Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1868-04-01
Emily AT Home Again.
ny HARRIET BEncasr STOWE.

'e''l A"'h R'tAhNiAAi Hdlu l1ullN liOtltT
and grandmother and aunt, all in one breath.
Emily had come home from her long abode
ia the country, aud had brought her friend
Pussy Willow with her and they we've sit
ting together now, pair of about as rosy
young females as one should wish to see of a
summer day
Dr. llardhack turned round, and glared
through his spectacles at Emily.
Pretty fair" he said pretty fair A
tolerable summers work, that and he gave
pinch to Emilys rosy cheek. "Firm fibre
that real hard flesh, made of clover and
morning dew,-none of your habby, sidewalk
skinny construction
" Well now, Doctor, we want you to tell
US just what She may do,-just how much.
l suppose you know now She 5 got into a
city, she can't dress exactly as she did up in
the country
" | see, | see. 50 said Doctor Hardhack ..
tahe at once"
" ou see, said Aunt Iaryiah, there is MT
thing of all her clothes that she can
wear, having been all summer in those loose
sacks, you know. She 5 sort o spread ont.
sou see"
should think so, said Doctor Hard
hack. " Well, my advice is, that you begin
gradually screwing her up; get her eorsets
ready, with plenty of whalebone and good
tough lace but don't begin too hard,-just
tighten little every day, and by and by she'll
get back to where all her things will fit
her exactly"
But, Doctor, won't that iuiure her
health? said the mamma.
OF course il will, but fancy she II stand
1t for one winter; il won't quite kill her,
and that : all We doctors want If it suits
you all, it does me, IN sure What should
do for my bread and butter, if all the girls
of good families kept on living as these two
have been living this summer? | really
could MT afford ii, in professional point Of
view"
We'll, have something ON this point to
say, said Emily. 81 would Mt lose my
health again for anything that can be nam
ed"
30 pooh pooh | We heard deal of
talk of this sort before now When patients
are first up from sickness how prudent
they mean 20 be
When the Devil was sick the Devil monk would be.
When the Devil got we'll, the devil a monk was he
Thank you, Doctor" said Miss Emily;
' but think that poetry does MT apply to
me, if You please, hope | am not of that
family
Well,-but seriously, Doctor, you must
tell us just how much it will do for Emily to
do, said the mamma. "One does MT want
to give up the world entirely, and yet one
does MT want to lose ones health"
see, said the Doctor; -" | appreciate
the case entirely. Well, let her begin with
the opera twice week, and one German,
kept up till daylight. In one week she will
feel stronger than ever she did, and declare
that nothing hurts her; then she can take
two Germans and then three, and so on.
Fact is said the Doctor, Z" of all the devil
ces of modern society, none is so good for the
medical practice as these Germans my best
eases are made out of EN-; they unite all the
requisites for forming frst-rate patients that
keep on your hands for months and years, and
are as good as any annuity to us. | IN not
a fool, madam. | must look ahead for my
bread and butter next spring, you see"
But Doctor, IN not going to Germans
at all, said Emily, stoutly. II know now
what life is,and what health is worth and I'm
not going to waste it in that way Be
sides, m going to try to live for something
better"
Live for something better - said the
Doctor. "What sort of talk is that for a
young lady in the first New York society
What is there to live for better? | thought
of it the other night when | was at "A con6r-
nation at Grace Church, and saw whole
bevy Of pretty creatures who all were engag-
ing to fight manfully under Christ's banner
and thought where they would be before
spring. Whirling round all night in low
neeked dress is the fighting they do; and
then | IN called in as hospital surgeon to the
dear disciples when they are carried off the
field exhausted. | know all about it. You
can't of course, live for anything better.
You could MT for the world, be called singu-
lar, and be thought to have odd notions
could you? That would be too horrible
Nov | knew rich New York girl once
who took to bad courses She would 90 round
visiting the poor, she would sit up with sick
people, and there was no end 10 the remarks
made about her. People clearly saw how
wicked il was of her to risk her health in
that way,-how late hours and bad air and
fatigue would certainly undermine her health,
and she was quite cast out of the syna-
gogue. You must MT breathe bad air or
over exert yourself, unless you do so from a
purely selfish motive then it s all right and
proper,--this is our New York gospel
Pussy Willows blue eyes were open very
wide on the Doctor as he spoke, and there
was laugh in them, though she did not laugh
otherwise. The Doctor caught the expression,
and shook his cane at her.
40, you need MT sit there looking mis-
chevous, miss. What do you know of life 2
You re nothing but country girl, and you
know no more of it than the bobolinks and
chip-squirrels do. You II soon learn to be
ashamed of your roses, and to think it pret-
ty to have bad health. III bet copper
that you IL begin course Of corsets in a.
fortnight, and by spring we shall send you
back to your milk pals as white and withered
as Miss Emily there. 1t 5 astonishing how
fast we can run girl down, taking one thing
with another,--the corsets, and the hot rooms
with plenty of gas escaping into them from
leaky tubes, and the operas and Germans for
every night in the week. OF course it S
a charity to give you good stiff dose of it;
it s hospitality, you see"
"Now, Doctor Hardhack, you dreadful
man." said Emily, "you must just stop this
talk. l brought Pussy down here on pur-
pose to have somebody to help me to live bet
ter than have lived. We shall just take
peep or two at New York sights, but we are
not going into the gay world"
"ra, ia, ia don't tell me- said the Doc
tor, shaking his cane playfally at herr "you