The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-10-07
EVENING STORY
The Medical Diplomat.
BY INES MACDONALD.


mot the country, Doc! For heavens
sake. not the country"
THE country for yours" said Doc
tor Dubbs. positively.
"Why not the seashore, Doc? Some
nice place on the seashore?"
mo seashore for yours, Holster.
know that seashore stuff! Raging
around oil day eating and drinking all
sorts of junk, and dancing half the
night, drinking and eating more sorts
of junk. You've got to go to a place
where there's nothing'to do after dark
but go to bed SO early that by the
time the sun rises you're SO tired of
being in bed you want to get up
You're going to place where you'll
get enough physical labor to get your
muscles and digestive apparatus into
normal condition-where the food will
be wholesome and plentiful enough to
build UP your degenerate tissues ana
make you Keen for your work and
your rest. And absolutely you're not
whole six months. No man can keep
up the mental pace andno-sleep strain
that you have in the last ten years
and last another teii.- It can't be
done"
I'm not all in yet, Doc. can still
"Pll make little bet YOU can't pillow
more corn than seven men! And as
far as your rotten paper is concerned,
1t can get along without its talented
editor for a few months" added the
this very minute. they'd keep on get
ting out their morning editions Just
the same, YOU know"
And so it happened that Holster
found himself on the Allison farm
Sol tvx-rr
forty miles from town of any size at
all on a certain morning in the middle
OF May His status as a paying
working guest was somewhat of a
puzzle to Pa Allison, who came in for
moment while HOLSTER ate his Q
| o'clock breakfast and wondered if he
ought to call him down for not get1'
ting up at o'clock to help with the
chores before the family breakfast
at $40.
! But there were no more o'clock
breakfasts for HOLSTER for some time
to come. By the middle of July he
was writing Doctor Dubbs that he was
strong as horse-had gained twen-
ty pourds-and guessed he was cured"
The belligerent Doctor Dubbs head
ed him off imperati lively, but two weeks
later HOLSTER wrote that he was 'go-
ing bugs" He couldn't stand it any
longer. He was feeling fine; but would
soon be dead from the neck up. The
mental inaction was unbearabie-
swore that in another month his last
brain would have departed. Couldn't
he have typewriter? Maybe he
could start that novel he had in his
head. But Doctor Dubbs sat on that
proposition with decision and dispatch.
A typewriter would mean night work
and night work meant too little
sleep. Did he want to lose all he had
soSfar gained by sticking to orders?
: However. for fear that Holster
WOULD eventually kick over the traces.
thfow over the cure in its most critical
stage, the willy Doctor Dubbs decided
toscall for assistance, and to that end
sought out his favorite niece.
What do you say to month in the
country, Milly?" he asked that young
woman, pinching her round arm
"Really?" she asked. do you mean
it., Uncle Doc?''
Provided" said the doctor. Judi
ciously.
provided what?" she demanded
curiously. 3
Provided you go where send you
and do AS you're told when you get
there"
And then the doctor explained about
"And all I've got to do is to enter
tain this nice man until you think he's
ready to come back to his work." she
asked.
FAN you've got to do is to interest
him and keep him interested. You
must meet him in such a way that he
can't help noticing you. He needs
something to occupy his mind"
'I'll feel like vampire" she unused.
But she went.
So a few days later Mildred Nor
rison was established as the star
bonrder on the jackson farm on the
other side of the road and quarter
of a mile below the Allison place. Hol-
lister heard of it at breakfast the next
morning. Mr.. Allison said that a right
pretty looking city girl had come to
board with the Jacksons for a while,
but he didn't think much about it un-
til some time later in the week-the
day he went fishing. to be exact.
The weather was perfect and work
had slackened enough so that Holster
felt that he could take a day off with
a clear conscience, SO he walked thru
the woods and the fields to the Horton
pond some three miles away. There
at the grassy foot of steep bank
some ten or twelve feet high he made
himself comfortable ana set out .
couple of lines.
He was all unaware that Mildred
had been stalking him for the past
several days She had seen him sew
eral times. but there had been no op-
portunity to meet him in any other
than an ordinary way and Mildred
meant to obey Uncle Docs orders if it
was>pos3ible to do SO. That afternoon
in her wanderings she came to a fence
that ran along the top Of an unex-
pectedly high bank. and peering down
discovered to her surprise the upsus-
pecting HOLSTER tending his lines
She leaned forward against the
fence to get a better look at her VIC
tim. The old rotten pests gave way.
and Mildred suddenly found herself
describing beautiful somersault that
landed her most joltingly on her hands
and knees at Holsters side.
He stared in startled surprise.
Il Just dropped into see Tiff
you were having any luck she said
dfzzily. as soon as she could catch her
breath. y
II think" he said, relieved to see
that she wasn't hurt, I'm not sure but
think this is going to be the luckiest