Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1921-03-30
The
Doctors Bride
BY KATE EDMONDS
10. 1921. Western Newspaper Union.

YES, miss, that's the way to the vii.
ge. So you're the new principal Of
le free school! I hope you'll like
he place, miss, and stay with us
while; the last principal she found
! the school-Miss Brown from Bos-
N, you know-and she bided here
'r seven and twenty years until Doc
entley sent her home to die.
ouldn't do nothing for her, he said,
nd that's saying a heap, for we all
links good deal of Doc Bentley
own this way.
"Doc Bentley, did you ask? Yes,
s been our doctor for nigh upon five
s now. That's his house on the
We years ago Doc Bentley was
icing in NOrtOnville, a hundred
across the mountains yonder.
3entley was considered the best
there, and he used to be thick
III the society folks in the place.
It for all his big practice Bentley
t the man to sacrifice the poor to
bigger fee.
on see, miss, Doc Bentley was en-
1 to be married to Miss Edith
rs, the only daughter of old Jim
rs, who built the railroad from
clear over those mountains.
ay was set for their marriage at
rcsbyterian church. And you'd
thought that he'd have let up
on his practicing, with his we'd
lday a few hours off. But he
;e night before his marriage a
came over the long distance tele-
me from Carriers, which lies IS
IS south from Nortonville, in the
st of the mountains. A negro
had been crushed by wagon and
vas the nearest doctor. Would he
&c at once?
Doc Bentley dropped the telephone
eiver and called to his man: Sad
my horse, JIM he said. I'm 60
:; to ride to CarterS.' And, seeing
1t nothing he could say would stop
m, Jim saddled the horse, and Doc
.ntley reached Carriers at midnight
I'd saved a life.
1T had been downhill to Carter, but
7as uphill going back, and IS
upon a tired horse may mean
hours, or tWentyfour, when the
ountain roads have become rushing
reams, and especially when your
Sc falls and breaks his leg in two
ces. Doc Bentley rose up from the
ddy ground, looked at the animal,
drew his revolver from his pocket
put it out of its pain. Then he re-
ted. If I can cure a mans broken
I reckon I can cure a horses, he
l to himself. So he pulled the beast
10 a thicket, and, two days later, he
as back there with plaster Of paris
nd load of cOrn-and the end Of it
that Doc Bentley rides that same
az today, up and around Changers.
ee, there he comes over that rise.
ell be here in five minutes.
"Where was I at? Oh, yes. Well,
hen he was six miles out Of Norton
lille, and walked into town, Miss
dith Somers was waiting at the Pres
yterian church. That was at noon.
nd you might think Doc Bentley
ould have covered the distance on
Dot by then. But the fact is-which
forgot to tell you-that he had been
TUNED by his fall and lay like log
4 the road from two in the morning
ntil half-past eight. Also, he had a
rolscn shoulder.
Miss Somers waited with the bridal
arty from noon until a quarter past
nc. Then her father took her home,
nd an hour later they were speeding
n their car out of Nortonville. She
ever went back-I guess she was too
roud. OF course you know Jim Somers
ost his fortune in the panic year.
doc Bentley had to leave Norton
lille, Of course. We learned his story
Don after he got here, but l reckon
obody holds it against him. Anyway,
~ . 81 ~" u Iul SooN hONlOl. DuL
GU believe what other folks say, for,
S l told you, they'll get it wrong,
Mss.
SWELL, must leave you here, for
We got some shopping to do. But
'alk straight ahead to the turn and
QUILL see the school on top Of that
Use. Good morning, doctor! This is
he new principal Of You know her?
Garry Myers, come here! Come
ere! There, you're too slow! You've
Missed it! What did 1 see? Why,
)oc Bentley kissing the new principal
f the free school in the middle of the
treet, as bold as brass, and-look {!
Why, they're carrying on as if there
wasn't another human being in the
world but just themselves