The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-05-07
TIE EVENING STORY
young Doctor Dartmouth.


"Well, there amt no bells tied to
his reputation as a doctor, anyway,
remarked old Joe Brundage, the viii
lage pioneer.
Perhaps there weren't any bells
tied to your own reputation when
you were his age, Uncle joe" the lit
tie librarian suggested mildly. She
did not want to invite an argument
with Uncle Joe but she did like to see
justice done to a new resident in the
village.
Maybe not, my gal, but I never
pretended to tell backache from toe
ache and he does. 1 tell you he's too
young. 1 wouldn't have him for my
dog Snap. No street,
Lourene Raymond smiled and shook
her head. I'VE were all young once,
Uncle Joe, and we all had to begin.
DR.. Dartmouth is unfortunate, per-
hapS, in having been brought up in a
neighboring village. Too many of you
knew him as a schoolboy and now that
he has come to settle in Sea Cove you
can't seem to realize that he has spent
seven years in medical schools and col
leges.'
Medical grandmothers! He can't
pull the wool over my eyes. I'd as
soon spin coin to see whether had
the diphtheria or smallpox as to ask
young Henry Dartmouth
Lets hope you won't have either,
laughed Lourene. merrily. They'd
go mighty hard with you, I'm afraid"
mo harder'n things is goin' to go
with that young fellow before he gets
any confidence in Sea Cove folks.
And it's again him, too, that he's sin
gle. Who wants a single doctor?"
Uncle Joe was waxing warm and
Miss Raymond looked anxiously about
the little library. No loud talking was
permitted, and if the conversation with
the librarian should be overheard it
icrI,f on hor mir
a box of cards to busy herself with
IT say who wants a single doctor ?"
demanded Uncle Joe, tapping. his stick
on the floor.
Some of the village girls might.
Uncle Joe," Lourene suggested quietly
to calm the old man.
Uncle Joe nodded his head wisely.
That's just it, The young girls want
anything that's single, but let him see
if it's the young girls he gets his prac-
tice from. No siree-it's the old folks
like m- and the mothers of families
that he's got to look to for his daily
bread and they won't have him. No
street.
Without further word of farewell
the old man tottered out of the library
main street of the village. On prin-
ciple, he was against everything new,
everything progressive and the ad-
vent of the young physician to fill the
had gone to his reward was taken by
Uncle Joe as a personal matter. He
spent his days going about agitating
the subject.
Lourene catalogued some recently
arrived books and finished few odds
and ends of work at her desk before
closing the library. Through her mind
as she worked ran the words of old
Joe Brundage. 1t was seldom that she
needed anything he had to say, but
L.. - of&
and to so many persons during the last
few weeks that it began to assume |
in the eyes of the littlei
librarian.
What if Henry fai1ed!" she said
half a loud on her way home.
She knew how much he had relied !
on the family name to help him out !!
in establishing his practice. She knew
how hard and conscientiOuSly he had |
worked to get his degrees at college
and she knew that there was some
truth in what old Uncle Joe had said
about his youth being against him.
"And I wonder if it really does make
any difference his not having a wife"
she soliloquized. Even in her solilo-
guy her cheeks burned crimson.
Lourene Raymond and Henry Dart
mouth had spent two years in the
same university town = she taking
ner library course, he beginning his
medical course. They had been warm
friends in those days and they had
kept up a correspondence ever since.
lated in the same village they had
been thrown together more than
once. Lourene, with her woman's in
tuition, knew that the young physi-1
,iar loved her, but she knew that he
would not tell her so until he had
established himself in his practice.
As it was he had nothing to offer her
ind she knew he was too proud to
lsk her to help.
Now the question put itself to Lou
enc. If he can't succeed in Sea Cove
Without VIE, if the people don't
want a man who isn't married-what?
f he won't tell her he loves her and
SIX her to marry him and help him
O build up a practice-whau? Lourene
ould see no way out of it.
Weeks passed and she saw the young
octor less frequently. He avoided ,
Ter. for he knew she would ask him
nd who were his patients. He was
shamed to report SO little progress,
nd so he kept out Of her way.
Il told you, my gal, that there young
Ienry Dartmouth couldn't make good
ere" remarked Uncle Joe Brundage,
ropping in to stand by Lourene's desk
ne afternoon just before closing time. ,
You seem very happy, Uncle joe"
aid the girl quietly. Isn't that I'M 5;
ind of you?"
..Unkind? Nothing like it, A young {
elbow can't set himself up as KNOWN s
lore than his elders, more than the {
oIks who used to see him wheeled t
bout in his baby buggy, my dear. It's
is mistake-not ours
LoureEe did not pursue the con- j.
but let the old man read ,
ne papers in silence, but the mo- I