Evelyn Haywood, you are a devilish friend!
Just now a boy came to the house with a message?—?Miss Evelyn says you should know the post surgeon is seeing to the General at two o’clock and will likely stay for some time, so if you were wanting to see Dr Randall, you won’t find him at the hospital then.
And so it seems this afternoon is my chance.
We could not stop laughing, so that still my cheeks hurt. Evelyn ran into the house just as I was pulling the book out from beneath my coat, and I held it up over my head like a prized trophy, and we began to laugh until we couldn’t speak. It took me some time to tell her of my adventure.
I had waited until a little after two, and then walked the short distance to the hospital. Just as Evelyn said, his assistant informed me that the surgeon was out and not expected to return before the end of the day. Unless it was dire, he said, I should come back tomorrow. I said I was fine, but could I please sit in his office for a moment to rest?
When the assistant left me to return to the main hospital room, I quickly studied the various titles on the shelf. On Deafness and Noises in the Ear. Disorders of Digestion. Treatise on Gunshot Wounds and Other Injuries of the Chest. I was sure that on my earlier visits I had seen at least two or three books on maternity. And then at last, “A Manual of Obstetrics.” I heard footsteps approaching the door, so sat quickly down in a chair with as much nonchalance as I could muster. The assistant passed by without looking in on me. I quickly grabbed the book off the shelf and shoved it beneath my coat.
It was only as I neared the outside hospital door that I thought to look again. “A Practical Treatise on the Most Obvious Diseases Peculiar to Horses”! I had taken the wrong book.
As I turned back into the hospital, I ran nearly headlong into the assistant.
“Are you well, Mrs Forrester?” he asked with genuine concern. He noticed the way I clutched my abdomen as I tried to hide the book beneath my coat.
“Yes, yes, just a bit tired. Might I sit down one last time? You don’t need to trouble yourself?—?I can find my way back to Dr Randall’s office.”
In such a way, I was able to borrow the correct book and depart again without notice.
“Well, let me see what all the trouble is about,” Evelyn said when I had finished my story. “Oh, Sophie. Are you?” So I told her my news and begged her confidence.
As I write this, however, I am anxious about it all. I do hope I remembered to rearrange the books on the shelf as I should have, or the empty space is sure to be noticed.
February 15
From “A Manual of Obstetrics,” Philadelphia, 1884
Third Month. —?Foetus grows to length of 2, 2?, and by the end of month to 3 or even 3? inches. Fingers and toes formed, but are webbed. Head large compared with body. Eyes prominent, lids joined together.
Fourth month?—?Sex distinguishable. Nails begin to appear.
Fifth month?—?Weight increases to 6 or 10 ounces. Head one-third the length of whole foetus. Hair and nails visible.
Fingers and toes webbed like a waterfowl?—?how extraordinary! Dr Randall estimates that I am at least four months into my maternity. Any day now, according to this book, I should feel the quickening.
I tried this afternoon to lie flat on our bed perfectly still for a long time, in hopes of feeling some flutter or twinge. Instead, I fell asleep without ever sensing any movement. I do begin to feel a new weight in my belly, however, as if I have swallowed a small sack of grain.
Oregon Post
NEWS FROM ALASKA
April 10, 1885?—?The following news from Alaska has been received via Port Townsend: Commander Daley of the USS Pinta reports an Indian uprising on Perkins Island off the southern coast of Alaska.
On the night of April 2, the Indians of the village, under the influence of a new batch of "hoochenoo," attacked the Alaska Commercial Co. trading store operated by Mr. Wesley Jenson. When Mr. Jenson attempted to beat back the attack, an Indian bludgeoned him with a club. In defense, the trader shot down the Indian. During the rest of the night, the hostile Indians rampaged through the village.
A visit from the fourth-rate man-of-war Pinta, even with her small armament, had a quieting effect upon the malcontents, said Lieut.-Commander Daley. The recent shelling of a nearby village by the US Revenue Cutter Thomas Corwin certainly served as deterrent to the Perkins Island Indians. By all accounts, these Indians respect force, and, when ruled with a firm but just hand, behave well.
According to the trader Mr. Jenson: "They are learning to respect our authority, and as long as false sentimentality is not allowed to rule, their respect will increase."
When the surgeon from the Pinta went ashore to care for the wounded, he found black measles and scarlet fever raging fearfully among the half-breed children on the island. The surgeon has since been kept steadily occupied.
Attention Mr. Josh Sloan
Alpine Historical Museum
Alpine, Alaska