The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-03-20
THE COUNTRY DOCTOR.

litoft IEan thirty years II has not beer
3 exciting, but l have had pretty good
= tune after all. I've got a lot OF friend.
= here who would go A good way for me
n mats one consolation. and since In
writing behind a screen OF anonymity
{ may say that I feel have my share OF
good in the world.
3 Ny folks did a great deal for me ]
owe more 10 them than TO anybody else
Father was not a rich farmer but when
? he proposed that I should go 10 college
l jumped at MS proposition with all the
seinshness and thoughtfulness of youth.
In my second year at college 1 discover
I Ell that l wanted TO be a physician That
meant three years more study after
FAD taken my degree as a bachelor OF
arts. Even that did not end II. Three
; years al medical college and one in q
New York hospital only prepared me FOR
a couple of years in Europe. / was act
uaily selfish enough to propose that my
self and my father and mother concealed
their disappointment and insisted that
must do it. They were determined that
should have every opportunity.
. went TO Europe and spent not two but
three years in Vienna and Berlin. II
was there that I came TO my senses.
Perhaps it was because when first went
over l was so homesick that came to
see what my folks had done for me and
how utterly selfish I had been in taking
ali they had offered. At any rate I did
grow to realize 1t and 1 determined to do
what could 70 make it up TO them, so
far as I was able
Again, 1 am glad that I am anony-
nous, for it allows me 10 say that when
L did finally sail for New York / was
! better equipped TO begin the practice OF
my profession than are more than nine
tenths of the young doctors at the age Of
p. had even made a few little discov-
cries of my own and had made my name
fairly well known by a series Of articles
! on contagious diseases in the medical
! journals of both Europe and America. II
! V as not surprising, therefore. that
| should get an offer from a prominent ply
sician Of New York offering 10 take me
/ into partnership. It was q hattering Of
/ fer, for the man had huge practice and
1 II took no wise man 10 see that New
! York would be for many years the great
] est field In the country for a physician.
no matter whether it IS looked at from
the standpoint Of a financial success or
purely professional reputation.
Before l gave him an answer I went
on 70 the cid home in Iowa. Of course, /
father and mother were both proud and
| delighted to see me. l soon found out that /
they expected me to settle down TO prac- /
tice in Brutusville. We were driving /
through the town one afternoon when !
father pointed out a second-story room in /
the opera house block opposite the court I
house, and said. slyly: John, don't you /
think that would make good location 4
for a doctors Officer" That was enough. /
If 1 had announced my offer to go to New /
York they would have urged me to ac-
cept, and would. have hidden their s0r-
row in their pride. But II would have
broken their hearts. for they wanted me
at home after all these years. Fortu-
nately ! saw it all plainly, and I made up
my mind that I would not disappoint
them. So / said nothing about the New
York man who wanted TO take me into
partnership. ard week later 1 signed
the lease of the office father had pointed
out for a term of two years.
Of course, 1t was slow work The people
about Brutusville had never read or heard
OF the medical journals in which my es-
says had appeared. except as they had
been shown about by my fond old mother.
and even then it did not mean much TO
them. Ny discoveries in the handling Of
contagious diseases had little effect ex-
cept to rather brighten the few people
who had heard OF them. Even the other
doctors were rather suspicious Of me !
than otherwise. / would be the last 10 {
decry the virtues of the country doctor. I {
1 remember one old doctor in Brutus-
vile when I located there. He was a
natural born physician, and what he lack
ed in knowledge of the new discoveries in
his profession was more than made up
By his native shrewdness and common I
sense. His presence in the sick room was
always like a breath Of fresh air. He (
was always cheerful and never failed to J
look on the bright side of everything.
Again behind my screen I may say 7
that l was an extremely skillful young c
doctor and the people in and around
Brutusville were quick 20 find il out
When [ pulled the four children OF old :
. King Anders the richest farmer in the
county. through the typhoid fever my rep
ltation was made. That fall remember =
was driving little fea-bitten gray V
indian pony. and I almost wore out the
brute, tough as it was, driving around the
G
Then father died and I was left alone TO
axe care Of mother. BY that time had =,
! good paying practice. and IL was not ?,
lard work to provide everything she
needed. Several months before the old -.
clks had moved in from the country. q
ma we were living in little house on
Vain street, which I had paid for from
ny earnings Shortly after fathers death y
ny eldest sister. who had married and Of
moved to the far West. lost her hus-
and. He had been school teacher. and Y,
e left her with less than 5000 and four t.
hildren 20 support
Naturally enough they came to Brutus- ",
lie and went 10 live with Ne Il was =,
leasant 10 have the children about the ( n
ouse, and even II II had been unplesz-
mt 1t was up 70 me" to see that thew
'ciNed for nothing
Not long after they arrived came the ..'
rest temptation Of my fife. ti'
One of my young friends in Brutusvine
graduate Of a school Of technology. bad Ps
vented a new kind ~ health corset. He ca
al started little factory in our town II
nd had made such success that n IT,
.emed wise to move to the uelghborha0d
some big city In the East. whore re tn
1uld 10 larger business more easily. fu.
he came 70 me and said he wanted TO laf
ave a reputable physician connected by
IN us business. and that 4 would pat
"o into his business he would make vi
e iuu partner. I could see easily the ~
]ssihilities Of growth in the bushes =.
I'd told him I was sure - would make =.
N an extremely rich man. bat that
uld not, under the circumsta nces. think
leaving Brutusvilie. Besides. Z had -
70 families dependent on me for SAN '-l
TT, and 7 had no right 70 FISK fhe 81
tie money ! had laid Up re nrcad Se'
at | could continue NY scientific and
OCCASIONAL studies while I was doing nv $50
are IN the extension az his business I'd
20 that he was almost certain - ssc- 30
"a financially. SO that I need have no &c
ubts about that part OF IT, dos
4 partnership in corset factorv -nr- :
I sound aliuglug but the fact f. thar my vii
Z friend IS row a mathematician fr { so
issac husetts- He has endowed q school cat
5riginsl research IN medicine. ~ witch rsr
misht as vel as not have been the 49,
ad. -
x any rate. stsid behind I've bean
re Ions enough now 90 have the hzeeet -
actice il this Ed of che state. don -
down - riy oftlcs without meeting -
rlrc