The daily Alaskan., 1905-02-20
Icopyrlght. l9Oi, by c. B. Lewls.i

| nlnd the counter ana Oe reduy WILL advice, and from thence on he is as much of a fixture as the sponge basket or the soda fountain. It Is about 6 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 sitting around ou the cracker and sugar barrels with his dignity and greatness, They arc ready to be impressed.
 A certain reverence is always fell for drug store and some of this must naturally descend to the sitter He knows his gait. He looks wise and waits to be asked about business There Is pride in his tones as he re plies that business Is booming, and he lies like a trooper about the daily casl receipts to add to his own dignity. He feels the respect in every mind, but the climax comes when somebody asks him if he can suggest remedy for in digestion, kidney complaint or insom' mia. That's what he's been waiting for, and he assumes all the dignity and gravity of doctor as he glibly refers to culomel, chlorOform, citral. lanolin hyoscine, salol and dozen other things he has jotted down and committed to memory.
 In another month the sitter has q recognized standing in his neighbOr' hood as a medical man. He Is not a regular doctor, of course, but it Is argued that he couldn't sit around a drug store for month without picking up lots of pointers. He Is consulted re, garding felons, warts, wens. cold sores dandruff, sore heels, headaches, sore throats and coughs. and it is declared awfully good of him when he volun teers to run in and see a baby with the collie or a boy who has been swal' lowing peach stones.
 He Is given dozens of opportunities every week to talk about nux vomica, hypOphosphates, 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 considered a scrub sort of man be- fore becoming a sitter, but after time public opinion undergoes a change, and men take pains 10 brag of his smart ness and boast that they always knew he had 1t in him.
 1 have always wished that l could get a druggist out into the woods and secure his candid opinion as to his sit ter, but have never been able to ac. complish the feat. No matter what they think, however, he has become an adjunct, and 1t would be dangerous to try to upset things. His position is well defined because be started in to define 1t himself.
 If he is the right sort of 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 cheerfully willing to advise, and his personal experience with pitch plas. ters. hot water bags and consumption cures is both interesting and yalua- ble to a man who wants to live out his allotted years.
 For the first few weeks the sitter is rather in awe of the doctors who drop in. but contact soon puts him on fa- miliar footing. He has no diploma and cant practice; but. having got on to the contents of most of the bottles. he is imbued with a fraternal feeling and can be made friend for life if called Doe" ln 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 to- day or want any advice?"
 The doctors usually treat the sitter with something Ike contempt. but he | gets his revenge on the druggist. In three months he thinks he owns the store: in three more he ilnagines he owns the druggist as well. Then b. begins to suggest and advise and b. aggressive. and 1t Is hard job for tho customer to tell who Is the actual head
 Only once in my life did ! ever know a druggist to rebel against his sitter The sitter had worn out his chair and accidentally broken his GUS pidor and wanted them replaced. He also wanted curtain at a certain window and the show cases wrestled around. To my great amazement, and probably to his own as well. the drug gist replied that if the sitter didn't like things as they were he could move out on the sidewalk. There were Ave minutes of redhot conversation, and then the man of drugs went down into his boots and acknowledged his error He wasn't forgiven at once.
 It was two or three minutes before the sitter extended the hand of recon clliation and said:
 "All right, Jim, we'll let it go this time, but don't never let me hear sucE an outbreak again. I'm not here for my own benefit, but for yours, and fl I drop this store nine-tenths of your customers drop with me. Yes, III take sarsparilly in mine." NJ. QUAD.