The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-04-13

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these brave men must daily, nay, II
some cases, hourly, quench hope las'
ray and bid men set ''their houses IL
order Nor does use harden those
best endowed for this stern duty.
have seen the blood leave great doc
tors cheek as pale as that of his pa
tient, as he forced himself to say thai
disease had conquered nature and sci
ence had no remedy: [ have known
+! such tidings told SO tenderly that the
first instinct of the foredoomed man
was to grasp the doctors hand.
Strange burdens are laid on the doc
tors shoulders; he must advise where
one is to live, what school will best
suit the boys, how much exercise the
girls may take, how much wine the
father must drink, where the family
must travel. When you come to anal
we these questions they have pro
fessional germ in them, but ii they
were honestly thought over and seri-
ously answered, great deal of brain
work is gotten from them which can
not be put into the bill.
Nor do the demands stop with these
questions which do remotely bear on
the mutual relations between the
medical adviser and the family. Doc
tors are frequently called upon to try
moral suasion on troublesome boys
and wayward girls. Many times, es-
peciaIly, if the advice comes from one
familiar at their bedside from infancy,
it will have extraordinary influence
for good, and succeed where the earn
est expostulatien Of a clergyman has
failed. There is certain prelimi-
nary acknowledgment, especially in a
young mans mind, that sthe doctor
knows all about it," and that no dis
guise or preyarication will prevail.
There is much inveighing against
doctors bills, and very common
feeling that the grocer and butcher
must be paid, but that the doctor can
wait. This arises uuquestionably
from the fact that we are already bur-
dened when wesend for him, aud that,
unlike our other needs, we cannot
control how much or how little it will
take to satisfy them. Die we must
unless the doctor can laid us, and
what he does for us he measures him
self. With people living on small
salaries, or in any way under the re-
straint Of narrow means, days of i'll
ness mean always added expense of
every sort, and if it be the head of the
house who is i'll, loss Of income also,
and in this way the Doctors bill be-
comes part Of the general infection.
The English habit Of paying fee
at each visit is, when practicable,
short but not pleasant way out of the
difficulty of steadily increasing in
debtedness. But, following the Gus
tom of our own country, it is not only
just and honorable to try to lay a lit
tie aside for the meeting Of this re-
sponsibility as time goes on. / knew
a singularly provident man whose only
deposit in savings bank was what he
called "the doctors contingent, and
it proved an excellent expedient, al
lowing him to meet his physician al
ways cheerfully and be ready and glad
to discharge the moneyed part of his
debt to him.
That thousand dollar fee seems an
immense sum to pay for an operation
which takes only az hour Of man S
time is surely true, and there is
very bitter feeling natural to those
who crave the utmost skill for their
dear ones that such demand puts the
relief out of their reach. Yet, who
shall weigh the strength which goes
out of man, the loss of nerve power,
and vitality in that hour for which he
demands so much? Who shall meas
ure what he has done and endured to
achieve his skill? Who shall analyze
what he has to bear when under the
knife patient dies? In the making
and the. working of great surgeon
there are experiences which they only
know, which no money can repay.
Those who grumble most over the
dues demanded by doctors are least
aware what noble liberality is shown
by the profession in the gift of their
highest skill and Of priceless time in
which they might refresh themselves,
entirely without money and without
price And this, outside the walls
Of hospitals, merely in response to
appeals in behalf of those who were
not able to come to them as paying