"I should not like a
daughter of mine to do that; but if you think you would enjoy the
study as a pastime and Doctor Mayne recommends it, I shall not object
if your mother is willing."
The family thought that "Alida's fad," as they called it, would not
last long; but under Agnes Mayne's wise supervision it became an
unfailing source of pleasure to the girl. Winter slipped into spring,
and the crocuses gave way to the summer roses, and still her interest
grew daily. She even begged not to be taken to the seashore, where the
family always spent their summers.
"Mrs. Mayne has asked me to stay with her," she said, "and she has
such a dear little house, and I am sure that the children at the
hospital would miss me now if I were to go away. There is so much that
I can do to make the poor little things happier."
Alida had her own way finally. She studied on through the summer,
learning much about anatomy and physiology from the doctor's big books
in the office, but unconsciously learning the higher wisdom of a
spiritual hygiene from her sweet-souled old hostess, the doctor's
mother. It cleared her mental vision. It made her quick to understand
other people, warm in her sympathies, and forgetful of self in her
intercourse with them.
"She do be such a comfortable sort of body, that young doctor," said a
poor washerwoman, suffering from a scalded arm, as Doctor Mayne made
her rounds alone one morning.
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