The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-02-04
FEW BRIGHT STORIES
Renaissance of Early Life Among
indianapolis Doctors.
The Old I'm Soon" Sign-Sir Richard
Begrudges His Taxes-Charley
Fools His Father.

"Years ago" said a doctor who was
caught in q reminiscent mood, sit was an
tnvariable rule OF physicians-and the GUS
tom is even prevalent to-day--when called
away from their offices to write In soon
on a slate and hang it in a conspicuous
place. If the doctor was detained with a
serious or tedious case. or was called to
the country, the In soon remained posted
IN his Office until he returned which might
be in an hour. or perhaps not for a day.
Physicians office hours were not so firm
" fixed then as now: there were no ante
rooms or parIors filled with patients wait
ing TO see the doctor when he made his APP
pearance at a stated hour. as can be found
at the present day. Thirty or forty years
ago the doctor who was not out most Of
his time had comparatively little business.
OF course, there were exceptions to this
rule, but office work had not grown to the
extent it is now.
whether the adoption Of regular office
hours brought about the partial abolish
ment OF the In soon,' or the In soon was
responsible for the establishment of Office
hours, is not known, but it is certain the
legend caused much grumbling among pa
tients, and even doctors were sometimes
forced to recognize the untruthfulness of
the notice on the slate. Apropos OF the
AdkNNA Statement - al llCA4tllL OlCE IE-
lated to ne concerning DR.. :. II. Moore.
In the sixties the Doctor and many other
disciples OF Aesculapius had Offices on
Market street opposite where the -poStoffice
now stands one day DIR. Moore was
anxious 10 see DIR. d. II. oliver, but called
Without finding him. The In soon on n't the
slate, ever present, grew larger, to the
Doctors eyes. each time ne called, until
gave up hope Of seeing Dr.. oliver. and.
taking the slate from its place. wrote be-
meath the fiction, In soon,' the following:
Man may tell when a storm will take
Or the sun in eclipse will hide its face,
Or a comet flash across the sky,
Though the time may far in the future lie.
But / defy any earthly mortal
To solve, this side of deaths great portal.
To solve this question and confer 20 boon:
What a doctor means by VIII be in soon.''
The next time the Doctor called at his
frlends Office the room was still tenant
Doctors verse, and beneath ii. in DR..
Olivers w~ell-known ehirography, these
lines:
In SOON a myth. indeed.
To which, in a hurry, take no heed.
But go straightway to him VINO is in:
HE is the doctor. and HE will win.
The verses furnished fun for Doctors
Row FOR several days. Then they were
printed in the Medical Journal, and the two
doctors found themselves dubbed the poet
!aureates of the local profession. Although
the verses were written on the spur Of the
moment, II was surnised that the authors
were no tyros at the business. Both were
young; each had a sweetheart-and poetry
and sweetheart was a natural combinatio1
at the time L speak of. Besides, DR.. Moore
left college 20 enlist i'm a cavalry regiment
ana spent four years in the war. | believe
During that time he had. no doubt, MANY
opportunities while on picket duty to COM
mune with nature and let his poetic fancias
run riot He Is an ardent sportman- and
MS odes 10 the quail. the snipe and the
duck, to single and double Shots are said
10 be literary gems In their way"
Charley is the son Of a prominent lumber
dealer of this city. and is a rather frivol-
Gus sort of a youth His father thought he
remained away from the house till un-
seemly hours. but, when cushioned at the
breakfast table in the morning, Charley in
variably affirmed that il was not later than
1870 o'clock. or perhaps II O'Clock, when he
came in the evening before. Charley's IA
Their concluded TO remain up some night
and ascertain the exact hour of the sons
incoming. On the night selected the father
brought his books home from his office.
and. after the evening meal, retired
ito the library. 1t was his intention
to occupy the time spent in wait
ing for his son by running up the accounts
standing on the books. Now il so hap
pened that on this particular night Charley
die, In fact, get home about 1880 o'clock.
When he came into the house he saw his
father busily engaged porting over the
books. and retired without disturbing him.
80 intent was the father with his work
that he failed to observe the entrance of
the SON.. When he finally looked up from
his books. having completed a days work
he found II was 3 O'clock a. m. This was
enough. Here il was ) o'clock and Charley
had not yet returned. The next morning at
the breakfast table Charley's father asked
him what time he had come in the night
before.
About haIf-past 10 O'clock" answered
Charley.
Then the sire became very stern and nro-
ceeded To- talk plainly. Look here, young
man." he said, II am tired Of your lies. |
sat up waiting for you last. night. and
when / went to bed at 5 o'clock this morn
ing you had not yet come in. You have
not been in this house two hours"
Il am sorry you sat up so late. father"
answered the dutiful son. but it could not
have been later than half-past 10 O'Clock
busny engaged in the library. and did not 20
care TO disturb you, so l went Immediately
TO my room" =
One afternoon last week a caller dropped
into the Office of the Board of Public Safety
and found Sir Richard Herrick very much
out OF humor with himself. The caller
hesitatingly ventured to inquire the cause
Of his perturbation. Sir Richard was reti-
cent. The caller was meekly insistant
Finally Sir Richard laid bare his troubles
He became vehement 1t is so seldom that
Sir Richard becomes vehement that the
caller became alarmed. He was assured
that there was no danger and remained.
Ills - NIG ldkC VI woe unIOlQeQ. II WAS
upstairs and paid my taxes yesterday"
"A very foolish thing for you 10 do" sug-
geSted the caller.
Now don't interrupt me. AS I was saw
Ing. i was upstairs and paid my taxes yes-
terday and found they had me assessed 81.
Now 1 don't own any property. l won
dered at the amount OF the assessment. /
objected TO the amount as being high and
went into the assessors office To see where
the mistake had been made. There they
showed me where / had made a return of
500 which L had in bank at that time. Now
the money has all been spent since that
time. i haven't a cenLof it left. and / think
IL Is tough TO be compelled 10 pay taxes on
money that a fellow hasn't got. What
makes IL SO disgusting TO me is the fact
that i made any return at all OF that money
In the bank. No one would ever accuse me
OF having money In bank"
The boy had spent days OF delight at the
worlds fair. ard he had been to see Hagen
backs animals several times. Boy like he
thought that was the greatest part OF the
whole show and he never tired OF talking
OF the wonders he saw there. A few days
ago he was in the library of a well known
man and ne saw on the shelves Hagen
beck's name on the back OF a book and
he Immediately frightened up and asked
the man. as a 'feeler." IL he ever loaned
any OF his books 10 boys. The man said he
was always very glad TO have BOYS take
Aa