Guy's, Saint Thomas's, Saint Bartholomew's, Saint George's, Middlesex,
King's College, University, round all of their doors such dread horrors
still abound, and to an extent that almost staggers belief. Sorrow,
pain, poverty, despair, all seem to join hands and revel around the
suffering wretches; but even to these dismal shadows--these clouds of
life--there are silver linings. Hope is there; faith is there; mercy is
there; and pity mourns over the suffering poor. It is the collecting
together of scenes of misery--the gazing upon so many sufferers at once;
and for the moment we forget that suffering is inevitable--that more or
less mental or bodily, it must fall to each one's share; and as we turn
shuddering away, we forget that these great institutions are an honour
to our country, and glance but at one side of the question. We forget
the quiet, gentlemanly men of iron nerve and determination--the heroes
who might wear the palms borne by our warriors--the men who engage face
to face with disease, and pluck full many a victim from the grim
dragon's jaws. We think not of these calm unassuming men walking
quietly into houses plague-stricken, and shunned by all but the
mercenary nurse; we forget that such a thing is unknown as a doctor
shrinking from facing the worst fever, and leaving the sufferer unaided.
Well, there are honours more to be desired than empty titles; and in
the love, respect and reverence of their fellow men our doctors must
revel, for ours is a strange country. We are not given to showy
uniforms, and crosses and ribbons. Perhaps it is as well; for the
uniforms and decorations tarnish and fade, while the name once honoured
grows brighter with the lapse of years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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