birth-beds

Updated: May 29, 2025

The brave old campaigner, who had sat beside so many death-beds and so many birth-beds, and had seen so many come and so many go, at the exits and entrances of life, met the matter stoutly and without flinching. His stoic air, his words of passive acceptance, laid a calm upon the first outburst of bitter grief from the two young creatures.

- Southern Lights and Shadows

Thus it happens that the ablest chronicler of their experiences in our literature was a lawyer. A life spent in watching over death-beds or over birth-beds which are infinitely more trying takes something from a man's sense of proportion, as constant strong waters might corrupt his palate. The overstimulated nerve ceases to respond.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Round the Red Lamp