Part 13 (1/2)
”No,” said his son ”Our knives are all lost The crows took them”
”I knew that,” said the doctor sweetly, ”and so, when I met Zip uptown just now, I asked her to lend me one, and she did Here it is”
He pulled out the knife and handed it to the boy and, when the latter expressed doubt and wonder, insisted that the crow had loaned it to hi one of the children to run and ask Zip if she would lend hih a sad man at times, as I understood, the doctor was not a pessimist, and inof odd characters, sought relief froe practice of his profession put upon hi out of these little practical jokes, and he had been known to go to h
One of the, to hi, related to a country singing school which was located in the neighborhood of Pierceton, in which reading (the alphabet, at least), spelling, geography, arithht by a process of singing The method adopted in this fore by singing it
Thus in the case of geography the students would sing the nahest peaks, cities, rivers, principal points of interest, and so on, until all information about that particular country had been dulyor rhyme
Occasionally they would have a school-day on which the local dignitaries would be invited, and on a number of these occasions the doctor was, for arave and reverent listener On one occasion, however, he was”Africa-a, Africa-a, mountains of the moo-oo-oon” drawled out of the s, he decided to stop in and listen a while Having tethered his horse outside he knocked at the door and was received by the little English singing teacher who, after showing him to a seat, immediately called upon the class for an exhibition of their finest wisdom When they had finished this the teacher turned to hi he would especially like theravely, and no doubt with an a the Rocky Mountains, but as the h, and the amount of time I have so li too much”
”Oh, not at all, not at all” airily replied the teacher, and turning to his class, he exclaientleentles than it is to sing of _low_ an to demonstrate that in respect to vocalization there was no difference at all
Only those, however, who knew Dr Gridley in the sickroom, and knew him well, ever discovered the really finest trait of his character: a keen, unshi+elded sensibility to and sy, that could not bear to inflict the slightest additional pain He was really, in the entle touch and gentle step, and a devotion to duty that carried hi One of his chiefest oppositions, according to his daughter, was to telling the friends or relatives of any stricken person that there was no hope Instead, he would use every delicate shade of phrasing and tone in iive less pain ”I remember in the case of my father,” said one of his friends, ”when the last day ca the end was near, he was co reainst my father's chest and said, 'Doctor Gridley, the disease is under control, I think I can hear the respiration to the bottos'
”'Yes, yes,' he answered me sadly, but noith an implication which could by no means be misunderstood, 'it is nearly always so The failure is in the recuperative energy Vitality runs too low' It meant from the first, 'Your father will not live'”
In the case of a little child with itis, the same person was sent to him to ask what of the child--better or worse His ansas: ”He is passing as free from pain as ever I knew a case of this kind”
In yet another case of a dying woerous?” ”Not in the nature of the malady, madam,” was his sad and sympathetic reply, ”but fatal in the condition it e”
One of his patients was a far house a fewabout his barn met with a very serious accident which involved a possible injury to the gall bladder The main accident was not in itself fatal, but the possible injury to the gall bladder was, and this, if it existed, would show as a yellow tint in the eyeball on the tenth day Fearing the danger of this, he co that he could do little after that time but that he would come just the same and make the patient as co by the bedside and whiling awayOn this day, according to his daughter, who had it from the sick man's relatives, his face but ill concealed the anxiety he felt Coh to pretend to reach for a water bucket With this in his hand he turned and gave one long keen look in the eye of the sick man, then walked down the yard to a chair under a tree so and apparently grieved, the certainty of the death of the patient affecting him as much as if he were his own child
”There was no need for words,” said one of theure, as he walked slowly and with bent head, told all of us who saw hione and that death had won the victory”
One of his perpetual charges, as I learned later, was a poor old unfortunate by the naround a half dozen miles west of Warsaw, and who existed from year to year heaven only kno
Id never had any money, friends or relatives, and was always troubled with illness or hunger in some form or other, and yet the doctor always spoke of hian” and would often call out there on his rounds to see hoas getting along One snointer's evening as he was traveling ho day's ride, he chanced to recollect the fact that he was in the neighborhood of his worthless old charge, and fancying that heturned his horse into the lane which led up to the door When he reached the house he noticed that no s frohtly ri at the door and receiving no response, he opened it and went in There he found his old charge, sick and wandering in hisin pain There was no fire in the fireplace The coverings hich the bed was fitted were but two or three old worn and faded quilts, and the snoas sifting in badly through the cracks where the chinking had fallen out between the logs, and under the doors and s
Going up to the sufferer and finding that some one of his old, and to the doctor well-known, rip upon hiive hith as possible, and then went out into the yard, where, after putting up his horse, he gathered chips and wood fro done this, he put on the kettle, tri such stimulants as the patient could stand, took his place at the bedside, where he re and the patient as co the sufferer died and when the sun ell up he finally returned to his family, who anxiously solicited hian,” he said
”What's ailing hi now,” he returned ”It was only last night,” and for years afterward he co always at the conclusion of his re to be sick and die without friends
His love for his old friends and fa, and he could no more bear to see an old friend move away than he could to lose one of his patients One of his oldest friends was a fine old Christian lady by the name of Weeks, who lived down in Louter Creek bottoms and in whose household he had practiced for nearly fifty years During the latter part of his life, however, this faan to break up, and finally when there was no one left but the mother she decided to move over into Whitley County, where she could stay with her daughter Just before going, however, she expressed a wish to see Doctor Gridley, and he called in upon her A little dinner had been prepared in honor of his co After it was over and the old times were fully discussed he was about to take his leave when Mrs Weeks disappeared fro upon her arm a beautiful yarn spread which she held out before her and, in her nervous, feeble way getting the attention of the little audience, said:
”Doctor, I ahter, and I don't suppose I will get to see you very often anyold, and it will be too far for you to coive you this spread that I have woven with e It isn't very much, but it is meant for a token of the love and esteem I bear you, and in remembrance of all that you have done foras she brought it forward The doctor, who had been wholly taken by surprise by this kindlyher inified and erave, his own eyes ith tears of appreciation
Balancing the hoift upon his extended hands, he waited until the force of his own sentihtly subsided, when he replied:
”Madaift hich you have chosen to remember me as much as I honor the sentiment which has produced it There are, I know, threads of feeling woven into it stronger than any cords of wool, andthan all the fabrics of this world I have been your physician now for fifty years, and have been a witness of your joys and sorrows But, as hly as I prize this token of your regard, I can accept it but upon one condition, and that is, Mrs Weeks, that you proht, how stormy the sky, or how deep the waters that intervene, you will not fail to send for e and my pleasure, and I should not rest content unless I kneere so”