Mr. Midshipman Easy | Page 4

nurse, my dear."
"Examine what, Mr Easy?" continued the lady.
"Her head, my dear," replied the husband. "I must ascertain what her
propensities are."
"I think you had better leave her alone, Mr Easy. She comes this
evening, and I shall question her pretty severely. Doctor Middleton,
what do you know of this young person?"
"I know, madam, that she is very healthy and strong, or I should not
have selected her."
"But is her character good?"
"Really, madam, I know little about her character; but you can make

any inquiries you please. But at the same time I ought to observe, that if
you are too particular in that point, you will have some difficulty in
providing yourself."
"Well, I shall see," replied Mrs Easy. "And I shall feel," rejoined the
husband.
This parleying was interrupted by the arrival of the very person in
question, who was announced by the housemaid, and was ushered in.
She was a handsome, florid, healthy-looking girl, awkward and naive
in her manner, and apparently not over wise; there was more of the
dove than of the serpent in her composition.
Mr Easy, who was very anxious to make his own discoveries, was the
first who spoke. "Young woman, come this way, I wish to examine
your head."
"Oh! dear me, sir, it's quite clean, I assure you,". cried the girl,
dropping a curtsey.
Doctor Middleton, who sat between the bed and Mr Easy's chair,
rubbed his hands and laughed.
In the meantime, Mr Easy had untied the string and taken off the cap of
the young woman, and was very busy putting his fingers through her
hair, during which the face of the young woman expressed fear and
astonishment.
"I am glad to perceive that you have a large portion of benevolence."
"Yes," replied the young woman, dropping a curtsey. "And veneration
also." "Thanky, sir." "And the organ of modesty is strongly developed."
"Yes, sir," replied the girl with a smile. "That's quite a new organ,"
thought Dr Middleton. "Philo-pyogenitiveness very powerful." "If you
please, sir, I don't know what that is," answered Sarah, with a curtsey.
"Nevertheless you have given us a practical, illustration. Mrs Easy, I
am satisfied. Have you any questions to ask? But it is quite

unnecessary."
"To be sure I have, Mr Easy. Pray, young woman, what is your name?"
"Sarah, if you please, ma'am." "How long have you been married?"
"Married, ma'am?" "Yes, married." "If you please, ma'am, I had a
misfortune, ma'am," replied the girl, casting down her eyes. "What,
have you not been married?" "No, ma'am, not yet."
"Good heavens! Dr Middleton, what can you mean by bringing this
person here?" exclaimed Mrs Easy. "Not a married woman, and she has
a child!"
"If you please, ma'am," interrupted the young woman, dropping a
curtsey, "it was a very little one." "A very little one!" exclaimed Mrs
Easy. "Yes, ma'am, very small, indeed, and died soon after it was
born." "Oh, Dr Middleton!-what could you mean, Dr Middleton?"
"My dear madam," exclaimed the Doctor, rising from his chair, "this is
the only person that I could find suited to the wants of your child, and if
you do not take her I cannot answer for its life. It is true, that a married
woman might be procured; but married women, who have a proper
feeling, will not desert their own children; and as Mr Easy asserts, and
you appear to imagine, the temper and disposition of your child may be
affected by the nourishment it receives, I think it more likely to be
injured by the milk of a married woman who will desert her own child
for the sake of gain. The misfortune which has happened to this young
woman is not always a proof of a bad heart, but of strong attachment,
and the overweening confidence of simplicity."
"You are correct, Doctor," replied Mr Easy, "and her head proves that
she is a modest young woman, with strong religious feeling, kindness
of disposition, and every other requisite."
"The head may prove it all for what I know, Mr Easy, but her conduct
tells another tale."
"She is well fitted for the situation, ma'am," continued the Doctor.

"And if you please, ma'am," rejoined Sarah, "it was such a little one."
"Shall I try the baby, ma'am?" said the monthly nurse, who had listened
in silence. "It is fretting so, poor thing, and has its dear little fist right
down its throat."
Dr Middleton gave the signal of assent, and in a few seconds Master
John Easy was fixed to Sarah as tight as a leech.
"Lord love it, how hungry it is!-there, there, stop it a moment, it's
choking, poor thing!"
Mrs Easy, who was lying on her bed, rose up, and went to the child.
Her first