The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-06-16

With l,5 distant thunder roRr ana rOu:
Storms do not rend the sail that is furled,
Nor like dead Leaf tossed and whirled
In an eddy OF wind, is the anchored soul.
Henry ". LonQfelloU. in Lippincott.
The Doctors Night Watchman.
Tell you what, doctor, you'll be get
ling robbed and murdered one Of these
days. you will, upon my word!"
Hardly, my boy. You ought to
know by this time that it's the province
of US doctors to kill other people, not to
be killed ourselves" And with a thick
chuckle at hi, own wit, Dr. John Hun
ter Bistoury settled himself comfortably
in his chair. and began to peel his third
orange as carefully as if he were taking
off limb.
When the doctor first came 10 New
York, thirty years before, he had been
in no way burdened with riches, but
his face had proved his fortune in diff
ferent sense from that of the over candid
milkmaid in the song. The mere sight
of that round, forid. jovial visage, in
every crease of which joke or a good
story seemed to be lurking, was a cor.
dial in itself, and appeared capable OF
reviving the most hopeless Invalid with
out the aid of medicine at all. Mindful
of the human weakness which makes so
many worthy people regard their own
ailments as kind of personal clstinc-
ton, the lessening of which in any way
is direct insult to themselves, DR.. Bis
toury skillfully took middle course be-
tween alarming + is patients by an over
serious view of their case, and offend
ing them to make light of it. In this
way he had acquired an enormous prac.
tice; and his reputation now stood SO
high, that the mere eclat OF his name
had sufficed to sell an entire edition oil
his great work upon the mutual rela-
tions of mind and body, in which ne
proved to his own satisfaction, If not to
that of all his readers, that all criminal
impulses whatever, and indeed the very
existence of sin itself are wholly due to
"a morbid action Ct the physical sys-
tem"-that murder may be prevented
by the timely use of EPSON salts, and an
unbeliever converted by a judicious con
temptation ofthe virtues OF quinine.
II can assure you, my Gear Harry
resumed the genial doctor, "that it's
amazingly fiattering to me to find myself
considered worth robbing at all. No
thief would have thought me worth Il
center-bit in the days when your poor
father-as fine a fellow, Harry, as ever
breathed-used to. come and sup with
me upon biscuits and toasted cheese in
nv little snuggery down town. And
tpen, as surely as the time came to 60,
he'd turn to me and say: Now, Jack,
old boy, won't You think better of it,
and let me write you check-just to
give YOU a fair start, you know?' But
although knew well enough that he'd
have been only too glad to do it, l had
to refuse; for my motto is; Heaven
helps those who help themselvesr"
"A motto which you'll find some
black-masked gentleman exemplifying
in this very house one of these nights" :"
growled Harry Everett. LOOK here.
doctor; I'm not joking-I'm not indeed! !!
Everybody knows you're a rich man; {;
and it's got abroad that there's room
in your house which i always shut up {;
the very thing to make people think
there must be something very valuable
slowed away there; and yet after all
that you 90 living in this big house
without a soul near you except the cook
and old Sam yonder, who wouldn't be
worth cent in real s,rimmage!'
well, my boy" said the doctor,
with a curious smile. would it tran
r quilize your mind if / wGe to engage Il
night watcbmane"
II should think so. That would be
ipSt tho thSnpo
Very good. Conside, itdone."
This room. of which Harry had
spoken as being always shut up" was
y standing puzzle TO the eoctor's few in
? tima,es. Not man OF item had ever
crossed its threshold; aid its master,
when questioned on TIE subject, an
swered by some joking evasion. Ru-
NOR whispered that one adventurous
gentleman. rendered desperate by his
wite's threat to give him n, peace until
he found out "what Decor Bistoury
kept hid in that room of his" had
actually attempted buglsrious en-
trance; but the attempt, j. c7er made,
had been unsuccessful. is needless
to say that countless coRctures, and
rot Jew heavy bets likeVse, we're be-
ing constantly made respe,ing the con-
dents of this BIuebcard climber. Many
eclared that the doctor ha fitted it up
as private laboratory, inthe hope of
discovering the philosophers stone.
Others were equally positivthat it con-
.ained the hoardings of his hole life in
gold. A rival practitione. of some
what cynical turn, suggesd that it
must contain the remains othe unfor-
tunate patients who had perhed under
"that fellow Bis,orry's mintrations;"
and one Imaginative lady, eep.y read
in Jane Eyre, stoutly mainained that
2, the doctor, in imitation OF re hero OF
that famous work, had Injured his
wife in this mysterious cbliete, in
order to enjoy unchecked tt freedom
Of bachelor life. Agains this in
genious theory there was onlyone thing
to he said-the doctor had neer had a
wife to immure. This fagras treason
against the sex was the mo- unpar-
donable, inasmuch as he ,ad had
abundant opportunities OF chsging his
condition. had he but chosento avail
himself of them. TO most of tose who
questioned him on the subjei, he re.
plied that he was welded to,is pro-
fession, and that any other unie would
he flat bigamy; but to his frier' Harry
Everett, in q moment of aft-dinner
confidence. he told verv differes story
"My medical cousin Alice as the
woman who ought to have bca Mrs
B;stoury, and an admirable fellow
practitioner she would have nide fol
me. The way in which she ont cut 8
splinter out of my thumb di(equa
honor to her hand and her hea; and
when she was only thirteen she ought
skeleton with her uncle's bthdaJ
gilt of tivedollars TO faotl andrticu
1.ted it in manner that was real mas
terly. But in an evil hour she .scam'
tainted with fancy for homeeathy
and after that Of course all was OR be
tween us. Such is life.''
The doctor's agreement. to enage ,
night-watchman qiiieted Harry'sppre
tensions for the time being; bud fey