Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-04-05
THE RIVAL DOCTORS.

/ When old DIR. Golett died, his pa
tientS thought it a hard Providence
that left them with their lurnbago
rheumatics and various otherchrOn
i ic ailments 10 the tender mercies g
| broad-shouldered young Jack GOlett
Undoubtedly he had graduated from
| the best medical school in the
country, and for a year past liad
been his fathers assistant, often and
deferentially consulted by the un'
bigoted old man who did his best tC
| keep up with the times, and had
the utmost respect for new and sen.
| sible ideas, but the inhabitants OI
Stagnantville, especially the older
| inhabitants, more generally aff1ict-
ed blythe above mentioned disorders
professed great contempt for new
tangled methods of treatment, and
fervently wished for medical
man of the good, old school to fill,
! as lar as possible, the place of their
lamented friend and physician.
Indeed, old Romeo Cooke, Ga
complete satire on the house OF
Montague, and disrespectfully dub
bed by the younger population,
ssThe Great American Grumbler'')
declared himself ready to become q
martyr to the cause of suppressing
upstart coOts to the extent of being
drawn and quartered, though ex-
actly how this painful operation
could accomplish the desirded end,
it is difficult to explain. Poor old
oil 10
acute rheumatism, and the dearth
of sympathy rendered him might
well be warning to all of us who
lack good temper. The crotchety
old man had tried living with his
married daughter, whose husband
poor young mechanic, had re-
ceived him eheerfully, and even
counseled his wife to get "bit OF
something relishy" for her parent !;
but he had soon become unbearable
and was now established in a little
shanty of his own, where every
morning his daughter saw him
comfortably 'sfixed" for the day.
Those of the neighbors who had
dared brave the lion in his den
had been met with such snarling
and showing of teeth that they sell
dom repeated the attempt. But
there was weak spot even in this
apparently invulnerable crust of ill
humor, if one only knew where to
look for it.
In his younger days, Romeo had
been under gardener to an English
Lord, down in Lancashire; and, on
occasions of rare good humor, he
would describe in glowing scenes of
barbaric splendor that did vast
credit to his Imagination. These
fantastic tales, however, had been
rehearsed only for the benefit of his
daughters family and Miss Kitty
Vannetta, bright faced, kind
hearted young girl, who had set
out to win the old mans heart and
alleviate the loneliness OF his condi-
tiOn.
She found the task she had set
herself far more difficult than she
had supposed, and if she had not
happened by the merest chance to
hit upon this gardner phase OF old
ROmeO's life, / am afraid she would
have had to give it up; and then
this story would never have been
written. AS it was, this artful
young person proceeded to win the
tolerance of the unsuspecting old
fellow by carrying him little dain-
ties, and while he ate them ask him
leading questions about his lord
ships magnificent stud of horses,
and the gold dishes in daily use in
his lordship's household.
"Yes, miss" the cid man would
say, grandiloquently, "that were
like; where's the place
you can show me in these parts that
has it's gate-keeper's lodge, or yet
the gate to mind ?'
And Kitty was obliged to ac-
knowledge that In those ''parts"
the gates were minded" very
spasmodically, principally on moon
light nights by incompetent young
persons, engrossed in their own af-
fairs.
Gradually, and in his own way,
old Romeo grew quite fond OF this
girl who read him the weekly
Times, and encouraged him to talk
of his s'better days :" she did more,
for she draped dotted muslin cur
tains, fashioned from cast off sum-
mer gown, over his high, bleak
little windows; and injeniously
stuffed and made comfortable a
for his ungrateful old
bones, for when Jack GOlett, with
much inconvenience, crowded it
into his buggy, and proceeded TO
deposit it in his bare little room,
Romeo rated him soundly for his
"namby-pamby homeopathic prin-
ciples," and requested him in the
future to keep his nag's head turned
in the other direction.
Jack Golett and Kitty had always !
been great friends. In their child
ish days Jack had persisted in de-
claring Kitty the prettiest girl in
town, in spite of various stylish |
New York cousins, who had made
deep impressions on less faithful |
boyish hearts; and Kitty, In long |
since abandoned school girl slang,
had called her delighted cavalier /
the "best fellow going" All thro'
the years that Jack was in college,
and Kitty being finished at school,
they kept up a steady correspond
ence, and exchanged photographs
at regular intervals and now that
they were both back in their native
village all the gossips prophesiei a
speedy engagement.
1t was at this juncture that the
wish of invalid Stagnantville was
for one bright morning a
new and staring sign |
appeared in the basement window
OF the widow McGoryan's house,
stating that DIR. Recquar's Office |
hours were from two to five D. M,
beside which hung bran new slate |
and pencil, inciting covetousness in