Evening star., 1932-03-06
WhenHC0mes to
Choosing Bet7veen
an old Doctor and
a Young One, Nell
This Story Takes
Up the Subject IN
an Interesting
Manner.

LID DOC CARSTON was awake
when the telephone rang. He
rolled over quickly, for an instant
forgetting his years; remembering
= them sharply when his feet
touches the cold floor. But he
crossed resolutely to the long, black, coffin
instrument on the wall
Wind screaming in from the lce-lockeo
wastes of Lake Michigan, pummeled the house
with cold bare knuckles. Half the night DOC
Carston had been listening to its imperious
voice. Twenty years ago he would have dread
ed call on such night Now ne was
glad to get any kind of a call now!
He couldn't afford to be particular. There
seldom was night call, or day call, either.
The storm charged boisterously around the
small lonely house The telephone buZzeo
like a hive of angry bees.
Hello" he shouted into the mouthplece
Hello, who is it?'
Stella . the operator, a voice replied
family They want you the island. Doc
Yes the island"
For a moment the buzz OF the bees clalmeo
the line. Then, still more family, the opera
tors voice reported: Just called on subma-
rine phone cable. It's at the logging camp.
Five of the lumberjacks. All broke out
chests and necks and faces, all crazy with
fever"
Five of emp" Carston repeated.
"They think ones dying" the operator said.
"They called for TausSig first, but hes In De-
troit at the clinic, his wife says"
rAUsSIG! OF course they'd call Taussig
first! He'd moved into the country three
wears ago in three years grabbed OIL the
cream! Cream, milk, everything!
Team can't make it," the operator warned
Jim Bassens tried today Too many pressure
ridges
"T,ll walk" Doc Carston decided.
He opened the drafts in the stove and stuffed
In wood good body birch and maple green
split and Winter dried. The fire roared. The
old man turned up the lamp and rummaged in
an untidy closet.
He pulled on a second pair of wool under
drawers and two pairs of wool stockings with
crimson tops. His back panied when he bent
to smooth out the heels. So they'd call Iaus-
sig first!
And the upstart was off at Detroit! At a
clinic! Studying to be a doctor He knew
he needed to study did he? Well, Doc Carston
knew 1t, too.
But the people believed in him. Called him
first Nearly always. Because he was young.
And good-lookng. And had nice bedside
manner
That's what counted these days. Manner
You didn't need to know nux vomica from
arsenic any more. You just had to know how
to look sympathetic and wear white jacket
and rubber gloves and talk sympathetic. And
scare folks!
Carston packed himself in his second sweater
Then he shut the drafts in the stove and
crossed to his small untidy Office. On an open
shelf behind the desk, bottles and jars stood
In disordered regiments. Hanging on hook
beside them his first aid pack gaped empty
Five sick Breaking out. Fever. Well you
couldn't make lumberjacks be vaccinated And
they wouldn't do it of their own accord. So
when smallpox came the doctor had his hands
full.
He chose carefully among the bottles and
boxes and jars 1t wouldn't do to load himself
down too much
Fourteen miles of ice, of pressure ridges, of
long perilous detours around open leads where
death lurked in the cold black water, IA miles
of insufferable winds, of snow that burned like
sparks as it struck the skin, IA miles between
mainland and the island.