Page:Nattie Nesmith (1870).pdf/229

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as no one called for her, and no inquiries were made, they judged that she was without friends in that vicinity. The husband was very busy at his saw-mill during the day, and his wife was quite as busy at home, with her baby and the added care of the sick girl. But nothing suited the little woman better,—for she was a genuine Yankee,—than "to have her hands full," as she expressed it. So, as soon as Nattie began to mend, she at once set about fashioning a loose wrapper out of one of her old dresses, for the use of the sick girl when she could sit up a while each day.

Nattie dressed her burns, even when partly delirious. The young wife, her nurse, often shuddered to see her strip down the plasters, so regardless of inflicting pain on herself, for frequently the skin would peel off, and blood start from the half healed surfaces.

"If you were more careful, it would hurt less," the kind woman would say, looking pityingly on