The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-05-18

Z - DCIMEtA d hermit ana rough
rider He wore grayish sort of a
manner shirt with a low rolling collar.
ana a frock coat that was fairly green
with age. He was the local doctor.
AS soon as I entered the sick. room
I found that the patient was doing
very well; quite as well as could be ex-
pected, considering the nature and
stage Of the Illness. I saw at a glance
that she had had the best Of care. and
naturally my fears Of the doctors in
efnciency lessened. He was not so
much Of a botch after all.
Examining further I found the
treatment the patient had had was ac-
cording to the very latest methods
known to medicine at that time, and.
Of course, I began to question the old
physician when we got by ourselves.
commented upon the methods he had
used and could not conceal my Curl
osity to know how he had become so
familiar with them.
THE old fellow pulled a pipe out Of
his pocket, following it I'D with a
pouch filed his pipe and lit it and pro-
ceeded to explain that he had been
using those methods for the last ten
years.
DuL LlGI nave OILY just EDLlE lLLU
use in the cities exclaimed.
" Can't help that was the deliber-
ate response. I have practiced them
as long as ] tell you. Ask Hiram Smith
over back on the mountain there what
saved his wife. Go and question old
Elijah Cook a mile the other side
of the village If his sons wife would
have been alive today if hadn't done
the same thing to her
II didn't look the people up, Of
course; in fact. it was easy enough TO
tell the doctor was not romancing. Peo-
pie in the country have a way Of try
ing never to be surprised at anything
you tell them or show them. They ike
to appear as if they knew everything
that city folks know, and they hate TO
show their ignorance
MY first thought after had exam
ined the patient was that the local
physician had read 10 the new treat
ment in the medical journals, and
would not let on 10 me. But I soon
found that he wasn't that kind Of a
man. The people told me a few of the
things he had done, of some Of the
t-cklish cases he had saved and I met
a well known New York physician sum-
n1ering near by, who told me much
more.
The old doctor. he said. was a re-
markable man: he studied day and
night. He had had some domestic
trouble when a youngster, soon after
he left the medical school. He had been
one Of the cleverest chaps in his day,
but when this trouble, or whatever it
was, came to him, he threw up a rap
idly growing practice in the city.
chucked the whole business, made for
the hills, and had stayed among them
ever since. Fact, he has never been in
the city since.
They say he has a fine medical Ii
brary in the Weather-WOrn old house
he and his wrinkied old housekeeper
live in, and when not pounding around
the country in his gig he is digging in
his books. The big city physician in
talking to me told me the old fellow
did not care much to meet with the
city brethren. but I rather suspect from
other things I picked UP while out
there that the big city physician is
pretty close to the old chap, and il
may be heresy even TO whisper it,
since those two or three weeks 7 spent
UP in that town that time I have kept
a little closer eye on the big doctor.
and I can't get rid Of the idea that now
and then in ticklish cases he goes up
and talks them over with the Old man
in the hills.
Sounds impossible. I know. but
stranger things have happened in our
profession. cannot forget one sum
mer night while 7 was up there. I
couldn't sleep; IL was fearfully hot. So
walked about the town and out into
the open country.
Il passed the old doctors house
along about midnight and went a mile
further on. When I came back was
just in time to see someone come down
the walk from the doctors Office at
the side of the house. II was bright
moonlight. and as the departing Wis
itor walked out into the road a little
ahead Of me 1 recognized the big city
physician.
I had wondered at the light in the
old doctors Office as I had passed the
first time and had said to myself that
the old fellow was probably studying.
The sight Of the other medical man
plodding down the road in front Of me
gave me a new idea. which I have
never been able to get out Of my head
since, that the city man was cultiVat-
ing his country brothers acquaintance
for reasons Of his own.
But this man isn't the only case
Of an unusually clever country physi-
clan I have run across. They are ali
over. I am confident; have met and
heard Of so many Of them that I feel
quite safe in making the assertion
7 have been astOnished more than
once at the range and modern quality
Of their Libraries and their familiarity
with the prevailing methods Of treat
ment in many kinds Of cases. Their
keenness after knowledge about any
thing OF Importance happening in the
world Of medicine and surgery is Oft
en- very great.
You see, many Of them have a deal
Of time TO themselves, and II there are
few really cOngenial spirits in the
neighborhOod they take TO their books
quite naturally. and the habit OF spend
ing their spare time in their libraries
grows as the years swing on. Then,
on their long drives over the hills they
get to carrying books along. poring
over their pages, reins between knees,
while the old horse. understanding his
masters weakness, goes Jogging on.
turning in at the proper lane and
rounding up at last at the old fam
house door. just as the doctor drops a