How glad I was to hear that she would live , and still more rejoiced to learn next day that Cora was near by , badly burned but not in danger , and anxious to see the child she had saved . `` Nurse Benson took the little thing in her arms to visit my poor mistress , and I went too . But alas ! I never should have known the gay and blooming girl of the day before . Her face and hands were terribly burnt , and she would never again be able to play the lovely queen on any stage , for her fresh beauty was forever lost . `` Hard days for all of us ; I took my share of trouble with the rest , though I only suffered from the strain to my back . Nurse Benson straightened me out and kept me in use , so I saw much of pain and patience in that great house , because the little gray shawl which I fastened covered a tender heart , and on that motherly bosom many aching heads found rest , many weary creatures breathed their last , and more than one unhappy soul learned to submit . `` Among these last was poor Cora , for it was very hard to give up beauty , health , and the life she loved , so soon . Yet I do not think she ever regretted the sacrifice when she saw the grateful child well and safe , for little Sally was her best comforter , and through the long weeks she lay there half blind and suffering , the daily visit of the little one cheered her more than anything else . The poor mother was lost in the great fire , and Cora adopted the orphan as her own , and surely she had a right to what she had so dearly bought . `` They went away together at last , one quite well and strong again , the other a sad wreck , but a better woman for the trial , I think , and she carried comfort with her . Poor little Sally led her , a faithful guide , a tender nurse , a devoted daughter to her all her life . '' Here the pin paused , out of breath , and Miss Ellen shook a bright drop off the lace that lay in her lap , as she said in a tone of real interest , -- `` What happened next ? How long did you stay in the hospital ? '' `` I stayed a year , for Nurse used me one day to pin up a print at the foot of a poor man 's bed , and he took such comfort in it they let it hang till he died . A lovely picture of a person who held out his arms to all the suffering and oppressed , and they gathered about him to be comforted and saved . The forlorn soul had led a wicked life , and now lay dying a long and painful death , but something in that divine face taught him to hope for pardon , and when no eye but mine saw him in the lonely nights he wept , and prayed , and struggled to repent . I think he was forgiven , for when at last he lay dead a smile was on his lips that never had been there before . Then the print was taken down , and I was used to pin up a bundle of red flannel by one of the women , and for months I lay in a dark chest , meditating on the lessons I had already learned . `` Suddenly I was taken out , and when a queer round pin-ball of the flannel had been made by a nice old lady , I was stuck in it with a party of fat needles , and a few of my own race , all with stout bodies and big heads . ''
` The dear boy is clumsy with his fingers , and needs strong things to use , ' XXXXX the old lady , as she held the tomato cushion in both hands and kissed it before she put it into a soldier 's ` comfort bag . ' ''
carried happened let loved made paused said stuck taken taught