The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1913-09-26
His First Lesson In
Medical Practice
By THOMAS r. DEAN

. WI iftiN t'dNs tif ~ SAN
dent. Mr.. Sawyer was aware that Mis-
: Tisdale was us sensitive as a bird. A
she knew about physicians was whe
, one of them came to the house. Eel
some ones pulse. asked about sundr
symptoms and. taking out a square hi
Of paper. wrote certain hieroglyphic
on 1t that an apothecary understood.
What BERTHE. as she called him, wa
going through to acquire a medical ed
ucation she had no idea. That he ut,
peanuts Off the breast of a cadaver u,
was at work on in the dissecting room
that he used the top of a skull, invert
ed. for a tobacco box: that he frequent
ly took hand. foot or some othel
member of the human body to his room
to cut to pieces. she had not even ;
suspicion. She supposed that n med
zeal school was like other schools
books, books. nothing but books, and
nice. clean books ut that-while gen
teel professors lectured on how to cur,
stomach ache and when to give the
baby paregoric.
Bert. aware of her innocence. was
very careful not to disturb her notions
of the medical profession by enlighten
ing her. BY an unfortunate contre.
temps he suddenly burst upon her In
his true frightfulness. She had been
visiting n friend in a neiGhboring city
and was returning by rail. She had
been i'm the car but few minutes
when she saw the back Of n head that
looked familiar. 1t was turned aside
toward a man who sat beside its own.
or and displayed the profile of Mr.. Bert
Sawyer. Facing the two sat figure
done up in big shawl.
Horrible to relate. the face of the
figure was that of skull.
Mr.. Sawyer and his friend Billy Pc
terson had learned where the skeleton
Of human being could be bought
cheap. They had gone for 1t. purchased
il and were taking it home. There were
but few persons I'm the car. and the
conductor had good naturally permit.
ted them to seat 1t opposite them
selves.
Just as Miss Tisdale got into the
car, recognized her lover and caught
sight Of the grinning face with no nose
and empty eye sockets the conductor
came through the train and, passing
the two medicos. punched their tickets,
Fare. governor" said Mr.. Sawyer,
the skeleton. Produce your
ticket or you'll be put OF"
The skeleton continued to grin. the
smiled. and the men in the
car Seemed to think It all very funny.
There were two women besides Elsie.
one Sitting in the next seat aud one
farther forward. Neither OF them
seemed to Consider Mr.. lawyers action
a bit funny. AS FOR Elsie. she was
paralyzed with horror.
"Oh, he's all right" said the other
nedico, Hes no dcadhead." and. slip
ding his own ticket in the band of his
hat. he put the hat on the skeletons
head.
This caused burst of laughter from
The men in the car and Il scowl from
the women.
Smoke. governor?' said Bert. thrust
ing a cigar between the skeletons
Ioothless and gumless jawbones.
Another laugh from the men and q
murmur Of Indignation from the WON
IN. The train rounding a curve, the
skeleton lost its balance and fell
against the arm Of the seat.
sit up. governor" said Bert. Don't
be rolling around that way. The pas
Sengers will think you've been drink
ing"
II smell his breath" said Billy-"gin
md lemon peel"
The conductor was sitting at the end
Of the ear, ana one Of the women
called to him ana told him that if he
the part of those young men she
would report him for negligence Of
1uty. At this the conductor went Ia
he two needles and told them they
had better roll their hDuy companion
in his shawl and stop the fun. 10 this
IneN dcceuSu, anu lllIt cNutu lut per-
Torrance. Soon after the train rolled
into the station the needles and the
governor went out through the front
end of the car, while Elsie left ii at
the rear. She held her handkerchief
to her eyes To conceal her tears ana to
avoid being recognized by Bert, whom
she intended never to meet again as
her fiance.
The next mornings mail brought
him note from her containing the
few words:
"Our engagement is broken"
Sawyer looked at ii sidewise and
then shook 1t as IL II were a
10y puzzle. He could not understand
Il. Anyway something was wrong.
and he went right over to the house to
find out about it. Mrs. Tisdale came
DOWN with a suppressed smile and told
him the cause of the break. Elsie had
come home the day before heartbro-
Ken. She had supposed she was going
TO marry a gentleman and found that
Instead she was to marry a ghoul.
Bert was crushed.