The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1904-01-28

|
Well, Abe kept his word and took up
schoolin' as if nothing had happened;
and such schoolin' as there was that
winter. l don't believe any regular
academy had more learnin' and teachin'
| that winter than that district school
did. Seemed as if all the scholars had
! turned over new leaf. Even wild,
ornery, no account Ephe Dodge couldn't
help but get ahead some-but then he
was crazy to get the schoolma am !;
and she never paid no attention to him,
just went with Abe.
| Abe was teachin' her mathematics,
seeing that was the one thing where
| he knowed more than she did-outside
Of the farming. Folks used to say
| that if Ephe had Abe's head, or Abe
had Epe's face, the schoolma'a am would
have half of the Dodge farm whenever
OF man Dodge got through with it; but
neither of them did have what the
other had, and so there it was, you
| see
Well, you've heard Of Squire Cation;
Judge Cation, they call him, since he
got to be judge Of the Supreme Court
and Chief Justice at that. Well, he
had a farm down there not far from
| Fox River, and when he was there he
was plain farmer like the rest of us,
though up in Chicago he was high-up
lawyer, leader of the bar. Now it so
| happened that a young doctor named
Brainard-Daniel Brainard-had just
| come to Chicago and was Startin' in,
and Squire Cation was helpin' him,
gave him desk room in his office and
made him known to the folks-Kinzies
and Butterflies and Ogdens and Hamil-
| tons and Arnolds and all of these folks
about all there was in Chicago in
those days.
| Brainard had been in Paris, France,
| and Paris, Illinois, you understand, and
knew all the doctorin' there was to
know then. Well, come spring. Squire
Cation had Doc Brainard down to visit
him, and they shot ducks and geese
and prairie chickens and some wild tur-
keys-and deer, too. Game was just
swarming at that time. All the while
| there was to do, and Brainard thought
| he ought to be doin' some doctorin' to
| keep his hand in, SO he asked Cation if
| there wasn't any cases he could take
up-surgery cases especially he hank
cred after, SEEM he had more carvin'
tools than you could shake a stick at
He asked him particularly if there
wasn't anybody he could treat for
''strabismus."
The squire hadn't heard of anybody
! dying of that complaint; but when the
! doctor explained that strabismus was
French for cross-eyes, he naturally
thought of poor Abe Dodge, and the
young doctor was right up on his ear.
He smelled the battle afar off; and
most before you could say Jack Robin
son the squire and the doctor were on
horseback and. down to the Dodge
farm, tool chest and ALL
Well, 1t so happened that nobody was
at home but Abe and Ephe, and it
didn't take but few words before
Abe was ready to set right down, then
and there, and let anybody do anything
he was mind to with his unfortunate
| eyes. No, he wouldn't wait until the
old folks come home; he didn't want to
ask no advice; he wasn't afraid of
pain, nor of what anybody could do to
his eyes-couldn't be made any worse
than they were, whatever you did to
'em. Take 'em out and boil 'em and
put 'em back if you had a mind to, only
| go to work. He knew he was of age,
and he guessed he was master of his
own eyes-such as they were.
| Well, there wasn't nothing else to do
but go ahead The doctor opened UP
his killing tools and tried to keep Abe
| from seeing them; but Abe he just
come right over and peeked at 'em,
] handled 'em and called 'em splendid
and so they were, barrin' havin' them
used on your flesh and blood and bones.
! Then they got some clothes and a
| basin, and one thing and another, and
set Abe right down in a chair. (No
such thing as chloroform in those days,
you'll remember) Squire Cation was to
hold an instrument that spread the
| eyelidS wide open, while Ephe was to
hold Abe's head steady. First touch of
the lancet, the first squirt of blood, and
what do you think? That ornery Ephe
! wilted and fell fiat on the floor behind
| the chair.
Squire said Brainard, "step around
and hold his head"
II can hold my own head,' says Abe,
as steady as you please. But Squire
Cation he straddled over Ephe and held
his head between his arms, and the two
handles of the eye-spreader with his
| hands.
/ 1t was all over in half a minute and
| then Abe, he leaned forward and shook
the blood off his eyelashes, and looked
straight out of that eye for the first
time since he was born. And the first
words he said were:
"Thank the Lord She's mine"
/ About that time Ephe he crawled out
doors, sick as dog, and Abe spoke up
says he:
Now for the other, eye, doctor"
"Oh," says the doctor, wed better
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