Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-04-21
a COUNTRY DOCTOR.
Records OF . Rural Physieian or the GOOD
Old Tfmes

among my collection of relics is q
curious old tooth puller, belonging 10 an
old New Hampshire doctor, by pattern
IN common use in the back country down
to as late period as twenty i've years
ago, and which may, for all we know to
| the contrary, have been the kind used for
100 years back or more. II is rusty old
instrument of a sort Of wrench-like patter
and many a time have I looked upon it
with dread, as the doctor took it out of its
| wrappings Of old cloth, and prepared to
apply its avs to my own. Only dia-
gram, could throughly explain its me-
chanism and working. Once fastened on
the objective tooth, that tooth must come
| our, unless the doctor or the patients jaw
broke down. But the doctor, though short,
"lnoed, was pretty muscular and very
persevsearlng. If one grinding, horrible
twlst Old not tear out the tooth, there must
DC repetltlons of the agonizing operations.
Inc charge made was invariably II cents.
We have kept before us the old doctors
day-book. We keep with the black old
jaw-breaker.
| We turn to the date of 1920, and run
over month or two of his charges
to get the average rates of his tariff in
those avs. We run across many of those
tooth-pulling items. The charge is al
ways the same, seventeen cents. Visits
to the patients, where no charge was
made for drugs, are entered at 80 cents.
But the country doctor was then travel
ing apothecary. In adingy, small black
trunk 1--WE have the trunk, ana it still
smells OF drugs, and wildly recalls the
old doctor), he carried the tooth-puller. a
lancet or two, and a small stock of the
Druggist kind of drugs-tough old fav-
orltes OF the heroic practitioners of the
old school-a small list of which were
made to do service in all sorts of diseases
and which were administered in heavy
doses, as the old book of charges shows.
But though the medicines were heavy
the charges were light. Fifty cents Of
ten covers a visit and the cost of several
medicines furnished And these visits
generally involved the Harvesting
up OF the doctors faithful fast little
horse-he always kept two good horses,
which, for effect or of necessity, he drove
at the rate of ten miles an hour, The
sig ht OF the doctor in his light open gig,
lying over our country roads, was such a
common one that we would hardly turn
from our hoeing to give it a second
glance, unless we had an idea that he
had some new and sudden call of some
case OF sickness we had not heard of.
The great majority Of the doctors visits
were made to chronic patients, whose
!, | fny, 10 AIN
been talked about year in and year out
There was the widow Jones, who had
been dying from the dropsy for many
year, and who had to be regularly tapped
by the doctor. We always looked upor
this operation as something wonderful
and the doctor himself spoke of Lis do
ings in this line with PROUD satisfaction
Then there was the case of Sally Smith
who had been bed-ridden for ten wears
The doctor had to pay her regular visits
though he never gave her much medicine
Many years after the doctor had gone t
his long home, Sally took notion t.
'sget well' under the skillful care O
some quack, who had Yankee shrewdnes
to discover that there was nothing tn,
matter with her, and so, in some unex
planned way, got her on her legs once
more; Sally afterward got married ant
Then there was the case of Petel
Brown, who had what used to be called
the thirty years consumption; and Mrs
Davis, width chronic rheumatism so bad
that her distorted joints were sight tc
behold; and old Captain Roberts, who
: had what he termed liver complaint
ever since he could remember; and Miss
Cynthia Tasker, who was always in feeble
health, yet somehow lived to be 80 years
old; and the Towle boy, whose bones
were made of so poor material that he
always had on hand for the doctors at
tention broken limb. And speaking O.
broken limbs reminds us of our owl
painful experience. One day the doctor
came flying over the road to US, for We
, had been slung upon the hard December
ground from the bare back of our run
away horse, getting from the fall brok
en- arm. The memory of the hard pull
ing upon that broken arm comes wildly
to mind as we write. The doctor tuggeo
and sweat to get it in place, and We
writhed and roared under the operation
The newest charges upon the doctors
books are for certain visits requiring
often all night detentions. One OF these
which may be given to illustrate old fash
toned medical rates, stands thus: Johr
l Rollins, to an all night visit to This wife
50 SO. There is no larger single charge
than this. John lived several miles ava,
in neighboring town, and this charge
covered the long ride in that old gig, per
haps in some stormy night, over rougl
! roads, and the whole night away iron
home.
Our old doctor was very busy man
He always endeavored to 60 to church al
least half day on Sunday. But whel
in church it was no uncommon thing TO
him to be called out Of meeting to attent
some one. And what sensation of sym
pathy would run through the quiet con
gregation as the good doctor would
quietly glide down the broad aisle tt
meet the serious messenger. And how
: rapidly, after the service was ended
would everyone in that assembly know
just where the doctor had been called
and just how much the caller needed hi
service.
AS we to-day run over the old DOCTOR
daVbOOk we call TO mind the fact that al