The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-30

w YITH a slight lift Of his heavy
M shoulders. DIR. Schriftman
brought to a close his final
lecture for the year to the
senior medical class. For a moment
The faced these young men aggres-
sively. With his shaggy white beard,
his wiry gray hair, his bulky body.
he looked more hike some good ma
tured Santa Claus than a surgeon who
was famous on two continents for his
stoicism as we'll as his skill. 1t was
tradition that he should say what he
was about to say to each graduating
class.
"Shentlemen." he began in his
rough cultural which still retained
the trace Of an accent. "Shentlemen,
you are about to enter a profession
which will be very jealous Of you. 1t
demands all-everything. You will
be tempted by many f..lse gods-by
women. by gold. Peware! Let your
work be your religion. your wife and
your reward. So o will be goot
surgeons. Shentlemen, l wish you
success"
AS he turned to leave the platform
he was greeted with noisy and hearty
cheering.
'Raus nit der ladies!" shouted
some one.
The cry was taken up with a will,
but when another voice broke through
with "Hoch Schriftman." the one
hundred throats strained themselves
to the utmost in a final effort to give
expression to their genuine apprecia-
ton.
But Schriftman, Indifferent allke 70
their tests and plaudits, had already
jammed his silk hat on the back of
his head and was hurrying downstairs
to where his machine waited to whisk
him to the hospital.
Tile timed his day as by a stop
watch. He rose at Z, gave himself
until 5 to finish his solitary break
fast. and hurrying of to the medical
school remained there until II. He
was at the hospital from IL 80 until 8.
From $40 until 5 he kept his Office
hours. He generally dined alone in
his apartments after this and gave
up his evenings to consultations, to
the preparation Of papers and to
study.
1t was a long evening. for he sell
dom retired until 2. More often than
not he was called to the hospital after
this and finished his sleep there. The
Doctors quarters were as much home
to him as the three book cluttered
rooms which led from his office. And
yet there were ~men-young men too
who envied Schriftman, and when
tempted by bright eyes and warm
cheeks quoted to themselves his
famous epigram. 1T costs too much
to love"
AS his machine drew up before the
big gray building a young inferno
hurried out. opened the doc and then
fell back respectfully 10 give to his
senior the place Of honor by Schrift-
mans side. In answer to questions
which went to their mark like arrows,
Burrell covered the progress of every
case since the day before and turned
to the new patient in Ward q.
Female, & eight. Mother an ac-
tress, died Of pneumonia; father a
bicycle rider, killed in an accident.
Family history negative"
And so with a dozen other medical
details Burrell led up to the result
OF his preliminary examination and
to the laboratory report. He made no
diagnosis except in connection with
her weak heart.
But to Schriftman It was not the
faulty heart but the chronic pain in
the back which was significant. As
he removed his hat and gloves before
going to the ward he pressed his cross
examination deeper. 1t was evident ia
DIR. Burrell that 1t was to be the rare
good fortune of this female, age eight,
II prove an interesting case to Schrift.
man.
In the meanwhile the lass in ques-
ton lay stretched out on her back,
watching with hectic interest the hur-
ried movements of the head nurse
There wasn't very much OF Gretzel
left; just a shrivelled body, a thin
mouth, a straight, sensitive nose, a
pair OF blue eyes and a wealth OF
light hair. But the eyes were quite
perfect. So deep and clear, so timid
and yet Sc wise were these that as
they peered u OF the haggardness
OF their surroundings they gave the
effect OF a maid within a maid. 1t was
as though some other soul, unrelated
to this pain racked body, were peer
Ing through the mask of her gaunt