CHRISTMAS IN HOSPITAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18643, 24 December 1928, Page 11

CHRISTMAS IN HOSPITAL.

NURSES WORK TO CHEER THE MANY PATIENTS. (By MRS E. R. M’COMBS.) “ Now the tree is decorated with bright merriment, and song and dance and cheerfulness—and they are welcome. Innocent and welcome be they ever held, beneath the branches of the Christmas tree which casts no gloomy shadow! . . I hear a whisper going through the leaves: ‘ This in commemoration of the Law of Love and Kindness. mercy and compassion. This in remembrance of Me.’ ” —Charles Dick«ns. Christmas awakens the social spirit *in us all. It is the season when we hope that everyone will have enough and be happy. For the time being the world is transformed, and altruism prevails. Nowhere is the spirit of Christmas more manifest than in a public hospital, where persons of all conditions and ages are brought together under the common bond of misadventure or sickness. All are dependent for service and comfort upon the self-sacri-ficing efforts of others: and at this bounds are set to the efforts of the hospital staff to secure the happiness and pleasure of every patient. In hospital Christmas is indeed a festival. Everyone enters thoroughly into the spirit of it. Preparations are begun early, and as the days go on every member of the staff has self-appointed tasks in addition to ordinary duties. Tot the Good Time. In the nurses’ home busy hands are hard at work during every moment “ off duty,” and hordes of packages accumulate in every nurse’s room, to await distribution on the final day. In the office parcels of every shape and size wait for their owners. Can one imagine what they contain? Those square, flat boxes suggest handkerchiefs. That lumpy, round one looks uncommonly like a ginger jar; the long thin one is a parasol. One could go on guessing; but there is much else to interest. Down in the kitchens with their huge stoves and coppers there are cakes and puddings in preparation. In every ward decorations are in progress, and endless additional tasks are being undertaken by the nurses, while the normal work of the wards proceeds undisturbed. Colour and Merriment. The festival begins on Christmas Eye. By this time every ward has been gaily decorated and made beautiful with flowers. On this occasion no nurse is eager to be “ off duty,” but manj’ of them change their plain uniforms for brilliant fancy dress, so that instead of demure nurses the hospital seems peopled with Eastern princesses, Shakespearean characters, peasants of every nationality and jolly dancing girls, whose only purpose in life appears to be to promote merriment. Subdued excitement is manifest everywhere, but interest centres in the children’s department, where the spotless blue-tiled ward has been transformed into a bower of beauty. At one end of the w r ard a splendid tree has sprung up during the night. \ Its branches are hung with a thousand coloured lights; toys of every description dangle temptingly, and silver frost sparkles upon it to the topmost glittering star of light. Joy for the Little Ones. The cots have been arranged so that every child shall share in the fun; and as the time approaches the children are filled with eager expectation. Most of the little ones are sitting up in bed» festive in their pretty jackets. Every thought of sickness or pain is banished. One little brown-eyed girl is clapping her hands in glee. A pathetic little lad lying upon his pillow has turned his eager, pinched little face towards the tree, his big eyes surveying its every detail. At last the door opens. What a shout goes *up as Santa Claus enters, splendid in time-honoured. flowing beard and scarlet robes. He is followed by two huge, grotesquely prancing animals whose antics cause excited delight. Then follows the distribution of gifts from the tree. The brown-eyed little girl soon is in transports of joy oveV a fairy doll; and the little, whitefaced boy reaches a limp hand across the coverlet until his fingers rest lovingly upon the wing of an aeroplane that lies there.

Everyone has a share, and the fun goes on until the children are surfeited with felicity.

Night falls. The tired little ones are sleeping. In a distant corridor nurses are singing, and over the stillness is carried the sound of the sweet old carol: " Once a little baby lay Cradled in the fragrant hay. Long ago on Christmas. And to-day the whole glad earth Praises God for that child's birth, Long ago on Christmas.” s