The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-10-23
THE UNKNOWN DOCTOR"


A Story of Emperor Joseph IL and a Cruel
Physician.
Night was falling over Vienna, and
the cold November rain, which had
been threatening all day, was begin
ming to come down in earnest. Every
one seemed to have gone home who
had home to go to, and the streets
were almost deserted, when a tall man,
in broad-brimmed hat and long, dark
cloak, came tramping down a narrow
lane in one of the poorer quarters of the
city.
Nowadays, any one can walk about
Vienna at night safely enough; but a
hundred years ago, when rogues and
vagabonds swarmed in every street,
few honest people cared to be out after
dark more than they could help. The
cloaked man, however, went forward
briskly and fearlessly enough; but
any one who had been watching him
would have noticed that, whenever he
happened to pass policeman, he kept
his head down, and pulled at the collar
of his cloak, as if wishing to hide his
face as much as possible.
All at once a ragged, half-starved boy
came flying past, who, catching sight
OF the tall man, ran up to HIM, and
said, imploringly:
lone gulden forty cents), good sir;
just one, for PHYS sake!''
He hung back little as he spoke,
as if fearing that his petition might be
answered with hard word, or even a
blow. But the tall man replied, in a
kindly tone:
why do you want gulden so
much, my boy? Are you hungryp'
'It's not that" painted the boy.
''Mother's very i'll, and the doctor
won't come to see her unless | give
him gulden first, and | haven't got
so much as cent; and perhaps mother
may die in the meantime"
The stranger paused and looked
keenly at the boy, his large eyes SEEM
ing to glow like live Goals under the
dark shadow of his SLOUGH hat Such
tales were told every day by the knaves
and beggars of the town; but the poor
little fellow looked thin and miserable
enough to make his assertion that he
had no money only too probable, and
the earnestnesS of his voice and look
could not be mistaken.
Here's guldcn for you, my lad.
Go quick and fetch the doctor, and I'll
look after your mother in the mean
time, if you'll tell me where she lives :"
The boy hastily gave him the adj
dress, and, muttering few broken
words of thanks, darted away, like an
arrow from bow.
80, here's an adventure alreadym
unused the unknown; land a strange
one it seems likely to be. There are
doctors in this town, it would seem,
who would let a sick woman die
rather than lose a gulden. And yet
people call me hard-hearted. Bah!'
just then he passed a bakers store,
and sudden thought appeared to
strike him. He went in and bought a
small brown loaf, taking care to choose
the freshest he could find. In that part
of the town most men were fond of
keeping their faces hidden, so that the
baker was not surprised to see his GUS
toner pull his bat over his eyes as he
came in; but it struck him that the
hand which took the loaf was far too
white and well shaped to suit the
greasy, threadbare cloak that hung
over it. The stranger pushed on at a
brisk pace through the maze of crook
ed, gloomy alleys, and soon reached
the house to which the boy had direct
ed him.
A dismal den it was, much more
like wild beasts lair than the
abode of any human being. Not with
out more than one awkward stumble
did the visitor make his way up the
pitch-dark and tumble-down stairs, to
the small, bare, chilly garnet in which
the sick woman was lying, with nothing
but an old plank between her and the
hard. plank floor. He greeted her
kindly, and she, supposing him to be
the doctor whom her son had gone to
fetch, told him all about her illness
readily enough. But he soon saw that
what she was suffering from was simply
starvation, and breaking up the loaf
which he had brought, he proceeded to
feed her with the softest morsels of it.
Now" said he, seeing that she W as
. beginning to revive little, "I'll write
down the name of medicine which |
think will do you good. Send your
son with this paper tomorrow morn
ing to % Ferdinand street, and they'll
give you what you want, and not charge
you any thing for it."
MAY God bless your murmured
the poor woman. family.
At that moment the rickety stair
creaked beneath a heavy tread, and in