The Press., 1898-09-01
A DOCTORS OFFER.

& 1kSu4 sOuu40u 1OuE anu ndru, DuG III Ou-
| cnguano, where he had settled, no one
had faith in him Meeting him always
With book in his hand, the Cucugu-
anese said:
''That doctor knows nothing-he is
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 change, so
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 we'll; 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: "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
sral cross. There he saluted the crowd,
pa6 on the ground, blew his nose and
began:
MY dear friends, I have promised to
lag. one of your dead back to life.
4zSsend to keep my word. Be silent and
-hearken to me- It will cost me abso-
lutely no effort to raise from the tomb
Giascomo or Giovanni, Mamma or
Beta, Amadeo or Simone. Shall raise
Simone? Simone-what was his last
name? Simone Capannaro, who died of
pleurisy year ago?"
Excuse me, signor dottore,'' said
Oaterina, poor Simone's widow. Seer
tainly he was fine fellow. He made
me very happy, and 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 will raise Nina Carota, who died
Candlemas day"
For heavens sake, signor dottoreI" /"
cried Giacomo Carota. "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, doctorl Obstinate as a mule,
lazy and quarrelsome and slovenly and
ragged And that is not all. Wasteful,
and tongue-a viper's tongue-that
would have set St. Joseph to quarreling
with the Madonna 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 I
could not handle them all I have mar
ried again; SO you see it is useless.
"Well and good. / 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? must find
some one. How about Master Pietro?''
"Ah, my poor fatherl" cried voice.
q 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 united family would be
heartbroken to find our affairs in such a
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
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
there is no rain, the taxes are
heavy
"Enough. we will let Master Pietro
We out a cake of fhe