, 1884-09-13
A DOCTORS DOOR.
Some Remarkable Wcissitudes
Through Which II Passed.
II Is Removed From Its Hinges and
Carried Away.
Why the Holy Calm of Ferguson
Street Was Disturbed.

n muscular pair Of hands were operating
on the keyboard of a piano, while a strong
falsetto voice, slightly shrieky in the high
G. was extending a vocal invitation to the
general public to meet tho owner of the
aforesaid voice in the cleaning. From
the hazy distance the wind brought the
m%elliiuous tones of the ice cream vender,
whose efforts were somewhat paled by
reverberations from the warblings of the
blithesome burro.
A stray cur dog, with an abbreviated
eaudal appendage. skunk unostentatiously
into the neighboring alley, and a ~listless
cayuse l@eisurely tugged at the hair rope by
which he was tied TO a circumjacent hitch
ing post.
The c~ircumambient atmosphere was of
a pale mauve color and with tiding ex-
cepticns a holy calm invested all the sur
~roundings.
Meantime tie sun Tin poetic parlance,
the God of day. continued to mount up
ward and upward, as that luminary is
liable to do in this high altitude.
The front door of DR.. NJ. C. BarkwelIs
private office stood invitingly open, mutely
appealing to the lame, the halt and the
blind to enter and be cured. Away back
in the dim recesses of the operating room
a 1.-the figure reclined in languorous ease
on n crimson-colored divan. The popular
and athletic aesthetic thus comfortably en-
sconced was Mr.. j. Sterling Birmingham.
The remarks heretofore made regarding
the holy calm of the surroundings will
still apply to the situation.
1t was nearly or quite, steen minutes
after the hour had been tolled from the
neighboring belfy-at a moment whenth
chgs de cuisine were getting in their best
ticks on the dinner bill of fare-when a
couple of gentlemen abruptly turned the
corner from Seventeenth street into Fer
guson.
One of them was a man of medium
size, wearing a brown mustache and chin
beard and looking very much like 4 we'll
to-do business man.
His companion was a heavy-set indi
vidual with a brawny frame and carried
a few carpenter tools in his hands.
When the two men reached a point di-
rectly in front Of DR.. Barkwelrs office
they stopped.
Here we are, - said the first of the
two, and I'm blessed if she amt open. -
The holy calm took its departure ut
this moment.
Both men quietly entered the Doctor 5
office. In a twinkling the carpenter was
operating with his tools on the hingcs
and in a few more t~winkhugs the door
was vanishing through the aperture it was
intended to shield, in the hands ofthe two
visitors.
WHO will l tell the Doctor called 2"
anxiously inquired Mr.. Birmingham, as
the door of the office was being rapidly
removed up the street.
You may tell him it was Alex. Nc
Gregor." replied the man who held on to
the hind end of the door.
The return of the holy calm seemed in
definitely postponed.
Meanwhile the remarkable fact Of d
professional mans office door being re
moved from its hinges and carried away
bodily, was bruited about and sightseers,
anxious to gaze upon the strange spec
tacle, began to rapidly appear.
Strong men passed and ropassed the
door, leering by the way. There were
men on each street corner, men above and
below the office, men opposite and a stray
one or two in the rear.
Wherever men were, there was merri-
ment.
The news spread rapidly and soon the
community was in a suppressed giggle.
When the Doctor put in an appearance
the eliminating point of the affair was
reached.
1t is said that he was quite shocked
aud threatened to hold the City Council
responsible for any losses he might have
sustained.
= =
The premises which DR.. Barkwell at
present occupies as an Office are owned by
Mr.. A. G. McGregor. the well known
grocer. Mr.. McGregor wished to secure
the premises for other purposes, and, in
fact, had leased them to the Gas Company
from the first If the present month. DR..
Barkwells rent, Nh. MsGregor says, was
paid up to August 29. He had sent the
Doctor several notifications to quit, both
written and verbal. According to Mr..
McGregor the Doctor on each occasion
readily promised to leave, but somehow
never did so.
Finally, becoming tired of dillay daily
ing, Mr.. McGregor resorted to the means
detailed above to get the Doctor out,
placing a man close at hand to see that
nothing was stolen from the Office.
During the course of the afternoon, the
matter was compromised by the doctor
promising to move in the of a few
days and the door of his office was re-
turned to its accustomed hinges.
At this writing the w~hiteswinged dove
of peace hovers benignantly over the
scene and Il ponderous degree of holy
calm makes the neighborhood its abiding
place.