Kiss me good-night , and then ` I 'll be good , ' as Jill says . '' Nestling his head upon his mother 's arm , Jack lay quiet till , lulled by the music of his mates , he drowsed away into the dreamless sleep which is Nurse Nature 's healthiest soothing sirup for weary souls and bodies . Chapter III . Ward No. 1 For some days , nothing was seen and little was heard of the `` dear sufferers , '' as the old ladies called them . But they were not forgotten ; the first words uttered when any of the young people met were : `` How is Jack ? '' `` Seen Jill yet ? '' and all waited with impatience for the moment when they could be admitted to their favorite mates , more than ever objects of interest now . Meantime , the captives spent the first few days in sleep , pain , and trying to accept the hard fact that school and play were done with for months perhaps . But young spirits are wonderfully elastic and soon cheer up , and healthy young bodies heal fast , or easily adapt themselves to new conditions . So our invalids began to mend on the fourth day , and to drive their nurses distracted with efforts to amuse them , before the first week was over . The most successful attempt originated in Ward No. 1 , as Mrs. Minot called Jack 's apartment , and we will give our sympathizing readers some idea of this place , which became the stage whereon were enacted many varied and remarkable scenes . Each of the Minot boys had his own room , and there collected his own treasures and trophies , arranged to suit his convenience and taste . Frank 's was full of books , maps , machinery , chemical messes , and geometrical drawings , which adorned the walls like intricate cobwebs . A big chair , where he read and studied with his heels higher than his head , a basket of apples for refreshment at all hours of the day or night , and an immense inkstand , in which several pens were always apparently bathing their feet , were the principal ornaments of his scholastic retreat . Jack 's hobby was athletic sports , for he was bent on having a strong and active body for his happy little soul to live and enjoy itself in . So a severe simplicity reigned in his apartment ; in summer , especially , for then his floor was bare , his windows were uncurtained , and the chairs uncushioned , the bed being as narrow and hard as Napoleon 's . The only ornaments were dumbbells , whips , bats , rods , skates , boxing-gloves , a big bath-pan and a small library , consisting chiefly of books on games , horses , health , hunting , and travels . In winter his mother made things more comfortable by introducing rugs , curtains , and a fire . Jack , also , relented slightly in the severity of his training , occasionally indulging in the national buckwheat cake , instead of the prescribed oatmeal porridge , for breakfast , omitting his cold bath when the thermometer was below zero , and dancing at night , instead of running a given distance by day . Now , however , he was a helpless captive , given over to all sorts of coddling , laziness , and luxury , and there was a droll mixture of mirth and melancholy in his face , as he lay trussed up in bed , watching the comforts which had suddenly robbed his room of its Spartan simplicity .
A delicious couch was there , with XXXXX reposing in its depths , half hidden under several folios which he was consulting for a history of the steam-engine , the subject of his next composition .
Frank Jack Jill Minot boxing-gloves coddling days months night sirup