Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1885-08-19
BROKEN HEADS 81 HEARTS.
SCIENCES in an Irish Dspensary Forty
Years Ago.

time back, but what ! get conccH
again it the minute afther."
s'Docthor, can make no hand O. my
head at all, these days
"Oh, docthor, what'll do at all
with these ears O. mincp I'm partly
deaf always, an when ever | do be,
I hear great sounds an noises, waves
dashin' again the bank, and birds
whistlin' an'-boo! an candlesticks;
an when I'm deaf entirely, its then l
| hear all the bells in Ireland ringin' in
my ears
"Docthor, Ihave agreat cypress upon
my heart
"Ihat girl, sir, that you saw yester-
day evening was bad entirely afther
you goin'; Oh, she began screcchin' in
a manner, that if the priest was at the
doors, you'd think he wouldn't over
take her; an every bit of her so hot,
that you'd imagine the clothes would
light about her, an her face the whole
time as red as if you threw bowl o
blood in it.
'Docthor, a IA gal! Docthor, dar-
lin; Docthor, asthore Oh, ma era
hui! Ma grien chree hu, Docthor! an
let me go''
Such were Il few of the eloquent sem
fences addressed by the throng of pa
tents, without the rails, to Doctor
Jarvis one OF the attending physicians
to q dispcnsary in district Of Ireland.
Accustomed to the din, lie remained
with an undisturbed countenancc, look
ing alternately into the haggard, ro-
bust, blooming, pale, fair, young and
ancient faces that were thrust forward
through the wooden rails, and solicit
ing his sympathy. Two or three young
disciples were hammering away at
their mortars in different corners, COM
pounding, like so many Cyclops, the
thunderbolts OF this great dispenser Of
health or OF its opposite. The scene
around him was one which might have
walked uneasy sympathes in the heart
of novice. On one side was q stout
man roaring aloud in the agonies of
tooth-drawng; on another, a victim to
the same queen of a Diseases" sat
woefully, with hand to jaw, con-
templating the torture OF the sufferer.
and Eliminating over his own approach
ing sorrow; here lay STRIPPING with
bandaged arm and cadaverous cheek,
just recovering with a sigh from the fit
of syncopc which had been induced ly
the operation of phlobotomy, and there
knelt, with sleeve up-turned, young
Esculapius, wounding, with ruthless
lancet, the blue vein in the pretty foot
of a girl as fresh as a garland. In ono
corner was an infant squalling and
plunging on its mothers lap, in an
other the leader of faction discom-
fitted and head broken, lamenting
over the recollection of his broil, and
groaning for the priest. But all those
sounds of woe and suffering saluted
the ear of the medical adept with
mere mechanical effect and he contin-
ned to prescribe with countenancs
unmoved, amid the twang of iron
pestles, the squalling of children, the
vocifcrations of the old women, and
the means of tho young, sent out from
beneath their hoods, calling each in
order to his side, and attending to their
wants in turn.
AT door in the railing was placed
an able-bodied man, whose duty it was
to admit the patients one by one, to
see that no more should pass at time,
and to prevent them from lettering on
their return.
MARY Mulcahy!" cried the physi-
oian dive f,.n,,, tinkaf which haI
just been handed in.
An old woman hobbled on crutches
to the door. Jerry Duhig (the able
bodied man before mentioned) opened
it to admit her. A rush was made by
the mob of patients outside. The old
woman was flung into the doctors
arms, and Jerry himself was staggered
from his balance. But, like second
Horatius GOGGLES, no arose in his
anger, and confronted the invaders in
the breach of which they had almost
possessed themselves. The physician
gave himself up for lost man when
he saw the counter-scarp thus furiously
stormed. But Jerry stood his ground.
He thrust right and left with his
clenched fists until he sent the crowd
screaming and jostling back again
without the door, with more cause
of complaint than they had brought
from home. As the old woman re-
turned, Jerry, vexed at the outrage of
which she had been the innocent &C.
casion, caught her by the back of the
neck, and sent her out at the door,
crutches and all, at rate more rapid
than she had Travelled since she was q
young woman. She tumbled and fell
among the crowd, exclaiming, in
tone between surprise and terror:
"Oh, heaven forgive you Your sins,
you contrary man. Here's usage!
Here's thratement"
The doctor proceeded.
what is the matter with your head,
my good manp"
"a little difference had, sir, with a
naighbor, an he"
"Broke itp'
mo, sir; only he hit up to me about
my brother that was transported for
night-walkin', an out O. that"
"He broke your headP"
mo, sir; only retorted on him, in
regard OF his own father that was
hanged for COW stealin', am"
"lIe broke your head?"
mo, sir; only then You see he made
up to me and call'd me liar, an with
that l sthruck him, and with that
he"
Broke your head?"
"Broke my head across
"Aye that's the point One would
Al