by Helen Wells
“Come on, Cherry,” said her father, “tell us his name.”
Cherry’s dark eyes danced and she shook her head. “I’ll tell you, though, about a pretty special person who really has me interested.”
“Someone at Thomas and Parke’s?”
“Yes, Mother. That department store is chock-full of interesting people. It’s a whole world in itself. Well, her name is Mrs. Julian. Anna Elizabeth Julian, and from the few words we’ve exchanged, I think she’s someone I’d like to know better.”
Cherry’s family peppered her with questions. She tried to answer everybody at once, and enjoy Thanksgiving turkey at the same time. No, she hardly knew Mrs. Julian—Cherry was so new on the job she didn’t know many people yet—but liked the young woman’s lovely, fragile appearance and friendly manner. Cherry had been struck by her extreme shyness, an unexpected trait in business. Mrs. Julian sold art objects and antiques. Fabulous things like porcelains and flowery Aubusson carpets and painted Venetian furniture and Chinese jade. Mrs. Julian apparently knew a great deal about art objects; only another woman and a man, besides the department head, were qualified to deal in these museum pieces.
“Emerald earrings that belonged to a queen, and Mother, what a collection of fans!” Cherry exclaimed. “A real treasure house, that department. … Yes, Charlie, I do spend my time in the store’s hospital. Working. Antiques are located on the same floor as the medical department, the sixth floor, along with the personnel office and the—”
Cherry broke off short. Charlie grinned.
“The what?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“We will now,” Mrs. Ames announced, “have our pumpkin pie and coffee. Charlie, dear, will you help clear the table?”
“You women certainly stick together,” Charlie complained, but he kissed their mother lightly on the cheek. “If anyone took an equal interest in my job, I’d be complimented.”
“We already know all about your job,” Mr. Ames pointed out.
Charlie worked in Indianapolis, near home, in the engineering division of a large automotive plant. The only fault he could find with his job was that it did not involve airplanes—he had flown as an Air Force pilot—but at any rate he was working with machinery and speed.
In fact, he sprinted out with the platters so fast that his mother pleaded for the safety of her best china. Mr. Ames refused to help this once, and sat contentedly in the armchair at the head of the table.
“Faster, you slaves. Cherry, that’s a mighty pretty red dress you’re wearing. Matches your cheeks.”
“Thank you, Dad. You always were partial to red.”
“Well, I’m partial to my daughter. If there’s a young man in New York you’re interested in, I’d like to have a look at him.”
“Why, Dad! I’m not that serious.”
Her father grunted. “You never can tell what will happen.”
During the balance of dinner, Cherry’s mother kept the questions to what nursing in a New York department store was like. The two Ames men were foiled.
This Thanksgiving afternoon was gray and windy, not a promising day for a walk. The big house grew quiet. Charlie went across the street to see Bob Pritchett. Cherry’s mother was resting now, for some neighbors had promised to come in later. Her father was in the living room reading a book. How quiet it was! For a few moments Cherry stood listening to the tick of the grandfather clock on the stair landing. It hadn’t been peaceful or quiet at the girls’ boarding school where she recently had been nurse-in-charge, but it had been a lot of fun! This new department store assignment was fun, too, though it certainly was never very quiet in New York!
“Well, if I enjoy the peace and quiet at home so much,” Cherry challenged herself, “why don’t I stay home? There ought to be two of me, one to go gallivanting around nursing, and one to stay home and love it.”
She did care deeply for this house, and for this small town. Her grandparents, and their parents, had lived here. As she went up the long staircase Cherry touched the polished stair rail, which had heel nicks where she and Charlie used to slide down. In her own bright red-and-white room she gazed out at the garden and yard below. The lilac bush brushed her windows with bare branches, and her mother’s flower beds looked straggly. Perhaps she was lucky, with winter setting in, to be returning to a great city with all its activity and brilliance. And new people to get better acquainted with, like Tom Reese and Mrs. Julian.
Cherry was halfway through her packing when her mother peeked in.
“What are you smiling to yourself about?”
“Come in, Mother.” Cherry pulled the door open and offered her mother the small slipper chair.
“I hate to see you packing. This visit has been so short.”
“Awfully good, though,” Cherry said. “We’ve talked constantly for two days and two evenings now. We had so much news to catch up on.”
“Yet in all our talking you didn’t mention any romance.”
Cherry laughed and ran her hand through her dark curls in a gesture of despair.
“All right, all right! His name is Tom Reese, he’s assistant to the store manager, and besides that, he supervises the sixth and seventh floors. He sort of floats around the store wherever he’s needed. But his office is right next door to the medical department.”
Cherry’s mother smiled. “Is he very nice?”
“As far as I know, yes. I know him only in the store. Everybody there likes him. Tom Reese has been very nice and helpful to me, helping me step overnight into Ann’s job.”
“Well, it all sounds pleasant,” said Mrs. Ames. “I suppose you and he and everyone at Thomas and Parke’s will be extremely busy with the Christmas rush?”
“You’re so right. I hadn’t thought of that.”
The ringing of the doorbell interrupted their conversation.
“The Pritchetts!” Cherry’s mother exclaimed. “And I haven’t even washed my face! Cherry, go downstairs and help Dad entertain them.”
Cherry always enjoyed seeing their old neighbors again. Presently the Galloways came in to join the Ames family on Thanksgiving afternoon. But the ones Cherry most wanted to see—Dr. Joseph Fortune and his daughter, Midge—had driven up to Chicago for today. However, news of them was good; Dr. Joe seemed happy in administering the Hilton Clinic, and Midge was struggling through high school in her usual harum-scarum way. So Cherry felt satisfied about the Fortunes.
Old friends might be the best, but as dusk came, Cherry wished the visitors would not stay much longer. She had only an hour left before plane time. Finally, their neighbors understandingly left.
Then, with the living room cleared, and only the four Ameses occupying it, no one could think of much to say.
“Hope you have a good flight, Cherry.”
“I think I will, Charlie.”
A pause. Mr. Ames contributed: “The weather prediction is clear.”
“They’re not always right, though,” said Cherry’s mother. “Still, I see a star is out.”
The hands of the clock went around so slowly that Cherry realized, half-ashamed, how much she longed to be on her way. To be up to her ears in nursing and people! She said good-bye lightheartedly to her family.
“Good-bye, honey, and good luck—your new job sounds intriguing,” Cherry’s mother said. “But promise me you’ll be home for Christmas! You, too, Charles.”
They promised to try their best. Cherry quickly kissed her father and mother au revoir. Then Charlie drove her to Hilton Airport.
CHERRY AMES, RURAL NURSE
TITLES BY HELEN WELLS
Cherry Ames, Student Nurse
Cherry Ames, Senior Nurse
Cherry Ames, Army Nurse
Cherry Ames, Chief Nurse
Cherry Ames, Flight Nurse
Cherry Ames, Veterans’ Nurse
Cherry Ames, Private Duty Nurse
Cherry Ames, Visiting Nurse
Cherry Ames, Cruise Nurse
Cherry Ames, Boarding School Nurse
Cherry Ames, Department Store Nurse
Cherry Ames, Camp Nurse
Cherry Ames at Hilton Hospital
Cherry Ames, Island Nurse
Cherry Ames, Rural Nurse
Cherry Ames, Staff Nurse
Cherry Ames, Companion Nurse
Cherry Ames, Jungle Nurse
Cherry Ames, The Mystery in the Doctor’s Office
Cherry Ames, Ski Nurse Mystery
CHERRY AMES NURSE STORIES
CHERRY AMES RURAL NURSE
By
HELEN WELLS
Copyright © 1961 by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc.
Copyright © renewed 2008 by Harriet Schulman Forman
Springer Publishing Company, LLC
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Springer Publishing Company, LLC.
Springer Publishing Company, LLC
11 West 42nd Street
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www.springerpub.com
Acquisitions Editor: Sally J. Barhydt
Series Editor: Harriet S. Forman
Production Editor: Carol Cain
Cover design: Mimi Flow
Composition: Apex Publishing, LLC
08 09 10 11/ 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wells, Helen, 1910-
Cherry Ames rural nurse / by Helen Wells.
p. cm. — (Cherry Ames nurse stories)
Summary: Cherry, the only public health nurse assigned to a rural county in southeastern Iowa, uncovers a phony folk medicine production operation using ginseng growing wild in swamp water tainted with harmful bacteria.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8261-0425-0 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8261-0425-8 (alk. paper)
[1. Nurses—Fiction. 2. Patent medicines—Fiction. 3. Swindlers and swindling—Fiction. 4. Country life—Iowa—Fiction. 5. Iowa—History—20th century—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.W4644Cfe 2007
[Fic]—dc22
2007024059
Printed in the United States of America by Bang Printing
Contents
FOREWORD
I
NEW JOB, NEW FRIENDS
II
GUEST AT AUNT CORA’S
III
JANE’S STORY
IV
ALL KINDS OF PATIENTS
V
A CURIOUS EMERGENCY
VI
MEDICAL DETECTIVE WORK
VII
A THEFT AND SOME ANSWERS
VIII
A HOUSE WITH A SECRET
IX
THE SEARCH
X
A RUSE IS SET UP
XI
DISCOVERIES
XII
THE OLD PEDLAR REAPPEARS
XIII
BAD NEWS
XIV
THROUGH THE TRAP DOOR
XV
THE WHOLE TRUTH
Foreword
Helen Wells, the author of the Cherry Ames stories, said, “I’ve always thought of nursing, and perhaps you have, too, as just about the most exciting, important, and rewarding profession there is. Can you think of any other skill that is always needed by everybody, everywhere?”
I was and still am a fan of Cherry Ames. Her courageous dedication to her patients; her exciting escapades; her thirst for knowledge; her intelligent application of her nursing skills; and the respect she achieved as a registered nurse (RN) all made it clear to me that I was going to follow in her footsteps and become a nurse—nothing else would do.
Thousands of other young readers were motivated by Cherry Ames to become RNs as well. Through her thought-provoking stories, Cherry Ames led a steady stream of students into schools of nursing across the country well into the 1960s and 1970s when the series ended.
Readers who remember enjoying these books in the past will take pleasure in reading them again now—whether or not they chose nursing as their life’s work. Perhaps they will share them with others and even motivate a person or two to choose nursing as their career.
My nursing path has been rich and satisfying. I have delivered babies, cared for people in hospitals and in their homes, and saved lives. I have worked at the bedside and served as an administrator, I have published journals, written articles, taught students, consulted, and given expert testimony. Never once did I regret my decision to become a nurse.
During the time I was publishing a nursing journal, I became acquainted with Robert Wells, brother of Helen Wells. In the course of conversation I learned that Ms. Wells had passed on and left the Cherry Ames copyright to Mr. Wells. Because there is a shortage of nurses here in the US today, I thought, “Why not bring Cherry back to motivate a whole new generation of young people? Why not ask Mr. Wells for the copyright to Cherry Ames?” Mr. Wells agreed, and the republished series is dedicated both to Helen Wells, the original author, and to her brother, Robert Wells, who transferred the rights to me. I am proud to ensure the continuation of Cherry Ames into the twenty-first century.
The final dedication is to you, both new and former readers of Cherry Ames: It is my dream that you enjoy Cherry’s nursing skills as well as her escapades. I hope that young readers will feel motivated to choose nursing as their life’s work. Remember, as Helen Wells herself said: there’s no other skill that’s “always needed by everybody, everywhere.”
Harriet Schulman Forman, RN, EdD
Series Editor
CHERRY AMES, RURAL NURSE
CHAPTER I
New Job, New Friends
“WELL, NOW YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN, CHERRY AMES,” SAID the nurse supervisor. “Now you’ll be the one and only nurse responsible for good public health nursing service in this entire county. Just you, Cherry.”
“I’m scared and delighted all at once,” Cherry said. “All those families! We visited only a sampling of them. All those towns and villages!”
Cherry and Miss Hudson had just returned from their last visit together to the twenty-five square miles of Cherry’s county in southeastern Iowa. It was a lovely countryside of thriving farms, where some ten thousand persons lived and worked, and where their children attended rural schools.
“Scared or not,” Cherry said, “I feel I’m off to a good start, Miss Hudson. I learned a lot driving around with you, nursing under your supervision during this training period.”
“I think you’ll do fine,” her supervisor encouraged her. “I’ll visit you regularly, and you’ll come to monthly meetings with my fourteen other county nurses. Between times, if you need any advice or extra help, you can always phone or write me at the regional office upstate. Of course all the specialized facilities of the State Health Department are open to your patients on your request.” Miss Hudson smiled at her reassuringly. “And Dr. Miller, as health officer and your medical adviser, will confer with you frequently here in your office.”
Cherry had been assigned this rather bare office on the second floor of the county courthouse in the small, quiet town of Sauk. Sunlight sifting through the trees outside shone on file cabinets and tables stacked with county health records and pamphlets about community health.
“I’m glad,” Cherry admitted, “that Dr. Hal Miller is young and as new on his county job as I am on mine. Makes it easier to work comfortably together.”
The supervisor smiled. “Well, you have to be young and strong to go out in all kinds of weather to nurse patients deep in the country. And I shouldn’t say just ‘patients.’ Remember that well people, who can be prevented from getting sick, are just as big a part of your job, Cherry. Remember to teach good health care, and plan it in terms of whole communities.”
“I’ll remember,” Cherry said.
She felt rather breathless at the scope of her “oneman” job. Nursing new babies, chi
ldren’s diseases, old people, and persons hurt in farm accidents, nursing patients of the eight physicians scattered through the county, under the physicians’ direction—that was only part of it. She would also teach health at P.T.A. meetings; keep watch for any threatened epidemic; and, if necessary, set up emergency clinics under the direction of the county health officer. She’d have TB control work to do, too. And she’d act as the one and only school nurse at the twenty-odd rural schools in her county. The nearest hospital was twenty-five miles away. It was a tall order for one nurse.
“I’m lucky,” she thought, “to be working with a county doctor as nice as Hal Miller.”
Miss Hudson picked up her handbag and a sheaf of reports. She smothered a yawn. “Thank goodness it’s Saturday, and the beginning of Labor Day weekend.”
Cherry walked downstairs with her supervisor. “You still have a long drive home, haven’t you, Miss Hudson? Before you start out, would you like to come over to my Aunt Cora’s house and have some iced tea?”
Aunt Cora, Cherry knew, could be counted on for hospitality at the drop of a hat. Hadn’t she taken Cherry herself in to stay at her comfortable house here in Sauk? Aunt Cora was one big reason Cherry had applied for this position as rural nurse.
“Thanks, Cherry, but I promised my own family to be home for supper.” Miss Hudson opened her car door and held out her hand to Cherry. “Good luck.”
Just then another car pulled up alongside the supervisor’s. A tall, lean, young man in a rumpled suit jumped out and came over to the two nurses. A thermometer in its case stuck out of his breast pocket, and a late garden rose was in his lapel.
“Are you leaving now, Miss Hudson?” Dr. Hal Miller asked. “I tried to get here sooner, but I had to stay with the Ellis youngster until his hemorrhaging stopped. Hello, Miss Cherry.”
Cherry smiled at the young physician, and Miss Hudson said to him, “It’s nice of you to see me off. We’ll be meeting again soon in some of the state or university hospitals. Now if I don’t get started, I’ll never leave this lovely little old town.”