The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-03-18

Doc" and to feel at home behind the
counter and be ready with advice, and
from thence on he is as much of a fix
ture as the sponge basket or the soda
fountain. 1t is about a month before
| the general public reaps any benefit.
Then the sitter tears himself away from
the drug store long enough to show up
at the grocery and impress the men sit
ting around on the cracker and sugar
barrels with his dignity and greatness.
They are ready to be impressed.
A certain reverence is always felt for
drug store. and some of this must
naturally descend to the sitter. He
knows his gait He looks wise and
is pride in his tones as he replies that
business is booming: and he lies like a
trooper about the daily cash receipts to
add TO his own dignity. He feels the
respect in every mind, but the climax
comes when somebody asks him il he
can suggest a remedy for indigestion,
kidney complaint or insomnia That's
what he's been waiting for, and he as
sumes all the dignity and gravity of a
doctor as he glibly refers to calOmel,
chloroform, citral, lanoline, hyoscine,
salol and a dozen other things he has
jotted down and committed to memory
for the purpose of getting the list off
at the right time. If given proper en-
couragement, he'll wiring in from ten to
fifteen medical terms and half a dozen
Latin words. and when he takes his
departure some one is sure to throw up
his hands and eXclaim:
Gosh all henlock, but who'd a thunk
it?'
In another month the sitter has a
recognized standing in his neighborhood
as medical man. He is not regular
doctor, of course, but it is argued that
he couldn't sit around drug store for
a month without picking up lots of
/ pointers He is consulted regarding
felons. warts, wens, cold sores, dandruff,
D =
coughs, and it is declared awfully good
/ of him when he volunteers to run in
and see baby with the collie or boy
who has been swallowing peach stones.
He is given dozen. opportunities every
week to talk about nux vomica, hypo-
phosphates, alkaloids, salicylates and
chlorides, and it's all the same to his
hearers whether he gets them right or
wrong end to. He may have been con-
sidered a scrub sort of a man before be-
coming sitter, but after a time public
opinion undergoes a change, and men
| take pains to brag of his smartness and
boast that they always knew he had it
nave always wished that I could get
druggist out into the woods and secure
have never been able to accomplish the
feat No matter what they think, how
would be dangerous to try and upset
things His position is well defined. be-
cause he started in to define it himself.
1t is his duty to occupy the only chair:
to keep possession of the only newspaper;
to welcome all callers in advance of the
druggist and ask what is wanted.
If he is the right sort of a brand he
makes all customers feel glad that they
didn't go to the carpenter shop for their
prescriptions, or to the blacksmith shop
for their patent medicines He is cheer.
fully willing to advise, and his personal
experiences with pitchplasters. hot water
bags and consumption cures are both in
teresting and valuable to a man who
wants to live out his allotted years.
The first few weeks the sitter is rather
| in awe of the doctors who drop in, but
| contact soon puts him on a familiar foot
ing. He has no diploma and can't prac-
/ tice. but having got onto the contents of
most of the bottles he is imbued with a
| fraternal feeling and can he made a
friend for life Il called Doc in reply.
Three months after his initiation he is
ready to greet any physician entering the
store with: Hello, Doc-good morning to
you. Got any interesting cases on hand
today or want any advice?''
The doctors usually treat the. sitter
with something like contempt but he
gets his revenge on the druggist In
Three months he thinks he owns the