The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1896-06-04
In Defense of the Physicians.

"1he doctors meyer forget to charge
and nine-tenths of them have become
rich off of the poor people, and cure
or no cure, the pay is all the same;
| and not only SO, some of them cannot
90 to see suffering flesh after night let
them live or die. People seldom send
for doctor unless they need him and
he should go, ifpossble. Our physi-
clans expect pay and they should
have it, and there ought to be law
enacted that doctors should be re-
quired to attend calls at all hours or
their license taken from them and not
be allowed to trihe with dear human
life as they often do
The foregoing is taken from a cor
respondence to the Stanley Enterprise
OF last week and is portion Of an ar
ticle, some parts Of which are rnerito-
rious, but for downright ''tonmyrot, :"
ignorance and prejudice we will put
that little jingle Of words against the
world. Did the correspondent weigh
his words? Did he have any idea Of
what he was saying? We don't know
what manner Of man he is, but the
paragraph referred to sounds very
much Ike the rafting talk Of one of
those fellows who had rather talk than
listen, though Shakespeare were the
speaker and human nature his theme.
We say this advisedly, for had the gen
tleman stopped for one moment and
considered he would have seen the
error of his statement.
No class of men do more charity
work than do physicians. They I'M
dergo privations, hardsnips and an
noyances unknown to those outside
the profession. Where is the physi-
clan in this country who has become
rich off of the poor people? Where is
the physician in this section who is
rich off OF anybody? The physician
does more charity work than all other
classes combined. Often he gets out
of bed on cold night and rides for
miles to see patient who he knows is
too poor to pay and from whom he
never expects to receive cent.
The doctor is blamed with things
beyond his or human control, and if
the patient RECEIVERS oftentime5 the
friends and relatives with long faces
and ungrateful hearts and in mockery
OF thanksgiving, say:
Oils recovery was a wonderful lis
play of divine power;' but, if the pa
tent dies, those aforesaid relatives are
mighty quick to say, "Well, the doc
tor might have done better, ii seems
to me-" And thus mankind, unpaid
worn out with hard life of toll the
faithful doctor trudges home one day
and never goes to see another patient.
He stretches his wearied, prematurely
worn out form on his couch and is
never called to drag his weary frame
up and away over rough roads,
through winters cold or summers
heat, for he makes surrender to that
grim power he has fought SO long and
goes down in that obllvious gloom
where all the PROSTATE ranks of men
crowd without fellowship.
HIS administrator finds thousands
OF dollars on his books uncolleCted
and unco!lectable and not enough Of
this worlds goods left to keep the
wolf from the door of his surviving
family.
No, Sir; you are entirely off when
you say that "nine-tenths Of the doc
tors get rich off Of the poor people,"
The average physicians riches consist
not in this worlds goods, but are of
deeds of mercy he has done, and they
shall not be forgotten. The poor, the
fatherless, the widow, and the out
casts Of earth shall rise up and call him
blessed, whom you, in your ignorance
or your prejudice, condemn as being
grasplng and robber of the poor
Monroe Enquirer.