Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-12-18

Liz rOOIu earned.
DR.. James Ripley was two and thirty
years of age, reserved, learned, unmar.
ried. with set, rather stern features and
thinning of the dark hair upon the top
of his head, which was worth quito a
hundred year to him. He was par
ticularly happy in his management of
ladies. He had caught the tone of bland
sternness and decisive suavity which
dominates without offending. Ladies,
however, were not equally happy in
their management Of him. Profession
ally he was always at their service So
oially he was drop Of quicksilver. In
vain the country mammas spread out
their simple lures in front of him.
Dances and picnics were not to his taste,
and he preferred during his scanty lei
sure to shut himself up in his study and
bury himself in Virchow's Archives"
and the professional journals.
Study was a passion with him, and
he would have none of the rust which
often gathers round a country practi-
toner. 1t was his ambition to keep his
knowledge as fresh and bright as at the
moment when he stepped out of the ex.
animation hall. He prided himself on
tie off the seven ramifications of some
obscure artery or to give the exact per-
centage Of any physiological compound.
After long days work he would sit up
half the night performing iridectomies
and extractions upon the sleeps eyes
sent in by the village butcher, to the
horror of his housekeeper, who had to
remove the debris next morning. His
love for his work was the one fanaticism
, which found place in his dry, precise
up2Hure.
4 c, . It was the more to his credit that he
anhould keep up to date i1fhis knowledge,
Since he had no competition to force him
to exertion. In the seven years during
which he had practiced in Hoyland three
rivals had pitted themselves against
him, two in the village itself and one
in the neighboring hamlet of Lower
Hoyland. OF these one had sickened
and wasted, being as it was said, him
self the only patient whom he had treat
ed during his IS months Of ruralizing.
A second had bought fourth share of
a Basingstoke practice and had departed
honQrably, while third had vanished
one September night, leaving a Quilted
house and an unpaid drug bill behind
him. Since then the district had be-
come monopoly, and no one had dared
to measure himself against the estab-
lished fame Of the Hoyland doctor.
1t was, then, with feeling of some
surprise and considerable curiosity that
on driving through Lower Hoyland one
morning he perceived that tho new
house at the end of the village was oc-
cupied, and that virgin brass plate
glistened upon the swinging gate which
faced the highroad. He pulled up his
so guinea chestnut mare and took a
good look at it. "Verrinder Smith, NJ.
D." was printed across it in very neat,
small lettering The last man had had
lettering half foot long with lamp
like fire station. DR.. James Ripley
noted the difference and deduced from
it that the newcomer might possibly
prove more formidable opponent He
was convinced of it that evening when
he came to consult his medical direc-
tory. By it he learned that DR.. Yer
rinder Smith was the holder Of superb
degrees; that he had studied with dis
tinction at Edinburgh, Paris, Berlin
and Vienna, and finally that he had been
awarded q gold medal and the Lee Hop
kins scholarship for original research in
recognition of an exhaustive inquiry
into the functions of the anterior spinal
nerve roots. DR.. Ripley passed his fin
gers through his thin hair in bewilder-
ment as he read his rivals record.
What on earth could SO brilliant a man
mean by putting up his plate in little
Hampshire hamlet? ~
BuJ Or. Ripley Iurnlsneu himself
with an explanation to the riddle. No
doubt DIR. Verrinder Smith. bad simply
come down there in ordsr to pursue
some scientific research in peace and
ouiet. The plate was up as an address
rather than as an invitation to patients
OF course that must be the true explana-
ton. In that case the presence Of this
brilliant neighbor would be q splendid
thing for his own studies. He had Of
ten longed for some kindred mind, some
steel on which he might strike his fll4fa
Chance had brought it to him, andhe
rejoiced exceedingly. :.
And this Joy it was which led him to
take a stepwhich was quite at variance
with his usual habits It is the cusDm
for newcomer among medical men to
call first upon the older. and the Ell
ouette upon the subject is strict. DIR.
Ripley was pedantically exact on such
/ points, and yet he deliberately drove
over next day and called upon DIR. Yer
rinder Smith. Such waving OF GER
emory was, he felt, gracious act upon
his part and a fit prelude to the lntl'