The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1901-04-13
R. HENRY

M r. HENRY WHARTON was in
IVI love. In fear and trembling
he admitted it to himself at I:4s
o'clock a. m. on October II, in
the year of Our Lord 1000, after q
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 it.
DR.. Henry Wharton was compelled to
be honest with himself. His entire sue
cess had been built upon the analytical
CIearness of his brain. The reason of
his phenomenal rise in his profession
at an g when most men of his years
were struggling for the faintest reCOg-
milton, was that he never sought to o
vince himself of anything. He observed
and then drew his conclusions with the
accuracy and impersonaIity of a ma
chine.
He had found it very hard to do this
in the present emergency, but the crisis
was 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 (or rather the warm.
pulsating) fact hat he was heels over
head in love, and, try as he could, he
could not help it. 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 Qua.-
tiles of the old soldier and partly Che
confessed in his relentless seIf-exam-
i~nation) through the attraction of the
Belf-sacrifcing 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-
flying atmosphere Of the south in the
years following the war, but after grad
uating from college and lying around
on the decaying and bankrupt planta-
ton for two or three years he had raj
he'd one day and announced his inten-
ton to become a great physician. More
of the meager patrimOny Of the house
had been expended on his professional
education, and the moment he re-
Ceived his sheepskin he had headed for
the great northern city determined to
win the first IaureIs of his profession
or go down in ignOminious defeat. II
had been a hard struggle, but he had
chung to it with a persistence foreign to
the traditional qualities of the people
of the south. Selecting a speciality
that Of lung diseases, he had pursued it
with a persistence which savored of
the Yankee character, added to all the
ardOr of the south. 1t was a hard
struggle, but he won, not only as all |
persistent effort wins, but with the
added success which comes from bril-
liant attainments. In the great COM
mercial metropolis of the north he be-
came at the age of 3s the foremost au-
thority in his chosen speciality, a lee
turer in the most famous medical col
leges, counselor in the most important
hospitals and the mar most sought aft
er by the wealthiest patients.
1t was about this time that a friend
begged him to lend his great talents to
the case of old Maj. Burns. The major
was a veteran of the union army who
had seen gallant service in the rebel
lion. He wal a pensioner-with a most
modest pension, and resided in the most
inexpensive of apartments with his
daughter Elsie, a daughter who had
come to him late in life, and whose birth
had cost his wife her life. The major
was afflicted with pulmonary trouble.
and a mutual friend had interested DR.,
Wharton. He went at the behest of
friendship. He found himself little in
terested in the case, which, in so6fh.
was commonplace enough from the
standpoint Of a specialist. He con-
tinued, however, to attend the major,
although he had seen after a few Wis |
its that there was nothing he could do
to bring permanent relief. Instead of
dropping the case when he satisfied