Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-03-10
a Country Doctor. Of tie Olden Time.
fRnatnn Advert ;enr

a Country Doctor Of tie Olde,a Time.
Boston Advertiser.
Among my collection of relics IS curious
old tooth puller belonging to an old New
Hampshire doctor, of a pattern IN common
use in the back country down to as late a
period as twenty five years ago, and which
may, for all we know to the contrary, have
been the kind used for 100 years back, or
more. It is a trusty old instrument OF sort
of wrench-ike pattern, and many time
have looked upon it with dread as the doc
tor took it out of its wrappings OF old cloth,
and prepared to apply its jaws to my own.
Only diagram could give its precise charac-
ter understandingly. Once fastened on the
objective tooth, that tooth must come out
unless the doctor or the patients jaw broke
down. But the doctor, though short winded,
was pretty muscular and very preserving.
If one grinding, horrible twist did not tear
out the tooth, there must be repetltlons of
the agonizing operations. The charge made
was invariably II cents. We have kept be-
fore us the old doctors day-book. We keep
it with the black old jaw-breaker.
We turn to the date of 1926. and run over
| month or two of his charges to get the
average rates of his tariff in those days. We
run across many of those tooth-pulling items.
| The charge is always the same. II cents.
| Visits to patients, where no charge was made
for drugs, are entered at 33 cents. But the
country doctor was then also travelling
apothecary. In dingy, small black trunk
| 1--WE have the trunk, and 1t still smells of
drugs, and wildly recalls the old DOCTOR he
carried the tooth puller, a lancet or two, and
small stock Of the DRUGGIST kind ofdrugs,
tough old favorites of the heroic practi-
TONERS of the old school,-a small list of
| which were made to do service in all sorts of
1 disc ases 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
often covers a visit and the costs of several
medicines furnished. And these visits gen
orally involved the Harvesting up of the doc
tors faithful fast little horse-he always
kept two good horses, which, for effect or
necessity. he always drove at the rate of ten
miles an hour. The sight of the doctor in
his light, open gig flying over the coun try
roads, was such a common one that we would
hardly turn from our hoeing to give 1t 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 cases
we're familiar to all-which had 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 upon the operation as something
wonderful, and the doctor himself spoke Of
his doings in this line with proud satisfac-
ton. Then there was the case of Sally
Smith, who had been bed-ridden for ten
years. The doctor had to pay her regular
visits, though he never gave her much medl-
cine. Many years after the doctor had gone
to his long home, Sally took notion to "get
well'' under the skillful care of some quack
who had Yankee shrewdness to discover that
there was nothing the matter with her. and
SO in some unexplained way got on her legs
once more. Sally afterward got married anc
raised family. Then there was the case o!
Peter Brown. who had what used to be called
the thirty years. consumption: and Mrs
Davis, with chronic rheumatism SO bad tina
her distorted joints were sight to behold
and old Capt. Roberts, who had what III
) termed liver complaint ever siuce we coulc
remember: and Miss Cynthia Tasker. wht
was always in feeble health, yet somehow
lived to be so years old: and the Twole boy
!. whose bones were made of SO poor materia
, that he always had on hand for the DOCTOR
attention broken limb. And speaking o
} broken limbs reminds us of our own painful
experience. One day the doctor came flying
, over the road to us, for we had been slun|
} upon the hard December ground from tn
bare back of a runaway horse, getting from
: the fall broken arm. The memory of tn
hard pulling upon that broken arm come
!. wildly to mind as we write. The docto
rugged and sweat to get it into place. an
. we writhed and roared under the operation
: The heaviest charges upon the doctor
t books are for certain visits requiring ofte
all-night detentions. One of these, whic
e may be taken to illustrate old-fashione
O. medical rates, stands thus: John Rollins
to an all-night visit to his wife, $3.50. Their
g is no larger single charge in the book tina
this. John lived seven miles away, in
neighboring town, and this charge covere
6 the long ride in that old gig, perhaps
some dark and stormy night, over roug
/ roads and whole night away from hom
/ Congratulations.
Minneapolis Tribune.
We congratulate Old Thaumaturgus Q