The Press., 1895-09-19

Then they got some cloths and Da- sin, and one thing and another, and set Abe right down in chair. (No such thing as chloroform in those days, you Il remember.) And Squire Caton was to hold an instrument that spread the eye lid wide open, while Ephe was to hold Abe's head steady. First touch of the lancet and first spirit of blood, and what and fell fiat on the floor behind the chair.
 "squire,'' said Brainard, "step around and hold his head"
 "I can hold. my own head, " says Abe, as steady as you please. But Squire Ca- ton he straddled over Ephe and held his head between his arms, and the two handles of the eye spreader with his hands.
 It was all over in half a minute, and then Abe he leaned forward and shook the blood off his eyelashes and looked straight out of that eye for the :irst time since he was born And the fiji st words he said were:
 "Thank the Lord She's mine" About that time Ephe he crawled out doors, sick as a dog, and Abe spoke up, says he:,
 "Now for the other eye, doctor"
 "Oh," says the doctor, "we'd better take another day for that. t"
 "All right" says Abe; eff your hands are tired of cuttin, you can make another job of it. My face ain't tired of bein cut, can tell you.
 "Well, if you're game, am.''
 So, if you'll IL believe me, they just set to work and operated on the other eye, Abe holdin his own head, as he said he would, and the squire holdin the spreader. And when it was all done the doctor was for putin, a bandage on to keep things quiet till the wounds all healed up, but, Abe just begged for one sight of himself, and he stood up and walked over to the clock and looked in the glass, and says he:
 "So that's the way I look. is it? Shouldn't have known my own face never saw it before. How long must I keep the bandage on, doctor?''
 ''Oh, if the eyes ain't very sore when you wake up ill the mornin, you can take it off, if you'll be careful''
 "Wake up! Do you pose can sleep when such blessin has fallen on me? I'll lay still, but if forget it or you for one minute this night, I'll be so ashamed of myself that it'll wake me right up."
 Then the doctor bound up his eyes and the poor boy said "Thank God v' two or three times, and they could see the tears runnin down his cheeks from under the cloth. Lordl It was just as pitiful as broken winged bird!
 How about the girl? We'll, it was all eight for. Abe-and all wrong for Ephe all wrong for EpheI But that's all past and gone-past and gone. Folks come for miles and miles to see cross eyed Abe with his eyes as straight as loon leg. Dr. Brainard was 8 great man forever after in those parts Every where else, too, by what heard.
 When the doctor and the squire come to go, Abe spoke up, blindfolded as he was, and says he:
 f'Doc, how much do you charge a fel- Ter for savin his ife-makin a man out of 8 poor wreck-doin what he ney- CT thonghth could, be done but by dyin and goin4t kingdom come?''
 'Oh," says Doc Brainard, says he, ''that ain't what we look at as pay practice. You didn't call me in; leone of myself, as though it was what we call clinic. If allgoes we'll, and if you happen to have a barrel of apples to spare, you just send them up to Squire Caton $ house in Chicago, and I'll call over and help eat lem. ?