Delia's Doctors

Home

1. The Young Invalid



" They tell me spring is coming, That buds begin to swell ; They bid me trust the warm, bright days "Will cheer and make me well." - Mrs. S. J. Hale.

New England had been favored with. " a moderate winter." There had been, indeed, no want of bracing air and violent storms ; but so many mild, pleasant days had been granted, that the sages, who discussed the weather upon 'Change ; the editors, who duly recorded its fluctuations in the public journals ; and the venerable dames, who regularly compared the predictions of the almanac with the actual state of the atmosphere - all concurred in the opinion, that for many years we had not experienced so warm a winter. Aunt Deborah, a firm believer in the doctrine of Compensation, solemnly shook her head, declaring, with oracular look and tone, "that it made no kind of difference; the spring would be severe enough ; and that, take the year through, we must have the same amount of cold, and the same number of storms." Her theory was, this time, verified. The school-boys, who had sighed over the deficiency of snow-balls, rejoiced, as every few days in March and April clothed the earth with bridal array. More than once the streets seemed paved with ice, and the buildings roofed and boarded by the same material. The river was one solid, glacial block. "We might have constructed an ice palace, equal in beauty and magnificence to that of the Empress Anna. New England ice would have served as well as Russian. The banks of the North River were as eligible as those of the Neva.

The cold, also, of this memorable spring was so intense and so prolonged, that more than one fair maiden queried whether she were doomed to wear muff and tippet, cloak and India rubbers, till midsummer.

None, probably, longed for warm weather more than Delia Thornton and her alarmed friends. She was not yet nineteen, but her countenance betokened so great a degree of sadness, that it appeared as if life, instead of wearing its sunniest aspect, had made her case an exception to the general rule, and taken away the roses of health and the buoyancy of youth, while she should have been basking in the light and glory of her third septenniad. Her health, during childhood, had been delicate, but not to any great degree. Release from school, and liberty to follow the bent of her own inclination, were expected to give her robust health and a contented mind.

But Delia soon learned that no state had ever been so irksome as that which left her mistress of her own time, and arbitress of her own destiny. Those who knew that she had a full purse, a happy home, and a circle of indulgent relatives, wondered that she should ever be melancholy. The second winter of her emancipation from the restraints imposed by her teachers, found her not only listless and dejected, but actually ill both in body and mind.

Now, as another snow-storm was evidently approaching, deferring still longer the prospect of fine weather, she sank into a large, lolling chair, and felt, to use her own expression, that she was " ready to follow the advice bestowed upon the muchenduring Job, by his impatient wife, to ' curse God and die.' "

The mother raised her hands and eyes, with a look of horror at her daughter's impiety. The father glanced furtively toward his smitten child, uttered a few soothing words, and again relapsed into silence. Ella, an impulsive girl of fourteen, lost all her smiles and dimples. James, a year older, but decidedly her inferior, looked up in blank amazement. Carrie, a little elf, not yet numbering her fifth year, pleaded with her ruby lips for a kiss, as she said, in plaintive accents, " Dear Delia."

The door opened. Charles, the eldest son, a young man of twenty-four, entered, accompanied by his betrothed, Adelaide Wilmot. Ella clapped her hands, shouting -

" You are welcome. We are all as dull as Delia, who has been talking of death, as if that were an idea for young people."

" Ella, Ella," remonstrated Mrs. Thornton, " when will you remember what I have so often told you - that the young die as well as the old ?"

" I remember it, mamma, as well as my alphabet ; but I believe, with Adelaide, that I may live my threescore years and ten, if I obey the laws which God has given for the preservation of life and health."

" Come, come, child," interposed her father, "you are quite too young to talk in that way. Take your book, and learn your lesson."

Ella obeyed, with a sigh ; for, although an eager student, she would gladly have participated in the conversation.

Meanwhile, Adelaide, having taken a seat near Delia, was kindly inquiring for her health, but with a countenance too cheerful to imply much sympathy with the young invalid's distress.

Delia, turning away, with a petulant air, muttered, " You need not ask. You know that I am never well."

Charles, who was sitting opposite, silently watching the progress of the interview, colored at Delia's rudeness. He looked intently upon the future sisters-in-law, and sadly suspected that no congeniality of sentiment would ever be manifested.

Adelaide was a noble specimen of womanhood; a perfect contrast to the fragile being who sat by her side. Delia was pale, slender, and low-spirited ; a fair representative of thousands of American girls. Adelaide had a well-rounded, symmetrical figure, eyes beaming with health and gayety, and cheeks tinged with the brilliant hues of the carnation. Thought kindled upon her lofty brow, and hope irradiated her expressive countenance.

" How could you venture out in such a storm?" asked Delia, wearily, as if a sense of the civility due to her guest was prevailing over her unsocial feelings.

" Oh," answered the visitor, with a bright smile, " I enjoy a storm. I triumph in overcoming the obstacles presented by the raging elements. Therefore, I proposed to sally forth, and see for myself how pale you were, instead of sitting at home all the evening."

"Is not she a brave girl?" asked Charles, with an air of pride. " I shook a large snow-drift from her cloak into the entry. James, you can make fifty balls from the mass. As for her moccasins, they seemed three feet long, so tenaciously had the snow adhered to them."

The children laughed. Even Delia smiled. Mrs. Thornton, however, whose hospitality did not extend to stormy evenings, hastily left the room, with an ominous frown upon her brow, and directed a domestic " to sweep away the snow-drift which Miss Wilmot had brought into the house."

"Delia," said Adelaide, kindly, "arc you no better ?"

" Not so well," was the laconic reply.

" You should take more exercise."

Delia answered by a look of impatience. After a pause, she constrained herself to say : " I shall be well when summer comes. Winter is destructive to one's constitution ; and spring, even when warm, is ruinous in its bad effects. I presume that these are only ' spring feelings.' "

" You mistake," said Adelaide, gently ; " winter, in this latitude, is invigorating. From a dread of the cold, people immure themselves in their houses, sit all day by a great fire, neglect air and exercise, and eat as much as if they were laboring ten hours out of the twenty-four. In the spring, the season for the renewal of life and joy, they complain of ill health and low spirits. If the laws of life and health were obeyed during the winter, an accession of vigor would characterize the spring. Like the plants and the lower animals, human beings would display a revival of elasticity. Such are the views of an eminent physiologist."

Without being quite conscious of the act, Delia slightly moved her chair, that she might be rather more remote from the philosophic young lady. For a moment, Adelaide's countenance was shaded. She soon rallied. Then, after sporting a while with the children, and learning that Georgie was asleep in his cradle, she signified to Charles that it was time for her to return home. The light-hearted pair again went forth to encounter the storm. The children felt that all the brightness and beauty of the evening had vanished. James and Ella conned their lessons in silence. Carrie tried in vain to fashion her doll's dress in imitation of Adelaide's. The young invalid languidly rose to retire for the night.

" Delia, my darling," said her father, obstructing her passage from the room, " tomorrow you must have a physician."

A tear trickled down the pallid cheek of the young girl. She mournfully shook her head, and slowly retreated to her chamber. Her mother soon followed, to administer a dose of valerian.