Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-15

What becomes of the men who, through
some evil turn OF the luck wheel. their own
indebtedness or the dissipation that sue
cess sometimes brings, find themselves sud
denly and permanently down and out, af-
ter having filed high places and lived upon
the fat Of the land?
II had been practicng my profession only
short time" said a medical specialist,
known and respected by men in his profess
sion over half the civilized world, when
the telephone bell in my Office rang. Be
fore / answered it l congratulated myself
mentally on having had the nerve to have
the then Few invention put in. 1t had cost
more than ! could afford, and this was the
very first time the bell had sounded. Did
Its tinkle mean a patient? l asked myself
as put the receiver to my ear. In mo-
ment knew that it did. and in very few
moments more l was tearing down the
stairs that led from my second-story office.
The voice at the other end of the wire had
said: Hurry fast as you can TO No.
4G7 Blank street. Mr.. |. NJ Hiroer is very
Ill. It's case of life or death
That wasn't the mans real name of
course. 1t was name any oldtimer would
recognize as financial skyrocket of twen-
ty years ago. Then he was talked about
from ocean to ocean, and as | ran for the
horse car | congratulated myself on having
ventured the cash to have the telephone
put in. No doubt. 1 reasoned, l had been
called instead of some better known doctor
because | could be reached more quickly.
Later found that l had guessed right,
but of course that isn't the point of my
story Mr.. Hiroler' was acutely ILL., but
his disorder, due to excessively generous
living. to put 1t mildly, was easily got un-
der control; and so quickly that the gem
tleman fancied me a much better doctor
than | was. From that time he would have
no other physician for himself or any other
member OF his family. Furthermore he
recommended me in every direction. There
isn't the slightest doubt that he had good
deal to do with the really rapid way my
clustering UP the stairs.
when / sent my first bill in | ventured
to make 1t pretty steep, as / thought: he
could stand big bill knew very well. for
the papers just then were full of stories
about his exceptional killings in the money
making way. Two days after l had sent
the bill his carriage stopped before the
building my office was in, and he came
clustering pthe stairs.
Your bills wrong, doctor" he said.
bruSqueIy, slapping 1t down on the table
Tear 1t up and make another
- looked at him stupidity and began to
say hard things to myself for overcharg-
ing him. AS l made no move to tear up
the bill he grasped it and made minute
bits of paper of it between his strong
fingers, after which he scattered them
like snowflakes about the room.
Now, he said, sit down and make out
bin just twice as big. You're blamed
good doctor, for a youngster, but you
haven't yet learned the first principles of
finance. Receipt the bill
Then he took from his waistcoat pocket
a check which he had made out and sign
ed before coming to see me, of the exact
amount of the new bill. Then he turned
away. his huge bulk shaking with laugh
ter at my embarrassment and disdaining
to listen to a word of the protests l tried
to make.
Two or three years after that / was
shocked-though 1 can hardly say 1 was
surprised-by the announcement in the