Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1889-04-11
HE LOVED AND LOST.
EY JAMES FRANKLIN FITS.

Perfectly OIlSLudl CHdidCtti. dec anu
fortune had been kind to him, provid-
ing him with wealthy and distin-
guished ancestors. He inherited their
great worldly possessions; their gentility
came to him as matter of course, after
their centuries of good breeding; his
eccentricities, if they were congenital
and not acquired, dated so far back in
the blood that they could not be traced.
He studied medicine and pretended to
practice it, because it WAS in the family
traditions that its members should do
something useful in the world; and
with his decided aptness for the profess
sion, nothing but what he facetiously
called his lack of poverty prevented
his making a grand success in it. As it
was, he was doctor when he was COM
PEELED to be one; he obeyed professional
calls sparingly and reluctantly, but
whenever he was forced or coaxed to the
bedside of suffering, the skill and
knowledge with which the case was
treated uniformly added to his fame,
and increased the demands upon his
time and efforts. He appears here at 10.
Il solemnly declare he said one
day to friend, this ridiculous doc
toring business that my good
father compelled me to learn, is
getting monotonous. The people really
seem to expect me to get up out of a
warm bed of nights to attend to their
ailments to keep on visiting them
till they get well. If you'll believe it,
I've only dined out five times in two
weeks! This won't do. I'll break up
here tomorrow and go to Saratoga, be-
fore l get to be confirmed drudge.
DIR. Brett Will take care of my cases.
The Lord and he help the poor creatures
though but 1 can't lead this kind of
life any longer. l was made for society,
and L am wronging myself and it by
this plodding."
Those who were best acquainted
with the man would hardly
have credited him with force
of character enough to make
when made. But he did; that is, so
far as fate, circumstances, or what you
please, permitted. His bachelor estab-
lishment was turned over to tie care of
his competent housekeeper, his trunks
We're packed, and o'clock of the next
morning found him on his front steps,
waiting impatiently the arrival of the
hack that was to take him to the train
If l were telling a story, instead of
relating plain matters of fact,
this would be the proper place
for flowery comments upon that
moment as the turning-point of
DIR. Fay's life. As it is, have merely
to tell what occurred.
A young girl came flying rather than
running down the street, her hands
wiring &, her beautiful face pale as
DEATH She stopped in front of the doc
tors steps, and calling him by name,
besought him with hurried and agitated
speech to come to her father.
Perfectly impossible, my child" said
DR.. Fay. Il am going on a journey :;
here comes the hack to take me to the
train"
DO come, sir" she pleaded. "He fell
from a high ladder, and they've brought
him home dreadfully hurt. o, my poor
father"
The doctor listened, looked at the
sweet, agitated face, and was con-
quered. Visions of watering-places, So
ciety, and lounging disappeared to-
gether; the voice of human suffering
could not be resisted. Get into the
hack with me-" he said, "and We will
see what can be done"
In few minutes they were in the
mean chamber, where the crushed
and mangled bricklayer Law stunned and
dying. The girl flung herself down by
him and frantically cried to the physi-
clan to save him.
Il can do nothing here, my poor girl,
he said. Your father is dying"
In fact, he died before the doctor left
the house. The latter remained long
enough to speak few soothing words
to the orphan, to slip some money into
the hand of one of the neighbors who
came into this scene of poverty and dis
tress, and then entered the hack again.
To the station?" asked the driver.
"No-home. shan't go ito Sara
toga."
The man himself never confided to
anybody the whole truth of this matter;
but those who knew him best said that
it was something besides this sudden
thrusting of black every day misery
upon him that caused him to alter his
purpose. They said that his fancy was
captured by the picturesque beauty of
this child of poverty, and his compassion
moved by her lonely and helpless con-
dition. At all events, he surprised
them all by adopting her, and
turning resolutely away from
society to the energetic practice
of medicine. He seemed sud-
denly transformed; he denied no call
for help; he toiled night and day.
Meanwhile the girl grew up in his
home, under the care of good Mrs.
Morris, and DR.. Fay realized q new ioy
in the sunshine of her presence. But
one day the housekeeper made a re-
mark that startled him.
Gertrude ought to go away to
school"
Away to school? Bless me, why?"
Because" said the blunt woman
who had served his mother before him,
"a house in which there is nobody but a
chatting servant, like me, and musty,
silent doctor. like you, is hardly the
place to educate young lady"
Il never thought of that" said the
doctor, refectively.
But Mrs. Morris had already talked
with the girl Of the need of some such
thing, and she was not only willing, but
eager to go. She remained away two
years. The doctor wrote frequently to
her, and she replied with very dutiful
and grateful epistles, written in highly
ornamental style of penmanship.
When she sent her photograph, at the
end of the first year, the doctor looked
at it long and often, and Mrs. Norris