An older girl of six, pretty, but already womanly in her busy household ways, heaped another log on the fire and hovered over it for warmth. She was barefoot and, like the others of the household, including the sick baby, wore the scanty day-time clothing, having no other, for they were of the very poor of the mountains. It was the lonely, desolate hour between midnight and morning. The watchers in the cabin listened intently for the sound of hoof-beats which would mean that the Mission nurse had been home when the summons came, and would soon be with them. Hark! Yes!--through the night came the beat, beat of the hoofs of old "Bess" as she struck the road in a swift steady trot. Emma, the oldest girl, is down in the darkness at the road to meet the beloved nurse and help her dismount. She holds the lantern while the saddle-bags are swung off and old "Bess" is blanketed and tethered. As she enters the cabin Miss M---- goes immediately to the bed, and holding the lantern for light, examines her little patient and finds a bad case of pneumonia. The Mission hospital is not yet completed, and there is no doctor within many miles. She must fight alone for the little life. Swiftly the saddle-bags are unpacked, yielding the "wonderful salve" (antiphlogistine) and other medicines--a small wash basin, soap, wash cloth and towel, flannel and a change of clothing for baby. Emma is bidden to heat water, which she does by filling an old black kettle and standing it on the blazing embers of the open fire. How the nurse worked, and watched, and prayed as the hours passed, and no improvement! The day came and went, and another night brought closer the shadow--the little one seemed hardly to breathe. Then the mother fled out in the darkness to rock back and forth in an agony of weeping, which was hushed only when the quiet voice of the nurse said: "You make it harder. Pray instead." At last the waiting nurse feels the little body relax under her touch. Sleep and restoration begin to steal back the ebbing vitality--the little life is saved. To-day within reach of this home, and many like it, the Mary Isabel Alien Memorial Hospital at Gray Hawk, Kentucky, stands with open doors and inviting beds for all who suffer. [Footnote: Women's Board of Domestic Missions, Reformed Church in America.] Whatever equipment and loving service can do to provide healing may be found here. * * * * *