The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-04-19
MEN ARE GRATEFUL
AS EVIDENCE SHOWS
Two Husbands i'm India Who
Thanked a Woman Doctor
for Care of Wives

No one can say to this department
that men are dead to gratitude, and
claim that the man who remembers ia
vors and testifies to his appreciation
is a person of intelligence and heart.
There are times when one really be-
heVeS that the way to make a man an
enemy for life, is to do him a favor. 1t
seems a stranger perversion of the nat
ural order to dislike the one who has
done you kindness, and vet many
contend that nothing breeds dislike
more quickly than this. case of
gratitude on the part of husbands
pleasant to record, was noted in the
New York Sun recently, and barring the
fact that the language in the letters
published may be regarded as slightly
ambiguous, one can read between the
lines OF the grateful heart seeking to
express its thankfuness in some ade-
quate manner.
1t appears that woman has opened
hospital in India which is chiefly pa
tronized by the natives, and in order
TO show that those she benefits are APP
preciatiVe of the treatment she prints
in the India number Of Woman's Work
for April letters which show how eff
fective is her work. The two which
are given below are from husbands
whose wives had been in the hospital.
The first one reads:
Dear She: My wife has returned from
your hospital cured. Provided males are
allowed at your bungalow, | would like to
DO you the honor of presenting myself
there this afternoon. but | will not try to
repay you vengeance belongeth unto
God. YRS noticeably,
Now, possibly, that mans wife were
she able to understand English words
in their true sense, might take excep-
ton to the expressions used by her
grateful husband, but the doctor in
charge no oil
VIII appreciate that he was somewhat
handicapped by an imperfect knoWl-
edge of English, but his heart was in
the right place. He merely mistook
vengeance for gratitude; mistake
surely pardonable under the circum-
stances. In the exuberance of his joy
in having his dear wife return cured.
he seized pen and dashed off a CRATE
fuI letter, which. even though slightly
incoherent in spots, still testifies to the
fact that he is a very nice man. Nice
men are always grateful. 1t is to be
noted to his credit, too, that he does
not say word about the bill, nor refer
In any way to sordid matters, but sim
ply contents himself by allowing his
bursting heart to speak for itself
The other letter is still more touch
ing:
Dear and Fair Madame: 1 have much
pleasure to inform you that nv dearly
unfortunate wife will be no longer under
your kind treatment, she having left this
world for the other the night of the
nth ultimo For your help in this mat
ter L shall ever remain grateful Yrs
reverently,
While in this sad case the woman
doctor was not able to effect a cure, it
VIII be noticed that this husband is
no less grateful than the other hus-
band. The man is a gentleman. The
fact that his dear wife had passed
away, did not make him blind to the
good treatment and assistance she had
received at the hospital, and the ter
TlDle grief under which he undoubted-
Iy labored did not prevent his writing
a courteous letter to the DOCTOR While
from the untutOred native, uneducated
in the refinements of civilization, still
these letters remind one of those touch
ing epistleS found sometimes in our
own papers in which a sorrowing hus-
band thanks his friends and neighbors
for their kind assistance" in the death
of his beloved wife
SO from these little straws which
show the direction of the mind. argue
that in many a masculine breast there
beats a grateful heart, entirely alive to
taVorS received and not afraid to say
so. 1t is really a question whether in
INDIA or over here, woman would
nave had the sense of gratitude to
pen letters while yet the wound was
unhealed, but many a man will allow
nothing to interfere with his ideas of
courtesy. Perhaps, after all. civilized
as we are, we may learn a lesson from
those we regard as untutored saVages