The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1902-07-17
Bill Recovering From Illness Tells of
Medicine He Took
DUR PHYSICIANS ARE BLESSINGS
Arp Says But For the Doctors He and
King Edward Would Probably Have
Died Last Week.

ing Billy IN Ihe low SFOuHUS, DuI
had a good doctor who has nUrsed
me night and day and cheered me up
and comforted me and | am on the
up grade, though as the Georgia
crackers say. Il am powerful weak"
This doctor is my son and he saTs he
has not forgotten how his mother and
| nursed him for three long months
in Florida and saved his life and now
I shall not die if he can help it. |
take all his medicine, quinine, strych-
uine, calomel. spirits of nitre and cap
sules without number, and tonics, too,
and If | get we'll l will never know
what cured me, but he will. What
would the world do without doctors?
King Edward and | would have died
last week.
About twenty years ago l had a
spell like this one. for | had been
working in the water all day trying
to dam up the branch in the meadow
so that the children could go IN
bathing. That night l liked to have
died and old DR.. Kirk was sent for
and worked on me for three or four
days and got me up again. My wife
told me then that if l didn't be more
careful of myself l wouldn't live out
half my days. She told me the same
thing the other day, and she knows.
Old DR.. Kirk is trump. He was our
family doctor until he got old and
tired and moved away to live with
his children. Before he moved to this
place from South Carolina he had
love scrape over there, and he had q
rival. too, and they fell out. The girl
wouldn't have either one of them ana
the other fellow heard that the doc
tor had told stories on him to the
girl and so after the doctor located
here his rival wrote to him and de-
manded a retraxit or else fight The
doctor wrote him stinger and re.
fused to make a retraxit. but WOULD
accept his challenge and fight him un'
til Hades froze over, and as the fight
ing code gave the challenged party
choice of weapons and time ana
place and distance he should choose
rifles at long range and the next
goth day of February as the time and
the other fellow must stay where ne
was and shoot over this way and he.
(the doctor) would stay here and
shoot over that way and both must
aim high so as not to hit anybody
between them.
But l must stop now and take
breath. A good long breath is what !
want. The old woman was asked what
disease her husband died OF and she
said the doctors differed about it, but
she always believed he died for lack
of breath. l don't want to go that
way. was ruminating about these
physicians, for doctor is not the
proper name. Doctor means a teacher
of anything whether it be science OF
art or law or pharmacy or theology
Physician is the right word. 1t is q
very ancient name for the profession.
The Bible tells how Joseph got the
physicians to embalm his old father
but l do not think it was a very
popular profession among the Jews
for it is mentioned only two or three
times and with doubtful favor. kins
Asa had a disease in his feet and
would not call upon the Lord for re
lief, but sent for physician, ana ne
died and slept with his fathers. TheQ
there was a woman who had had an
issue of blood for twelve years and
had suffered much from many phys
icians and spent all she had and was
nothing better, but rather grew worse.
The Jews unto this day do not give
much patronage to physicians or
auack medicines. l never knew pu'
one Jew doctor, though there are 0
few very eminent ones in the large
cities. for whatever a learned Jew
does he does well. There is doctor
Jacob In New York city who stands
at the head of the profession and Is
consulted by the rich and great men
of the nation.
Now. let me stop for another good
long breath. When l was boy we
didn't have but one doctor IN tht
town. and he weighed 300 POUNDS ana
was never in a hurry. He LETT littie
babies around ever and anon ano
when one came to our house our old
cook told us where he got them and
She slyly pointed to his corporoslty.
He had a little Office on the street
and a few shelves with bottles OF
them containing calomel, salts ano
castor oil, senna and cammomile ana
Peruvian bark, balsam of copaiDas
and such simple things and in the
corner was skeleton IN DoX tna'
stood upright, with a screw IN inc
skull, and sometimes the little long
door was open and we school chill
dren could peep in and then run for
our lives. It was an auful sight. But
the old doctor got too old and fat to
practice and sent to New York for
his nephew, DR.. Philo D. Wildman,
a student of Valentine Mott, the
great New York physician and sur
geon. He was as smart as his tutor
And went to cutting and slasfing our
nannle inst like killing hogs. he