most trying were the chronic grumblers, who did not know what they wanted, nor what they ought to have, and adopted the moody refrain: 

    But the happy times are over,
      I’ve only grief and pain,
    For I shall never, never see
      Susannah dear again.

The entrance of Georgia and myself would occasionally turn their thoughts into homeward channels, and make them reminiscent of their little children and loved ones “back in the States.”  Then, again, our coming would set them to talking about our early disaster and such horrible recounts of happenings in the snow-bound camps that we would rush away, and poor Georgia would have distressing crying spells over what we had heard.