The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-05-20
A Remarkable Physician,

Last spring in the city of New York
occurred one of the most remarkable
funerals ever witnessed. The hearse
which Lore the dead man was attended
by sixty pall-bearers, and each man OF
the sixty owed his life, under God, to
the miniStration of him they bore.
Behind the hearse walked eight hun
dred men in line, hardly one OF whom
but was indebted to the dead man lor
his ability to be there.
Two hundred and ninety-three car
iages followed, and these in turn were
attended by large number OF people
on foot.
Who was this man who, being dead,
could so stir the hearts Of the people:
! Who was he that he should be mourn
ed over by fifteen thousand persons in
one day, because they would look upon
his face no more? Was he a great
general world-honored statesman:
No. He was simple east-side ply
sician, whose patients were dwellers in
the tenement districts, and whose
mourners were the poor to whom he
had ministered.
Doctor Arouson inherited a small
property from his father, and early de-
ternined that his life should be spent
in service for others. He made lung
diseases his speciality, and studied with
Koch in Berlin, and in the best schools
Of Europe. When he came back to
New York he was unknown, save to
physicians, but he Immediately open
ed at his own expense, hospital for
consumptives in the poorest part Of
the city, and threw himself heart and
soul into the work of alleviating the
distresses of friendless patients.
1t was his custom when called upon
to attend a poor family, to leave few
dollars on the table behind him. In
the bestowal of these gifts neither
creed nor race was recognized.
A friend said of him: "He was q
man who took peculiar pleasure in see
ing other people happy. He often de-
clared that if he had ten millions Of
dollars, he wonld spend his life in
driving around the tenement districts,
and relieving the poor"
He himself once said 81 like to dis
cover a case where hard landlord is
pushing poor tenant to the wall.
Then It is my delight to come in at the
last moment, raise my hand and call a
ha t with chek for the amount owed
by the tenant. Then real happiness is
seen in the face of the one relieved"
"a mans life is so short at br t." he
was wont to say, "it would J. ..n easy
matter to make the world .Iappy, and
ones self, too, if each person would but
contribute all he possibly could to the
relief of the suffering"
Several years ago case of blood-poi-
souing occurred on the East-side of
New York. The patient was a poor
woman, and she was critically Ill.
Physicians to whom application had
been made, had refused to take the
case because of the exceptional risk in
the treatment that was required.
. The night when Doctor Aronson
heard of it was the night Of his BROTH
er's wedding, and he was dressed to at
tend it. He was told that the woman
would die. unless she were operated
upon within two hours. He threw off
his dress suit, hurried to her bedside,
and performed successful operation.
A few days after, he himself was taken
down with blood.poisoning, contracted
from the sufferer, and for weeks linger-
ed between life and death.
Then wonderful and beautiful sight
was seen. Hundreds came daily to in
quire for the good physician. Scores
of people knelt together in the open air
around his doorstep and prayed aloud
for his recovery. The ;uan was great
ly beloved because he had greatly loved
and grandly given. When he recover
ed, he said he would gladly undergo
the same again to again save life.
At last day came when upon his
return from a call on poor and
wretched patient this good man drop
ped dead upon the sidewalk, near his
own doorstep, his end thus coming, it
was said, just as he had long secretly
hoped and prayed that it might come.
The end came, we have said. But
who can predicate an end to life so
filled with the spirit of Him who was
pre-eminently the Helper and Healer
of men?