The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1923-06-07
DIR. STEVENS GIVES AN INTER.
VIEW
Continued from Page One)

years of activity and has some fine
advice for the younger men entering
into any walk of life.
Il remember something old DR.. Nc
Kenzie of Cambridge said" DR..
Stevens leaned back in his chair as
IL trying to think OF some way to
escape the task OF being interviewed
"Some medical men gave him a din
ner and the chairman got up and gave
D wonderful eulogy on the old doctor.
When he finished the old doctor was
asked to speak.
But the doctor said he had no idea
whom they were talking about.
That's just the way / felt" he
smiled, when the medical association
gave me that dinner the other night
after | had returned from Porto Rico
] felt that they must have mistaken
me for someone else"
But that someone else, whom Dr.
Stevens refuses to recognize in pub
lie and very likely in private was the
man I wanted to interview. The
physician who had given So years of
his life to Cambridge and So years of
hard, unceasing labor.
Are you going to retire." I asked.
II wouldn't know what to do with
myself If retired The only thing
! don't want to do is to live too long,
to live long enough to give up my
work wholly. / think that is the
worst thing man can do, to retire
Just because he comes to a certain
age.
Hard work, work that man loves,
Is one of the greatest cures in the
world for human ills. But man
mustn't over do it. He must take a
proper vacation now and then"
DR.. Stevens has grown gray riding
his hobby, but in spite of his II years
has not grown old. The start he
made in Cambridge So years ago was
q hard one, but the doctor took some
stiff advice from an old colleague and
won out.
HARD FIRST YEARS
"My first office was on the corner of
Beach street and Massachusetts ave-
nue., just where the church Is now
The woman who owned the house did
not want to let me have the rooms
She insisted that doctors never stayed
and that she was sure that there was
no need of doctor in that neighbour
hood anyway.
II told her that the latter question
was already decided. that | was 60
ing to stay there. And then | offered
her three months rent in advance.
She gave me the room
Ibid you have to wait very long?"
"Not for the first patient. But dur
ing the first two years made by my
professional efforts exactly 5000. And
| had wife, and baby to take care
of. Fortunately | had good back
ground for my work and q small bank
account from the work had been do
ing at Deer Island Otherwise |
don't know what would have happen
cd
"At that time Cambridge, in this
district, around Porter Square, was
mostly fields. A car for Arlington
went by every hour and there was
service to North Cambridge every half
hour There were only so doctors in
Cambridge then and now there are
about III. The profession has grown
faster than the city.
But my old friend had advised me.
Get a place and stick there. Don't
move around from place to place, for
If you aren't successful In one place
you never will be in another and you
might Just as well get out of the pro-
fession.' "
SO the young doctor who had been
the government station at Deer Is
land. where he had obtained vast
variety OF medical experience, stuck.
my mother always used to advise
her children" he smiled reminiscent
~, never worry about yesterday or
tomorrow; just tackle today's tasks.
And I think II Is the finest advice ono
could take. | didn't work during
those early days, and that Is half the
reason am hero working still while
practically all of my colleagues have
gone"
FOUGHT WITH FARRAGUT
The Civil war had broken out while
Edmund Stevens was at Harvard Med
ical School. His first enlistment was
to the navy. He was attached to
the blockade runner Philippe.
"Shc was under Farragut's COM
mand at the Battle OF Mobile Bay
he told me, "and after the battle
was sent home with a broken leg
When that monded | Joined up with
the army. / YVES contract surgeon
and had the good fortune to be with
Grants army at Appomatox when Ice
surrendered | don't think there are
many Civil War veterans who have
the distinction OF having served both
In the army and navy"
When Stevens came back he was
graduated from Harvard with the war
class OF '67. He won his degree as
doctor of medicine when he was 81.
having entered college at the age of
16.
When the Sapnish American war
broke out the doctor offered his SER
vices again. But now he was beyond
the age of active service men and
was appointed to the examination
hoard And in the World War again
he offered his services. They were
accepted by the government, but he
was never called into active duty.
However, he sent three sons to France.
One In the field service, one with the
Red Cross and one to carry on the