Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1900-09-28
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OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
ND HE operating theater was packed
with lookers-on.


patient from the anaesthetic room on
the other side of the passage, the great
surgeon stood washing his hands and
talking to his dressers.
An enthusiast himself, he always in
splred his subordinates with enthusi-
asm and his daring and success as an
operator made him the envy and ad-
miration of all his juniors.
His fine but stern face relaxed into a
smile over the naive remarks of one of
the students, and a little laugh even
broke from his lips. 1t was unusual
for Mr.. MenZies to laugh; he was
known as a grave, silent man, and the
lines OF his face were severe, though
there was a great kindlness in his keen
gray eyes, and his rare smile was par
ticularly charming. The world in which
he moved knew well enough what it
was that had carved the sternness into
what had been so pleasant and bright
a face, knew what had caused the look
III his eyes which never wholly left
them.
miseration, a year before, when Mir.
Menzies' wife had left him and their
S-year-old daughter for another man.,
who had been the great surgeons
friend. Equally loud in its expressed
sympathy. but the surgeon had made
all such expressions an impossibility.
70 no living soul had he ever spoken
of the blow which had ruined his hap
piness, and no living soul had even
Ventured to touch upon the subject to
him.
He faced life sternly now, instead of
smlingly as before, that was all; and
he flung himself, heart and mind. into
his profession, giving apparently no
thought to anything beyond it, except
to his small daughter.
The child went with him every
where, and was even now sitting in
the carriage, in the hospital courtyard,
gravely and intently scanning the peo-
pie who passed to and fro in the full
sunshine
There was a sudden hushing of the
busy talk in the operating theater, as
the patient was wheeled in and lifted
upon the table, and the surgeon moved
forward.
Patient quite ready, sir" said the
house surgeon respectfully
The surgeon did not even glance at
the face of the man upon the table, but
proceeded TO examine the seat of the
injury, asking few terse questions as
he did so.
Game in early this morning, you
say?"
"Yes, sir, only just conscious enough
to tell us he was run over"
Poor fellow! well it is quite obvi-
GUS what must be done. 1t is case
of life or death. The only chance of
saving him is to operate at once"
The clear, decided voice could be
heard all over the theater, the strong
steady hands were watched eagerly
from every corner as they began their
work with no hesitation, no uncer-
tainty of touch.
For Il quarter of an hour Mr.. MenZies
worked on in silence, broken only by
an occasional short word to the dresser
beside him.
AS usual he was absorbed in the task
before him. every other thought for the
moment relegated to the back of his
mind. Outside, in the courtyard, his
little daughter sat in the carriage
watching the pigeons strutting to and
fro in the sunshine, and the people who
passed in and out of the great doors,
watched over herself by the coachman,
who adored every hair of tie curly
head, and worshiped the ground that
was walked upon by her tiny feet.
There was nothing the small girl en-
ioyed more than coming to the hospital
ito wait for father" it gave her de.
llghtful sensation of being grown up.
added to the delight of the long drive
sitting beside father, and holding his
hand and chatting to him upon the
many and varied incidents of the route.
She glanced up at the windows and
wondered where father was Just that
very minute, and whether he would
come soon. Then she turned her eyes
back again to the pigeons in the sun
shine, strutting boldly up and down
underneath the feet of the passers-bS. |
Upstairs, in the theater, there was a
breathless silence.
The most critical moment of the
operation had been reached, when the
surgeon paused for a moment to
glance up the table at the face of the
patient, and to ask question of the
house surgeon.
But the question was only half ut
tered, his words broke off suddenly.
and student, more observant than
his fellows, noticed what a curious
grayness overspread his face.
Something gone wrong over the an
aesthetic" the thought flashed through
the students brain, but even as the