June 1903

"Anne," Mrs. Lynde called out, "Elmira Pye told me that Tillie Boulter got a position at Charlottetown Hospital as a nurse. Is it true?"

"Yes! We're all very proud of her!"

"But Anne, that place is Catholic! She can't be serious!" She turned to her oldest friend ignoring the Green Gables tea and plum puffs that Marilla had laid out on the table around Anne's vase of June Lillies. "Mark my words, Marilla, those nuns will turn her Romish inside of three months! What in heavens name was she thinking? Is her mother alright with this?"

Marilla paused in drinking her tea to quip, "I think she just wanted a job, Rachel. And I presume she's very proud of her daughter as I would be if Anne were in that position," Marilla continued glancing over at her daughter as she said that.

"Hmph."

"Charlottetown is the best hospital on the Island, Mrs. Lynde," Gilbert said from his place of drinking tea while leaning his back against the sink. "If I needed to send a patient to a hospital, I'd rather send them to one equipped with the best rather than one with poor facilities."

Mrs. Lynde rounded on him. "There are only two hospitals on the Island, Gilbert! Everyone knows that!"*

"My sentiments still remain whether there are two hospitals on the Island or two hundred, Mrs. Lynde," he replied calmly but firmly. He drained his cup and put it in the sink before calling out to his fiancé with an easy smile. "Ready to go?"

"Mhm!" Anne grabbed his hand started pulling him out of the house.

"Be back by supper, please" Marilla said to Anne a few feet away.

They stopped and Anne walked back the few steps to where her mother sat. "Of course, Marilla," she said before leaning down to peck her cheek. "We'll be good. I promise."

Marilla gave her a doubtful look that Anne (and Gilbert) wouldn't find themselves embroiled in some mischief of Anne's own making and let them go without a word. The screen door closed gently behind them as the two young adults walked off to explore the sunshine.

"Marilla, they need a chaperone!"

"Oh hush, Rachel, they're only children."

"They're 20 and 22! I was married with children by then! Besides, a future doctor and an Avonlea schoolmistress come the fall? They're leaders in the community now, Marilla, that's what. Some of the Sloane or Pye families might have an objection if they see the two of them without a chaperone."

"They'll be lost in the woods or in the orchard as you and I both know. No one will see them in the former and Bash can watch them from afar in the latter."

"Hmph," Mrs. Lynde snorted. "If you say so…. Well Marilla, this won't turn out well, that's what. I don't mind Tillie becoming a nurse; I just don't understand why she couldn't have stayed right where she was at PEI Hospital! The nuns will beat the Presbyterianism right out of her. I sure am glad though that Anne will be teaching here come the fall; it's good she's come back to Avonlea right where she belongs. I hope she'll be a good help to you, Marilla. Alright," she said standing up at the end. "I'm off to see Mrs. Boulter to see what in Providence's name she was thinking of letting Tillie accept that position before I go home to make supper. Give Anne my congratulations won't you?"

"Of course I will," Marilla answered with a smile. "Thank you for coming, Rachel."

"It's no problem. I'm sure I'll see you soon."

#

* Mrs. Lynde is (mostly) right. At the time of this story, there was the Charlottetown Hospital (also known as the "City" or "Catholic" Hospital) and the Prince Edward Island (PEI) Hospital (also known as the "Protestant" Hospital). The Charlottetown Hospital was established in 1879 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlottetown. It was on Dorchester Street in between Queen and Great George Streets. (If you want to find the spot where it originally stood on Google Maps, go around the corner of St. Dunstan's Cathedral and about where the side door is is where the hospital once stood.) Charlottetown Hospital later moved to the corner of Dorchester and Haviland Streets. It's no longer there.

The PEI Hospital was established in 1884 because Charlottetown's residents were not happy about the fact that the Charlottetown Hospital was affiliated with a religious body. So they wanted a hospital with no religious body attached to it. Hence why the PEI Hospital came to fruition. It was initially at the "Haszard House" on the corner of St. Peters (now Longworth) and Cumberland. However, by 1900, it outgrew the building and they moved to 37 Kensington Road, in then-rural Parkdale (which is now a neighborhood of Charlottetown). In 1934, they moved back to Charlottetown. These two hospitals were consolidated into the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown in 1982 and therefore closed.

The third hospital was what was then known as Prince Edward Island Hospital for the Insane (now known as Hillsborough Hospital) in Charlottetown.

The next hospital to be established on the Island wasn't until the Prince County Hospital in Summerside in 1912.