Henderson daily dispatch., 1937-09-18
CHAPTER 4

TINS professional efficiency
eventually got around, and in par
ticular he acquired reputation as
a painless dentist. For Dentist
jameson had vein of Scottish
stoicism that rendered him impa-
tient with people making a fuss
over nothing: besides, he was
against drugs. And Taylor and
Evans, both excellent workmen,
were inclined to be little over
rapid and therefore ungentle in
their treatment: they generally had
full waiting rooms and were work.
ing against time. Yet, SO strong is
habit that, at a time when his
work was being incre asingly
praised, he gained little ground
from his competitors.
Perhaps Kennedy's personality
was too unasSertive. ShreWdly
aware that this was the case, he
laid himself out to acquire good
professional manner. He trained
himself to chat easily with those
patients who liked it, and though
he at first found it difficult to COM
bine close work with light CONVEX
sation, he came to manage it very
well. He gained skill in adapting
his manner to- individual charac-
teristics: he learned how to reas-
sure nervous patients, and how to
make a parade of silent efficiency
with businesslike ones. He also
took to going to church, and here
he scored, for, Jameson was a
Presbyterian, Taylor and Evans in
differentists and sabbath breakers.
kennedy's first big capture was the
new rector, and quite number of
ehurch people followed the lead.
The summer Of 1914 found his
condition and status perceptibly
advanced, but he was still a long
way from occupying the domi-
mating position he afterwards
reached. The real turning point
in his fortunes was the Great war.
BY 1916 two of his rivals had been
wiped out-Taylor blown to bits
on the Somme, and Evans, at
tached to a medical unit at
Amiens, receiving in an air raid
injuries amounting to total dis
ablement.
Kennedy did not rush into khaki.
His lung trouble, though by now
practically cured, served as an ex-
cuse. But in the black year of
1915 the pressure Of public opinion
became very strong and he applied
for and obtained a commission in
the ordnance corps. He was by no
means deficient in personal cour-
age. but the offer Of his services
was dictated purely by self
interest. He foresaw that in the
years following the conflict a high
premium would be placed on a
war record, and that a man of
military age who could not boast
Of one would be handicapped pro-
fessionally. Also, he was aware
that the holding of a commission
would raise his social status
hitherto negligible-in a way moth
ing else ever could. He looked well
in his uniform prematurely mid
dle-aged, but quiet and distin-
guished in his slight, rather trim
fashion.
He spent all his leaves in West
Shilston, forswearing the delights
of wartime London for the sake of
impressing himself on the mind of
the town in the character of an
officer and gentleman. On these
leaves he found himself welcomed
and even courted in circles with
which he had had no contact be-
fore. He accepted this new posi-
ton as his right, but modestly and
without presumption.
In. the spring Of 1919, innme-
diately after demobilization, he
was quietly married to Esther
Ashwell.
Esther, the daughter Of a gen.
tleman Of leisure and race horse