East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1859-08-04
From tho CaIifOrnia UoIden Age.
HYDROPATHY VS.. ALLOPATHY
OIs A NIGHT I'm A SHAFT.
BY OLD BLOCK.

visited the mining regions, and especial
ly the quartz mining portion of Califor-
MIA, will have observed the numerous
prospecting shafts in the hills, which,
whether successful or not, are unavoida-
bly, left open, making it dangerous
locality to travel in after night, especially
when there is no moonlight, and more
particularly when the heavens are OBJ
scured by darkening clouds, / had a
friend, physician who was often called
out at night, and not unfrequently his
route lay in the neighborhood of this
dangerous ground; but, trusting to his
knowledge of the locality and his own
caution, he never felt afraid of any dan
ger by falling into these pits, where life
would be periled by a perpendicular
descent of perhaps eighty or ninety feet
into twenty feet of water, when, if he
escaped broken limbs by the fall on the
one hand, he was sureof drowning on the
other. My friend wasan original genius,
self-reliant and courageous, ardent in the
pursuit of his profession, and naturally
disposed to make light of trying circum-
stances where he was individually inter-
ested, and who had, withal, seen many
ups and downs in life, and had had is full
share of misfortune, against which he
had manfully struggled; and, to use his
own expression, he had never been in so
| tight a. place but that he had contrived
to get ont, if he was ever so tight.
1t was about 10 o'clock one dark night
loet o,,,,n,. 1,.,,,or tlo ra;n coooo,, bo .
a rap came to the doctors door, and, on
obeying the call, the voice of an Irish
man responded: "Docther, the mistress
Mallory is taken sick with the cramps,
and, be my soul, an We wad fndher alive,
We must run till the breath is out ov yer
body; for | doubt of st. Pathrick him
self can save the life ov her." Itwas an
awful night. The rain poured down in
torrents, the night was Of inlly darkness,
but it was desperate case, and, availing
himself of the messengers lantern, the
doctor hurriedly sailed out, under the
impression that he would most likely be
detained all night. His path lay along a
dangerous route on Church Hill, where
there npip sc cred 'rC,acls- siJaf.s, SIs vicn
caution and his knowledge of the locality,
he reached the house of the sick woman
without difficulty, and by proper restori-
tives, contrived to "kape the breath inher
body" and after awhile made her so com
Portable that hisipresent services were no
longer needed.
immediate danger over, the spiritual
comfort of those in health was looked
after in flowing bowl of "potheen." =
The night was cold, the whisky strong,
the water in it warm, and the hospitality
of the honest Irishman, like the weather,
was overAowing. "The warm drink wad
kape the cowld out ov the body and was
better than docther's stuff and pleasanter
to take" My friend, convinced by such
reasoning, nothing 10th, took sup, a
second and third, in fact, repeated the
dose so often that he felt himself proof
against cold weather and cold water
both.
AS his patient was easy and in no i'm
mediate danger he resolved to return
home. 1t was now | o'clock; the storm
continued unabated; but, against the
earnest solicitations of his friends, he re-
solved to brave it.
"Well, if you will 90, Docther, dear,
I'll go wild We wild the lantern"
''Go to the ID with your lantern, y
echoed the Doctor; IL know the way yper-
fectly well, and as for the darkness, / can
see through it double now. The Doctor
and | will keep each other company as we
always have done and the cpunchwill keep
the rain out"
"Take another pull, then, if you will
90" said his host. "Sure, an We can't
have too much of good thing on such
night as this. Waugh but the sluice-
gates of heaven are broken loose, sure,
and all the dirt of the airth'll be washed
out before morn."
l do not mean to say that the doctor
was drunk. o, no, that would be q seri-
GUS accusation; besides lawyers have not
decided where the turning point between
being tight and drunk is.
The doctor was just full enough to in
crease his own reliance on himself. He
had a vague perception on going out that
a knife would be convenient article to
cut hole in the darkness to let little
light through, but without any labor to
himself his eyes gave sparks of fire, and
he was satisfied that, if they did not see
their way through, why, he could feel his
way with his hands-and so he did.
"Wcll, this is a Dose" he soliloquized,
as he went on slowly, while the rain pelt-
cd him in theface. "Humph hydropathy
with vengeance. Inever did believe in
the practice. Allopathy forever if (hic)
| amt the patient and don't have to take
the medicine myself. Hydropathy in
homeopathic doses is nic)-ycs, it is
rain is good for young sprouts-but (hic)
I'm an old one--dont want TO grow any
more-say, cloud, just (hic) sdrew down
yourtournequet a minute--think the (hic)
flow too great for the system (hic) to
great country, this for water cure es-
tablishmcnt--got into one myself, some
how-don't b-b-bclieve in the practice
Clic)-to ID wet
20, itsmy delight In a shinny night,
In the season Of the year
We banks and die) braes and stream-earound'-
III the rain keeps on think you'll dropned
Open sesame, and let me in !--IIel--'I
II is supposed the Doctor meant HsP,|