The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-10-18

iHad 1Bs nunsed ,up ,:ss1 ma hopv
of finding them, for the boat had come
and gone several days before; but, as
good fortune will have it: my traps
had been left there inxsase should
ever. call for them, and they were
turned over to me all right. Then a
letter had to be written to Brookfield
without delay, to put at rest any anxi-
ETY. that might have been caused by
the letter of the captain of the boat to
my folks, stating the particulars Of my
sudden and mysterious disappearance.
s'This done established myself in a
room in the tavern, and waited as pa.
tiently as [ could for patients. They
didn't seem to be numerous, however,
for frontiermen of that day were a
sturdy class of people, and plain food
and plenty of exercise seldom put
them in condition to need a doctor s
attention and, >when a doctor was
called he got very little pay, and then
perhaps, months afterwards, for money
was wofully scarce then. Also, peo-
pie generally mixed their own medi-
cines, and settled their own difficulties
by arbitration. and so the professions
didn't have much of a chance. They
didn't flourish until a later day.
"For these and other reasons, I soon
discovered, to my sorrow, that prac-
Using medicine on the frontier would
not, of itself, even make me a decent
living, let alone bringing me wealth,
as I had anticipated. And so, dis.
couraged and home-sick, I decided one
day to gather up my traps and go back
to old York State. That very day I
was to have started, however, Van
Wort, all excited and troubled, came
bursting into my deserted room at the
tavern, to get me to go and attend his
daughter Marguerite, who had been
taken sick very suddenly. The mo-
ment | c0mprehended what he wanted,
all thoughts of York State vanished,
and hastily unpacking and arranging
phials and powders in my saddle bags,
[ was without loss of time, in Van
Wort's wagon and on the way to at
tend another patient, although an
hour before I never thought l should
see another one in this region.
'sSomehow my heart beat rapidly as
unusually nervous as I entered the
sick room in the cabin. An almost
momentary diagnosis Of the case show
ed me that Marguerite was pretty far
advanced in the first stages of a mala-
rial fever that is more common nova.
days than it was then. She did 70
recognize me as I spoke to her, and
her mind seemed to be wandering a
little. 1t was severe case, and one
that taxed to the utmost all the skill
and experience then had but gave
it my whole time and attention, stay
ing right at Van Wort's day and night
and sleeping little. The memory of
the kindness shown me by them
months before made me doubly anx-
ious to do them all the service in my
power. Marguerite, they told me, had
always been strong and healthy, and
this was her first serious sickness; and
it seems to ME now that, doubtless, ma
ture did as much toward throwing off
the fever as 1ny medicine did. At any
rate, in ten days the crisis was safely
passed land she began to convalesce very
rapidly.
''Before I started back to the city I
gave promise that l would return in
a few days, for I had decided not to go
back to York State just yet, had, dur
ing the two weeks spent in that cabin
home, discovered that there was a
certain person here that was far dear
er to me than the whole of York State.
"The announcement of my final de-
termination not to go East was sur
prise to my acquaintance in the city !;
but they soon found abundant reasons
for it when the gossips told it about
that my visits to Van Wort's were quite
too frequent to be altogether profess
iunal.
swell the next spring. Marguerite
and were married, and we settled
down on Van Wort's farm. I let med
icine drop, and Van Wort and [ work
ed the farm together, and made it pay
for a number Of years. In time the
country became thickly settled, and 1
returned to my first love, the practice
of medicine Not many years ago, the
discovery was made that several Of the
towering hills on the old homestead
was filled with iron ore that will yield
untold wealth. But by far the best
streak of fortune was that which gave
me Marguerite, who has been for near.
ly half a century, and is now, more
precious to me than mines of wealth. -
SWindling Savings Banks.
Swindled savings-bank depositors are
fast becoming large class among US.
Scarcely day passes but some case of