, 1898-07-06
A DOCTORS OFFER.

had faith in him. Meeting him always
with q book in his hand, the Cucugu-
snese said:
"That doctor knows nothing-hc is
always studying. If no studies SO much,
it meal he has need to learn; if he
needs to learn. it means he does not
know; if he does not know, he is an is-
noramus."
A doctor without patients is like n
lamp without oil. Without other re-
sources, forced therefore to earn a liv-
ing by hook or by crook, up to this time
the poor devil had not been ablo to pay
even for the water he drank. He dccid-
ed there would have to be a change, so
onc 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 us well; 4 miracle of God, surely.
And this miracle no promised to per-
form openly in broad day i'll the grave
yard amid the multitude.
Few gave crcdencc to the report, yet
even the i%ncrcdulous said: "We will
Acl Hill dtttlhpb IL an IDW. Itt ; STU
him at work-the proof of the pudding
is the eating. He may succeed-he
reads s 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 Il man to life again and
we will say he is tho cleverest doctor
we have ever had
Finally it was settled that on the fol.
lowing Sunday, at tho stroke of noon i'll
the cemetery of Cucuguano the doctor
would raise q mai from the dead-nino
or ten, some old women went SO far rs
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 tho doctor, all in black. He
elbowed his way to the steps of the cen
trail cross. There he salutad the crowd,
spat on tho ground, blew his nose and
began:
my dear friends, I have promised to
bring one of your dead back to life. l
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 OF
Beta, Amadeo or Simone. Shall l raise
Simone? Simone-what was his last
name? Simone Capannaro, who died of
pleurisy n year ago."
Excuse me. signor dottore," said
Caterina, poor Simono's widow. Ger
tainly he was Il fine fellow. He made
me very happy. and l will mourn him
as long as l 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 we'll to tell me, Catcrina.
Then will raise Nina Garcia, who died
Candlemas day"
"For heavens sake. signor dottorc!'
cried Giacomo Carota. ''NinS was my
wife; we lived together ten years-tcn
years Of purgatory, rs all CucuguanL
knows. Let her stay where she is, fUr
her rest and mine. What Il pcppcry
temper, doctorl Obstinate as u mule,
lazy and quarrclsome and slovenly and
ragged! And that is not all. Wusteful,
and Il tongue-a viper's ~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 rue for ~interrupting, signol
dottore. A @ 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. l can conceive il
would BIO m%artyrdom to have two wives
i'll theh house. One is more than enough
sometimes. Then whom shall | restore
to you, my dear people? l must find
some one. How about Master P%ietro?"
"Ah, my poor fathcr!' cried n 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 sec us n united family would be
heartbroken to find our affairs in such a
muddle. After IL dozen lawsuits the six
of us-four sons and two daughters
have finally divided the property into
six little strips. Each of us has a 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?"
mo. If YOU should bring him back,
we would have to make up Il little in
come for him among us all. Only the
times are so hard, doctor, you know.
The silkworms don't hatch well, nor
spin when they do; the vines are dis.
eased, the grain is thin. the olives are
wormy, there is no rain, tho taxes are
heavy
Enough, we will let Master Pietro
sleep Oh. Bat l have not come here to
string beads aud TO have the crowd cape
ut me. Tell me whom TO raise"
"Glita-hriny back Chita. my
Ghita," cried Il poor old woman. weep
ing like Mary Magdalsn.
mo, no, doctor, do net wake her, "
interrupted II girl. Oh. no, pretty
creature. it's all well she died. Before
me l,ft us sic tod NE all. We dressed
i'll white end put II wreath on hez
hair till she looked like a bride. Leav'
her in holy ground. The man she loved
deserted her for some II else"
Poor Ghita. But you must admi
you are making it hard for me. To pu'
an end to it all l will bring back Grin
galetto, who choked to death eatin:
Goldfish not a month ago."
lyon must not, you must not, criet