The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1901-05-17

M r. HENRY WHARTON was in
NI love. In fear and trembling
he admitted it TO himself at 1:4s
o'clock a. IN. on October II, In
the year of Our Lord 1900, after n
season of wrestling with himself
which had lasted for five mortal
hours in the lonesomeness of his apart
ments. Over and over again he had de-
MED it to himself, but at last had been
compelled to admit il.
DR.. Henry Wharton was compelled to
be honest with himself. His entire sue
cess had been built upon the analytical
clearness of his brain. The reason of
his phenomenal rise in his profession
at an age when most men of his years
were struggling for the faintest recog-
milton, was that he never sought to con-
vince himself of anything He observed
and then drew his conclusions with the
accuracy and impersonality Of a ma
chine.
He had found il very hard to do this
in the present emergency, but the crisis
vas so important and the issue so vital
that he had compelled himself to apply
the rule of his professional life to the
matter, and the habit of years had tri-
umphed and he had faced himself with
the hard, cold Tor rather the warm,
pulsating) fact that he was heels over
head in love, and, try as he could, he
could not helpit. And what made mat
ters worse, all his phenomenal profess
sional success and the glowing promise
of the future which all indications held
out to him, appeared as naught to the
dream of the successful elimination of
his desires regarding pretty Elsie
Burns, the pink and white daughter
of the bluff old major, whose case he
had taken at the earnest request of a
friend and retained partly because of |
genuine admiration of the sturdy quail
tiles of the old soldier and partly Che |
confessed in his relentless self-exam- |
ination) through the attraction of the |
daughter.
DR.. Henry Wharton was a southerner
by birth and training. His people of
the foregoing generation had all been
slave owners, and all the men of any
account had been in the confederate
army. He had grown up in the stupe-
tying atmosphere of the south in the
years following the war, but after grad
lating from college and lying around
On the decaying and bankrupt planta-
ton for two OF three years he had raj
led one day and announced his inten-
ion TO become great physician. More
# the meager patrimony Of the house
lad been expended on his professional
ducation, and the moment he re-
'eived his sheepskin he had headed for
he great northern city determined to
vim the first laurels of his profession
IT 60 down in ignominious defeat. IL
lad been a hard struggle but he had
lung TO il with persistence foreign to
he traditional qualities of the people
# the south. Selecting a speciality
hat Of lung diseases, he had pursued il
With a persistence which savored OF
he Yankee character, added to all the
rdor of the south. II was a hard
truggle. but he won, not only as al,
ersistent effort wins, but with the
dded success which comes from bril- ,
ant attainments. In the great COM
iercial metropolis of the north he be-
anne at the age of 3s the foremost au- ,
iority in his chosen speciality, lee {,
nrer in the most famous medical col
'ges, counselor in the most important
ospitals and the man most sought aft
T by the wealthiest patients.
II was about this time that friend !.
egged him to lend his great talents to :
ne case of old Maj. Burns. The major
as veteran of the union army who
nd seen gallant service in the rebel
on. lie was pensioner-with a most !,
odest pension, and resided in the most
of apartments with his ,
lughter Elsie, a daughter who had
me 10 him late in life, and whose birth !
I'd cost his wife her life. The major u
as afflicted with pulmonary trouble, a
ID a mutual friend had interested DR.. d
harton. He went at the behest OF
iendship He found himself little in a
rested in the case, which, in sooth, s
rs commonplace enough from the
of a specialist. He con- Il
lued, however, to attend the major, 81
hough he had seen after a few Wis n
that there was nothing he could do h
bring permanent relief. Instead OF :"
oppng the case when he satisfied "