TWO SKETCHES
One evening, when they were especially late, and were
hurrying to get home to feed the others, · Flora was knocked
down by a car on one of the roads.
The bag of flour she was carrying prevented her from
seeing the car, and the man who was driving did not see her
step out from the bushes at the side of the road until too late.
She was knocked about twelve feet.
Mr. Haywood, the man who was driving the car, took his
flashlight and found the girl unconscious on the side of the
road. She was holding in her arms the torn and empty bag of
flour.
As carefully as he could Mr. Haywood carried the girl to
his car and laid her in the back seat with her :1ead on her
mother's lap. He drove them to a hospital, where they found
that Flora's leg was broken in two places.
As there are no public hospitals in our county, the girl was
taken to a private institution. Mr. Haywood had his car in–
sured, so the insurance company guaranteed to pay all expenses
while Flora was sick.
Insurance companies pay the doctor's bill and the hospital
bill only when the patient has been dismissed from the hospital.
Some time later Flora was returned to her parents in an
ambulance. They were surprised, for they had expected to see
her come out of the hospital well and strong again. Since she
was the eldest of the children they had hoped she might work
in the mill along with her fath er and bring in some additional
money for the f amily. But when sh e '.vas in bed again at home
they saw that her broken leg had not healed. The bone was
sticking out. The point of it could be seen under her skin. She
could not walk.
Mrs. Bradley, the school teacher, was at the freight-car
house of the Mel vers when Flora wa s brought home. Mrs.
Bradley has a fine, generous nature, and is not afraid of say–
ing wh at she thinks . When she saw Flora, when she realized
the broken bone had not healed, but had knitted together so
9
