The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-07-26
A DOCTORS OFFER.

love.
John Vance Cheney in Century.
A DOCTORS OFFER.
There was once learned doctor who
had studied long and hard, but in Gu
cuguano, where he had settled, no one
had faith in him. Meeting him always
with book in his hand, the Oucugu
anese said:
''That doctor knows nothing-he il
always studying If he studies SO much,
it means he has need to learn; if he
needs to learn, it means he does not
know; if he does not know, he is an ig-
noramus :"
A doctor without patients is like a
lamp without oil. Without other re-
sources, forced therefore to earn liv.
ing by hook or by crook, up to this time
the poor devil had not been able to pay
even for the water he drank He decid.
ed there would have to be a change, sc
one day he managed to spread abroad
through all Cucuguano the report that
his science was SO sublime and all pow
erful that not only could he heal the
sick-mere child's play-but raise the
dead as well; miracle of God, surely.
And this miracle he promised to per-
form openly in broad day in the grave
yard amid the multitude.
Few gave credence to the report, yet
even the incredulous said: 1--WE will
let him attempt it anyhow. Let's see
him at work-the proof of the pudding
is the eating. He may succeed-he
reads so much, and nowadays such won
derful discoveries are being made. If he
succeeds, we will applaud him; if not,
we will hiss him out of the countryside.
Let him bring man to life again and
we will say he is the cleverest doctor
we have ever had. :"
Finally it was settled that on the fol-
lowing Sunday, at the stroke of noon in
the cemetery of Cucuguano the doctor
would raise man from the dead-nine
or ten, some old women went SO far as
to say.
That Sunday, long before noon, the
graveyard was as jammed as is the
church on Holy Easter day. True to his
word, ON the second stroke of the bell
appeared the doctor, all in black. He
elbowed his way to the steps of the cen
trail cross. There he saluted the crowd,
spat on the ground, blew his nose and
began:
my dear friends l have promised to
bring one of your dead back to life 1
intend to'keep my word. Be silent and
hearken to me- 1t will cost me abso-
lutely no effort to raise from the tomb
Giascomo or Giovanni, Mamma or
Beta, Amadeo or Simone. Shall l raise
Simone? Simone-what was his last
name? Simone Capannaro, who died Of
pleurisy year ago?"
Excuse me, signor dottore," said
Caterina, poor Simone's widow Seer
tainly he was a fine fellow. He made
me very happy, and l will mourn him
as long as / have eyes for tears But,
pray, do not bring him back; for, you
see, toward the end of the month I'm
to put off mourning, and, to please my
family, I'm to marry Pasqualone. The
banns are already published, and I've
accepted the presents. .
"You did well to tell me, Caterina.
Then Twill raise Nina Garcia, who died
Candlemas day"
'tFor heavens sake, signor dottorel"
cried Giacomo Garcia. nina was my
wife; we lived together ten years-ten
years of purgatory, as all Cucuguano
knows. Let her stay where she is, for
her rest and mine. What a peppery
temper, DOCTOR Obstinate as a mule,
lazy and quarrelsome and slovenly and
ragged And that is not all. Wasteful,
and tongue-a yipers tongue-that
would have set st. Joseph to quarreling
with the Madonna. l might add But
that's better left unsaid
"Yet, my dear fellow
Excuse me for interrupting, signor
dottore. A new broom sweeps clean.
Nina left me three brats, who certainly
do not take after their father, and as
could not handle them all have mar
ried again; so you see it is useless. -
"Well and good 1 can conceive it
would be martyrdom to have two wives
in the house. One is more than enough
sometimes Then whom shall restore
to you, my dear people? l must find
some one. How about Master Pietro?'
sab, my poor fatherl' cried voice.
"May God rest his soul. A good man
was he. But don't bring him back,
pray, doctor. He who wished so much
to see us a united family would be
heartbroken to find our affairs in such
muddle. After dozen lawsuits the six
of us-four sons and two daughters
have finally divided the property into
six little strips. Each of us has swarm
of children, each Of us has to shift for
himself. There is not one of us who has
anything to spare. -
$50 it cannot be?"
"No. If you should bring him back,
we would have to make up little in
come for him among US all. Only the
times are so hard, doctor, you know.
The silkworms don't hatch we'll, nor
spin when they do; the vines are dis
eased, the grain is thin, the olives are
wormy, there is no rain, the taxes are
heavy
Enough, we will let Master Pietro
sleep on. But l have not come here to
string beads and to have the crowd cape
at me. Tell me whom to raise
"Ghita-bring back Ghita, my
Ghita, cried poor old woman, weep
ing like Mary Magdalen
mo, no, doctor, do not wake her,"
a girl. "Oh, no, pretty
creature, it's all we'll she died. Before
she left us she told me all We dressed
her in white and put wreath on her
hair till she looked like bride. Leave
her in holy ground The man she loved
deserted her for some one else.
'Poor Ghita. But you must admit
you are making it hard for me. To put
an and to it all I will bring back Grin
gaiaSto, who choked to death eating
codnsh not month ago.
"You must not, you must not, cried
Lima Paparero, wringing her hands.
''He sold me that vineyard of his on
the installment plan. For ten long years
I've been paying in hard coin far more
than its value, and now would you have
me begin all over again? It's not fair,
signor dottore. "
"What a state of things. But we
will let that 60 will now propose one
who left to mourn him neither brother
nor sister, wife nor parent; one who
left only blessed memory, an example
of all the virtues, and his little savings
to the hospital mean your good
priest, who loved you so well, whom
you regretted so deeply, who made, you
remember, such dreadful journey to
the other world, seeking, poor pilgrim,