The Springdale news., 1889-08-30
A CONSULTATION.
The Family Doctor and the Fash
 ioneble Physician.

The Family Doctor and the Fash
 ioneble Physician,
 am family doctor, with suffi- ,ciently arduous, if not over-lucrative, practice, chiefly among the lower mid de class whose homes abound in a southeastern suburb of modern Bab- .ylon Some years ago, when l was more of strugglor than I happily now am, had by good fortune ob- tained a foothold as medical adviser in the household of a wealthy city stockholder, who dwelt in a spacious &sd luxurious mansion some three mibs further out on tho Surrey hills th&n the extreme limits of my regular round of visits; and the fees received for occasional calls to Mount Aurco when Mir. Midas Contango had a touch his chronic tormenter, the gout; or his somewhat sentimental spouse quite grand dame, however, in her own esteem--was suffering the pen altios of systematic outrage on the digestive tt-up of her portly person, were so liberal in their extent as to form in the aggregate no inconsidera- ble proportion of my modest income
 Alter my connection at Mount Aureo had continued, to the seeming satis- faction of all concerned, for some TWO years, l began to receive more frequent summonses thitherward The only daughter of the Contangos, Miss Muriel, fine, tall, gracefully formed damsel of seventeen, who might have stood for a sculptor's model, so per- feet was her physique, had returned home for her Christmas vacation from her fashionable Brighton boarding school troubled with slight cough In all respects save this trihing laryn- zeal affection, she enjoyed the excel lent health Of which both her parents had had possession in their earlier days, before the indulgcnccs which follow in wealth's wake had made them profitable acquaintances of my own. 1t was clear enough, too, to me that Miss Muriel COntango's throat
 
 lt was causing serious alarm to the master and mistress of Mount Aureo who idoliZed their charming daughter The dream of the Cantango existence was to mate Miss Muriel to some scion of the aristocracy, their reputation for riches having obtained them entree to society to which, by birth and breeding, they were not entitled.
 Mir and Mrs, Midas Contango had both begun to dread that Miss Muriels indisposition would culminate in bron- chitis or a decline. The slightest cough, tho least bronchus, raised the grim and terrible specter of phthisis, and the beautiful young lady was held to be in imminent danger of an early grave ] had examined her chest with the most anxious and minute care. but could discover nothing to justify any fear or even doubt of the correctness of my diagnosis; yet despite balsamics and scdatives, exposure, however little, in treacherouS weather would cause hsarseness and transitory cough Indeed, these disagreeable symptoms often manifested themselves without any apparent cause, except, as l judged, the inordinate precautions taken to avert them. The rooms at Mount Aurco were always too hot; Miss Muricl was overclothed, could not stir out for d constitutional in the ga den without respirator, or take d drive unless hidden in an envelopment of costly furs. When I ventured to hint at this, the invariable reply of the Contangos was: ''Ah! doctor, if we did not take this care of Muriel, how lCng would she be with us?-the dear child is so delicate" And nothing I could say would alter their opinion.
 One day in the April succeeding. when Miss Muriel had been coddled up at home for four months instead of being sent to Brighton to continue her studies Mrs. Contango was more than usually concerned about her daugh- ters condition. The stockbroker and his good lady had over night held an anxious discussion. l had made my now usual though quite unnecessary daily visit to Mount Aureo, and Mrs. Midas Contango was, in her patroniz- ing and yet solicitous manner, lowing me out. 1 had almost reached the door, hat in hand, when Mrs Contan- go said, with some effort: Doctor, you know we have the utmost confi- dence in you; We carry out your in structions to the letter; but our dear child
 <.Yes, madam; only you will persist in treating her. if 1 may be pardoned the simile, too much after the manner of a tropical orchid, instead of regard ing her as beautiful plant of En- glish growth.
 Well, you may be right, doctor; but we arc so very anxious, Mir. Con- tango and myself-you see Muriel Is our only child, our sole hope. Now would you mind our asking the opinion of famous specialist as to the case?"
 Nothing would be better or more proper. Pray, whom would you like. and when may we arrange, contingent on his being able to come, to have him herc?"
 Mrs. Midas Contango mentioned the pane of very fashionable and eS-