Hospital Corridors Read Online Free PDF

which Montreal is built, but she was secretly relieved when the driver pointed ahead to a large and imposing building, with the information that this was the Dominion Hospital. She had been somewhat afraid during the last ten minutes that she might arrive there as a casualty, rather than a prospective nurse.
    Nothing could have been in greater contrast to the rather old-fashioned, shabby bulk of All Souls. But, as Madeline gazed at the immensely tail, modern building, with its austere but beautiful lines, its long, shining windows which gave back the reflection of the early evening sun, and its well-laid-out gardens, she knew that, in some curious way, here was a link with the familiar, often-reviled but somehow dear All Souls, where she had had her training.
    Under this splendid roof the same rhythm of activity went on. The same fears, the same hopes, the same drama. Here life was ushered in and death held at bay as long as possible. The outer shell might be different, but the spirit—the flame of service which burnt steadily within it—were the same. It gave one a curious feeling of coming home, and Madeline found there was a tightness in her throat because of it.
    The taxi stopped at the imposing main doorway and Madeline glimpsed a lofty, beautifully proportioned entrance hall, panelled in light wood and what looked like dark green marble. Then a porter came out and, on hearing that she was a new nurse, directed the driver to take her round to the West Wing, where the Nurses’ Home was situated.
    The entrance to the Nurses’ Home was less imposing but remarkably pleasant, Madeline thought in that first moment. Large swing doors admitted her to what might have been the hall of a big country club. And when she and her luggage had been deposited at the reception desk, a small, bright-eyed little woman, with a brisk manner and a marked French accent, told her that Miss Onslow, the Superintendent of Nurses, would see her.
    In her correspondence with the hospital, Madeline had gathered that the Superintendent of Nurses corresponded to the Matron at All Souls. She was therefore secretly much surprised when she was ushered into a pleasant office, where a slightly built, youngish woman in uniform rose, shook hands with her and said,
    “How are you, Miss Gill? You’ve certainly come a long way to be with us.”
    Madeline responded suitably to this, wondering meanwhile if, in spite of the uniform, this were really Miss Onslow or perhaps Miss Onslow’s secretary. Somehow she seemed so—so—Madeline groped for the right phrase and could only find “unlike a Matron”.
    Her own Matron at All Souls had not by any means been the dragon of popular fancy. But there had been about her an aura of reserve and remoteness, a barrier which one did not cross. One approached Matron (and then only when bidden); one did not sit and chat with her. And, while her strict justice was tempered with both humour and kindness at times, one always thought of her as slightly removed from the ordinary run of mortals.
    Miss Onslow, on the contrary—for Miss Onslow it was—seemed immensely interested in Madeline’s journey, and spoke of her own hope of going to England one day, almost as one girl to another.
    There was, however, nothing casual about her when it came to professional matters. She seemed to recall every detail of Madeline’s experience, as outlined in her own letters, and she explained rapidly and clearly the minor differences between British and Canadian training which necessitated the extra year in a Canadian hospital for any British nurse who wished to become also a Canadian Registered Nurse.
    “Very little of it will be entirely new ground to you, Pm sure,” she told Madeline with a smile, “and I hope you’ll soon feel completely at home here. Now I’m going to hand you over to Miss Edney, who will be your immediate neighbour in the home. She is also a student nurse in her last year, and she’ll be able to tell you