The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1902-12-26
PULLING A TOOTH.
written by J. II, Fletcher Jefferson
Ore)

once firmly believed that nul,i,s .
'Oo'n wasn't half so painful as most
p'olle SAID II was. When I saw n fol.
low going around with his head tea ,u
IN handkerchief, felt inclined 70
laugh at him | fancied he made n
sieat ado about nothing. And when 7
neard fellow howl in dentists of
nee as the operator tugged at tbe
ioreeps, | said to myself: "what
ooooy' actually longed to have a
nolloW tooth, so could show nv
friends what a hero | was.
l hadn't long to wait. One Of nv
molars became very hollow and I
concluded to have It taken out bv a
dentist. could have saved II bv 6u
ing, but didn't want to. thopgbt I
would like to enjoy the sensation of
having It pulled, in order to show the
world what true bravery meant and
now could despse pain. II the opera.
ton should be attended by any.
one day while eating piece of plum
pie | tackled stone, and in attempt.
ing to bite 1t in two my hollow tooth
broke of close to the gum-never 10
crack stones any more. For some
Gays the root of the broken tooth kent
up a steady growing. One night II
stopped growing, and began TO rage
and rave and tear around in very
unbecoming manner II rufied nv
temper so badly that jumped out of
bed, and for an hour or two walked
the floor, clad only in a Gotten under.
shirt. DO what could with camphor
and Glove OIL brandy and tobacco
juice, II stlll kept up steady rum.
bling until daylight and so got beat
out of a good nights sleep
When daylight came / was so put
ont with this stub Of a tooth that de.
cided to have It pulled forthwith. I
invited some Of my friends to come
over to the dentists and witness my
stoicism during the performance, and
/ therefore slammed the door shut af.
ter me and was of to the place where
| expected to win fresh laurels as a
stern and unbending philosopher
When ] reached the Office the boss
butcher for such must call him.
was absent But a great big fellow,
who sat in the corner. kindly in
formed me that he was well up in
the business, and would remove the
offending member If / so desired. He
said he never saw a tooth that he
couldn't fetch II the handle Of his in
strument didn't break and l believed
him. So I told him to go ahead and
began to whistle Johnny Come Up"
in a most vigorous and careless man
ner. He then asked me II ! would
be kind enough to seat myself In
a cushioned chair that stood nearby.
did so. Then he regulated that.
| open my countenance; | obeyed.
Then with one hand he held my nose
while in the other he held kind
Of a dofunny instrument, which he
used in fishing out the root Of my
mutilated tooth.
After a long and ingenious search
he seized another deadly looking in
strument. II made me feel some
what uneasy and so ] requested "Will
II hurt?" and he replied, "Oh no" and
that made me feel so glad that ! had
come But a change soon came over
the spirit OF my dream, and am com
PEELED 10 say that never met such
a honey.tonged, coldblooded murdi
erer in my life. Why he took that
instrument and in attempting to get
hold Of that root he iammed It in
TO my gums with all his might. l
didn't holler for two reasons, first
because my friends were watching me
and second because l couldn't But
the worst Of 1t was, that after he got
hold of the root he missed fire. This
was too much for me and after
came TO he remarked very pleasantly
1T kind of hurt a little didn't itY'
l"A little" said l. This | meant Tor
red.hot irony, but he didn't see the
point. Then another husky looking
chap came in from the back room
and suggested that 1t might hurt some
before the root was "abstracted"
wanted to kill him but | decided not
10 attempt it until / got a little more
strength
once more the murderer went lot
me. There was fire in his eye and
~ &. bfs foaa n was 4