DOCTOR} 
 
 ENTRE NOUS 
 
 liversity of Californif 
 Southern Regional 
 Library Facility 
 
 Short Stories 
 
 JAMES BAYARD CLARK
 
 UCSB LIBRARY 
 
 y/ui^c^t^c. 

 
 DOCTORS- 
 
 ENTRE NOUS 
 
 Short Stories 
 
 By 
 JAMES BAYARD CLARK 
 
 Illustrations by 
 JOSEPH ST. AM AND 
 
 Published by 
 
 THE MEDICAL TIMES COMPANY 
 New York
 
 Copyright, 1922 
 By JAMES BAYARD CLARK 
 
 Printed by 
 
 L. MlDDLEDITCH Co. 
 
 New York, N.Y.
 
 DOCTORS^ 
 
 ENTRE NOUS
 
 Acknowledgment is made to The 
 Medical Pickwick for permission to 
 bring these stories out in book form
 
 Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. An Unlocked For Conclusion ... 7 
 
 2. How Dr. Jones Came Back - 23 
 
 3. The Narrow-Minded Layman - 46
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 THAT THE MEDICAL PICKWICK should have 
 sent me a pressing and personal note request- 
 ing me to write some account for its columns, 
 and that I should have received this note the very 
 day after I had attended, with a group of the med- 
 ical officers from the Base Hospital, a meeting of 
 the Norris County Medical Society in the city near- 
 by, seems like a happening touched with a little 
 something more than mere coincidence. 
 
 To begin with, it was impossible for the editor of 
 the Pickwickian publication to have foreseen what 
 was to occur at this meeting (even if he were aware 
 that such a meeting was to be held), just as it was 
 impossible for him to know what did occur when 
 he wrote to me, for his letter ante-dated by several 
 days this particular gathering ; so I still say it seems 
 more than an ordinary coincidence. 
 
 From almost the beginning of the meeting my 
 mind was constantly assailed by the thought that I 
 was not living through a present-day experience at 
 all ; but what was going on about me was no more 
 or less than a speaking likeness of some epoch of 
 Charles Dickens's matchless imagery. I even rec- 
 ognized some of his characters, but out of respect 
 to the profession they go unnamed. 
 
 I could not refrain from whispering to one of 
 7
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 my companions, at the time, that I was certain the 
 ghost of Dickens was directing this occasion and, 
 then, on the following morning came this note from 
 Mr. Pickwick, as it were, directing me to make a 
 contribution to his paper. 
 
 So I will try and write, as faithfully as I can, the 
 account of that evening. 
 
 When the Norris County Medical Society sent 
 an invitation to the Base Hospital of this great 
 canvas covered camp to send one of its surgeons to 
 read a paper before the members of that society and 
 to enter into discussion with said society, it was 
 cheerfully and sincerely accepted. The Chief of 
 the Surgical Service was chosen and he selected, in 
 good time, his subject for reading and discussion. 
 
 So, when the evening arrived, some fifteen or 
 twenty of the Base Hospital staff went along with 
 Major Dizern, who was to read the paper before the 
 society. With military promptitude we presented 
 ourselves at eight o'clock on the seventh floor of 
 the Chess Building and at the door of the Norris 
 County Medical Society Club rooms. In general 
 character and appearance these club rooms were 
 like hundreds of others the country over, just as 
 were the medical men therein. I had been in many 
 such, but the past year and a half, spent in the clean 
 fresh air of camp life, made the smoke-ladened and 
 breathed-over air of the place seem less agreeable 
 than is within the scope of ordinary descriptive 
 terms. Hospitality in our hosts was not lacking, 
 
 8
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 and, after some introductions, it was said that the 
 meeting was to be "called to order." The society 
 members, most of whom were in apathetic little 
 groups here and there, faced somewhat more in the 
 direction of the Chairman's table while that func- 
 tionary moved forward and at the same time the 
 small company of officers took their seats near the 
 center of the room. 
 
 By the time the Chairman and President of the 
 Norris County Medical Society had reached his 
 place of distinction at the center of the table and, 
 with considerable dignity, seated himself, the mem- 
 bers and guests were in their places. At his right, 
 and sitting at the end of the table, was the female 
 member of the Norris County Medical Society, and 
 she evidently was also its recording secretary a 
 person of perhaps fifty odd and presenting a rather 
 pleasing and decidedly better cared-for appearance 
 than most of her fellow members. Why a woman 
 wants to vote or be a doctor is generally pretty 
 hard to understand. This lady, however, who 
 seemed entirely feminine and amiable, gave no 
 special outward evidence of why her natural 
 womanly course had been deflected and why she 
 had taken up the males' duties in this vicinity, until 
 your glance passed over the males themselves; if 
 she did it for that reason, then she was a noble 
 woman. 
 
 As the President, with true presidential poise, 
 fingered the gavel and cast his eyes over the assem- 
 
 9
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 bly, a little space of time was furnished to gather 
 in a few more impressions of those who practiced 
 the art of healing in this community. 
 
 Just as it is impossible to tell how far a toad can 
 hop by its color, so it would be equally unfair to 
 pass too hasty a judgment on the professional ability 
 of the members of the Norris County Medical So- 
 
 ciety from just looking at them. Yet, as the eye 
 traveled from those rows of erect, clear-skinned, 
 well-nourished, bright-eyed, alert Medical Officers 
 to the poor-conditioned "members," perched in 
 varying attitudes about the room, it was difficult to 
 down some of the more obvious conclusions fur- 
 nished by what the scientists call "comparative 
 study." At that moment, however, this little study 
 was brought to a sharp finish, for with a wholly 
 unexpected vigor the president brought his gavel 
 down upon the table with a resounding bang. 
 Whether most of the members were deaf or whether 
 he was not quite sure everybody knew he was 
 
 10
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 president, was hard to tell ; but his expression as he 
 committed that violence to the table was in entire 
 keeping with one in very high office. 
 
 As he rose slowly to his feet, the mallet still 
 vibrating in his hand, a welcome on behalf of the 
 society, so he said, was extended to the visiting 
 Medical Officers of the Army Camp their city en- 
 tertained upon its outskirts. When he had gotten 
 entirely upright and in fitting presidential attitude, 
 he called attention (the Medical Officers' attention) 
 to the depleted ranks of his own society; how a 
 very considerable number, those who could best be 
 spared, had gone, how others, had it not been for 
 the limit of age, or the pressing necessity of the 
 community or, as in a number of instances among 
 the younger men, an expected addition to the 
 family, or an ailing aunt who depended on them or 
 some other fortuitous circumstance had frustrated 
 their "hopes" of joining the Army. 
 
 The next subject the president touched on was a 
 proposal to the members of the society to show any 
 cases. This was followed by a thinking spell. Were 
 there any reports of cases ? Another thinking spell, 
 even longer than the first, was finally followed by 
 a little presidential persuasion, which finally brought 
 one of the young members to his feet. He reported 
 a case. After another period of mental searching, 
 someone evidently concluded that if the young man 
 could get away with such a case as he reported 
 there was room for another, so member number 
 
 11
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 two rose and commenced the recitation of his case. 
 I cannot remember at all what he said, but he kept 
 on for some little time saying it when number 
 three arose about eight feet away from number two 
 and started to talk about his case. When number 
 three commenced, someone whispered in my ear 
 that that was Dr. Stayon, their surgeon, who limited 
 his practice to nothing but surgery. I said I was 
 glad to hear it was limited. When the speakers 
 were both going nicely, I stole a glance at our of- 
 ficers' row, but not an eyelid flickered as they sat 
 at attention. If the president noticed anything in 
 the way of a slight parliamentary prolapse, he 
 made no comment on it, and perhaps he was wise, 
 for it was very soon evident (though neither 
 speaker seemed to be aware of the other's presence) 
 that number two showed signs of running down 
 while, on the other hand, Dr. Stayon, with apparent 
 unconsciousness, seemed to be getting a better foot- 
 ing. He was a rather tall and oldish man with a 
 little thin, flat hair pasted down above a little thin 
 flat face, who seemed to have difficulty in giving 
 birth to more than three or four words a minute, 
 or at least that was the impression his speaking 
 gave me. By this time it was all over with number 
 two who sat down without anyone in the world 
 paying the slightest heed to him. Even Dr. Stayon 
 was seemingly unaware of his eclipse. There was 
 no resentment anywhere evident, even number two 
 seemed to have none. 
 
 The doctor who limited his practice to surgery 
 12
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 kept on quietly delving behind an imaginary duo- 
 denum and somehow could not make clear with the 
 limited number of words his speech area was pro- 
 viding his tongue with, just what he was after there 
 when for a moment or so he stopped entirely. It 
 could presently be seen that something was stirring 
 inside of him. It was soon apparent that it was an 
 idea, for he looked around at the blackboard behind 
 the President's desk; then he moved over to it and 
 picking up a piece of chalk, he applied it very 
 firmly and began what seemed to be intended for a 
 circle, but before he got half way round the much- 
 put-upon piece of chalk broke, and his finger nail 
 was finishing the job with a jarring creak, when he 
 noticed what had happened. The audience, though 
 quiet, was smoking hard. I did not dare look at 
 Major Dizern, sitting opposite me, when he started 
 once more. This time the 
 chalk held, for it wasn't 
 long enough to break 
 again. He finished out the 
 stroke his finger nail had 
 failed on, and made a sur- 
 vey. He had completed a 
 half circle. Then he drew 
 lines below and extending 
 broadly on each side of the 
 crown his chalk had 
 crumbled on. He stood 
 away. He approached 
 again. He had accom- 
 plished a very creditable 
 
 13
 
 An Unlocked -for Conclusion 
 
 outline of a lady's hat; but it could be seen he had 
 not finished, for there was the plume, or the decora- 
 tion or whatever women call the thing they fasten 
 aft or amidship of the crown, to be added, and 
 which he immediately began to supply; and soon it 
 rose above the crown and quite gracefully leaned 
 over to one side a little. I said to myself, "he's 
 having trouble with the feather," although it really 
 looked more like a cucumber. Again he stood away, 
 and I looked at the man next to me who had said 
 he limited his practice to surgery only, but the man 
 was looking at the picture and as Dr. Stayon had 
 commenced to demonstrate his drawing, I turned 
 my attention to the artist. "This," .said the doctor, 
 pointing to the crown, "is the tumor I was telling 
 you of, and this," indicating the brim of the bonnet, 
 "is the loop of intestine to which it was attached" ; 
 and then very slowly, as he brought his forefinger 
 to the cucumber, "this is a large piece of omentum 
 which 'came away' with the specimen." With this 
 he walked back to his chair and sat down. 
 
 The room seemed very still. Somebody started 
 to wind a watch. I looked at mine, then I looked 
 at the president, but he gave no evidence of any- 
 thing unusual having happened ; in fact, he was just 
 about to speak. "Gentlemen, any discussion on the 
 case of Dr. Stayon?" Short but rather painful 
 pause. "If not, gentlemen, I should like to take 
 upon myself the pleasure of introducing to you 
 Major Dizern, who will read the paper of the 
 evening." 
 
 Let me say here, that in giving this account of 
 14
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 that evening, it is not my intention to make any 
 comment or to criticise in any way the proceedings, 
 but to record as simply as I can what took place. 
 
 As Major Dizern was called upon he rose 
 promptly in response and came forward. Some- 
 how, as he turned his alert bright face with its glow 
 of health and vitality toward the members, the 
 mental fog which had been settling down on the 
 society seemed suddenly to vanish. But that, of 
 course, may only be an outsider's viewpoint. 
 
 "The subject I have selected," he said, "is that 
 of 'Local Anesthesia.' " Then with that clean-cut 
 and concise force which is characteristic of all he 
 has to say or do, he drove straight forward to the 
 very heart of his topic. There seemed to be no 
 missing his meaning. After clearly and rapidly 
 reviewing the pioneer work in this field of surgery, 
 he took up the technical side of the subject and told 
 of the elements essential to its success. For a few 
 moments he dwelt on the necessity of a refreshed 
 knowledge of anatomy, of regional anatomy and its 
 nerve trunk relationship, and the distribution of the 
 sensory nerves to be dealt with. He then told of 
 the drugs in use and the manner of using them. 
 After that he gave a brief but brilliant account of 
 all that local anesthesia skilfully used had accom- 
 plished in the mitigation of human suffering and 
 the actual saving of human life. He drove home 
 until there seemed left not the least remnant of 
 reasonable doubt that it was paramount to criminal 
 neglect to use ether and chloroform and the older 
 time methods of general anesthesia in that count- 
 
 15
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 less number of cases where the surgeon, with a 
 little study and little care, could employ a safer and 
 surer way; a way which would not only banish the 
 danger and distress to his patient, but would cut 
 down the period of his post-operative course and 
 put him back to normal in the shortest possible 
 time. 
 
 With that his paper was ended. Then with that 
 buoyant smile, ever so near the surface with him, 
 he looked across at his audience and said, "Gentle- 
 men, I want to thank you for your kind attention." 
 With that, he returned to his seat. It seemed as if 
 an express train had, on passing through a desolate 
 island stopped just long enough to momentarily 
 break a deadly monotony and leave a little actual 
 food for its starving inhabitants. But my thoughts 
 were soon banished by the president's conventional 
 announcement that the subject was now open for 
 discussion. 
 
 Before very long one of the "members" rose from 
 a corner. "President and gentlemen," he said, "I 
 want to tell you something of my experience with 
 anesthetics." (He spoke as if after a lifetime 
 struggle, he had finally emerged into the open 
 places.) "Some years ago, I discovered that the 
 bad effect of ether could be completely counteracted. 
 
 "This I have repeatedly told the members of this 
 society. By the method I employ there is no need 
 to hurry with the operation while the patient is 
 'under.' I do not now see the nausea and vomiting 
 following operations on my patients. Though I 
 use ether liberally I do not see the nausea and 
 
 16
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 vomiting afterwards." (Some imp in my brain 
 whispered that he was probably at home eating his 
 dinner.) "I have used this method so long that 
 I do not see the use of changing now. My 
 method is this : Before the operation I give my 
 patient a dose of soda bicarbonate of soda." 
 Whereupon he sat down. That was the first 
 contribution to Major Dizern's paper. 
 
 I looked around just in time to see Major Tall 
 slipping out of the door. The rest of the offi- 
 cers, however, sat tight. The next speaker rose 
 from near the center of the room. It is remark- 
 able how details sometimes stick in the memory. 
 A passerby certainly would not have picked this 
 gentleman as one of the profession. He seemed 
 to be eating an unlit cigar which, as he began 
 speaking, he held in his hand which rested on his 
 protruding waistcoat. 
 "Gentlemen," he said, "I 
 have been much interested 
 in the major's paper be- 
 cause I have tried out one 
 of the preparations of 
 local anesthetics he has 
 mentioned. It was put 
 up by what I supposed 
 was a reputable firm. I 
 used it in fourteen dif- 
 ferent cases and in thir- 
 teen of them the opera- 
 tion was followed by 
 sloughing. ' I should like
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 to inquire of the major if this has been his ex- 
 perience ?" 
 
 Major Dizern rose to answer this question. "I 
 have had quite a little experience," he said, "in 
 the use of this preparation, but I have not seen 
 the result following its use the doctor speaks of. 
 From what the doctor has told us I am unable 
 to say why the sloughing he speaks of occurred." 
 
 Presently, after another little Norris County 
 interval of waiting, another of the members got 
 up. I looked in his direction. It was Doctor 
 Stayon would he tell it or draw it on the black- 
 board? I could not help wondering. But he 
 chose the former carrier of thought and launched 
 slowly into the none too clear stream of ideas 
 he had to sail upon; but I lack the temerity to 
 take my reader on that voyage. In brief, the fol- 
 lowing sentiments on the subject under discus- 
 sion (but never actually discussed) may be taken 
 to fairly represent this surgeon's state of mind 
 upon the matter. Yes, he was familiar with the 
 present opinion that a good deal of the routine 
 surgery could be done under local anesthesia ; 
 but it took considerably more of the surgeon's 
 time than he felt able to give to follow this 
 method. Then there was all the added trouble 
 of teaching a staff of assistants new ways. He 
 had started once or twice to institute local anes- 
 thesia as a regular thing in certain cases ; but he 
 guessed he perhaps had been too lazy to pursue 
 it as a regular procedure. Another objection 
 was, that it took a good deal more energy to 
 
 18
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 operate in this way and in the presence of a con- 
 scious patient. "And then one naturally slips 
 back into the old ways one is accustomed to." 
 The time it took to tell this was the time the 
 minute hand takes to cover a little more than 
 half its circuit. 
 
 Two or three more of the overtired looking 
 members then spoke and, on the whole, rather 
 sided with their anemic colleague who "limited 
 his practice to surgery." Further prodding or 
 persuasion from the presidential seat failed to 
 furnish any additional "discussion." As I look 
 back now, it seems to me that this perhaps was 
 fortunate, for from where I sat I had been well 
 able to study the expression of Major Dizern's 
 face as the debate proceeded. The expression 
 of those features which usually radiated such a 
 friendly sense seemed to have accumulated a 
 look by no means easy to interpret. Something 
 there was which had upset the serenity of that 
 extraordinarily even temper. His was not a 
 nature to take offense at nothing. Yet the gath- 
 ering seriousness of his face foreboded some- 
 thing. Of personalities in the proceedings there 
 were none. What was there, then, that caused 
 the setting of those mental muscles? But the 
 president had risen from his seat and started 
 speaking. "Gentlemen," he said, "you have 
 heard the discussion of the paper." Then, turn- 
 ing to Major Dizern, he said : "Have you any- 
 thing further which you wish to say on this 
 subject?" Major Dizern rose and turned so that 
 
 19
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 he faced all the members of the Norris County 
 Medical Society. He faced them with a level 
 look which somehow lifted the attention on to 
 tip toes. 
 
 "No," he said, "I have nothing further I wish 
 to say on this subject." After which he paused 
 one might say he stopped, so altogether final 
 did his statement seem ; and yet he still stood 
 where he was with his eyes fastened on his audi- 
 tors. He was no orator; yet it was the orator's 
 arch act to bring to focus every particle of atten- 
 tion, which he unconsciously employed. As he 
 stood there one could feel that emotion which 
 was being held in check ; yet the control was per- 
 fect. "No," he repeated, "I have nothing fur- 
 ther which I wish to say on the subject we have 
 had under discussion." The way he said this 
 reminded one of that stillness which one feels 
 sometimes before the storm. "What is there to 
 say," and this time his voice rang out, "to men 
 who are not fit not physically fit, by their own 
 acknowledgment to march in the progress their 
 profession is making?" The storm had broken. 
 "What use is there to discuss a serious subject, 
 a subject, the importance of which is charged with 
 no less an issue than the saving of human suf- 
 fering and human life, with men who make the 
 acknowledgment that they are too busy to bother 
 or too lazy to learn the way to advance? What 
 use is there for men to pursue the profession of 
 medicine who will not keep themselves physi- 
 cally fit for the fight? Who are poisoning them- 
 
 20
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 selves by tobacco and perhaps alcohol; who are 
 poisoned by over-eating and lack of active out- 
 door exercise? Who let themselves run down 
 and then dare to take on the responsibility of 
 the physician's or surgeon's life, which means the 
 greatest of all human responsibility, and calls for 
 the greatest of all personal sacrifices, and demands 
 the upkeep of the most perfect physical condition?" 
 
 When he said this last I could not but look 
 at those two rows of well-muscled and all alive 
 medical officers who had gotten from their year 
 or two of Army service the secret of health and 
 hardiness. If the members of the Norris County 
 Medical Society could only see them at sun rise 
 going through their "setting-up" stunts that 
 started their day, how it would help them to 
 understand what Major Dizern was driving at 
 "What right," the speaker was saying, "have 
 men to take the oath to first of all serve the 
 interests of the sick and then straightway turn 
 it to personal profit or, worse, to personal neg- 
 lect?" With that he walked to his chair and 
 seated himself. Never before have I seen or 
 heard of such a conclusion to a medical gather- 
 ing. Nothing, I believe, was further from Major 
 Dizern's mind, when he came that evening, that 
 such would be its ending. I have tried to record 
 what passed without prejudice and have finished 
 my task. 
 
 After Major Dizern sat down, there was a 
 peculiar silence. The President's tongue seemed 
 paralyzed or, at least, he was unable to furnish 
 
 21
 
 An Unlocked for Conclusion 
 
 a concluding note. The fat man, who had 
 earlier been eating a cigar, stood up; I think 
 someone had poked him from behind. 
 
 "What what right," he said, "has anyone to 
 criticise the professional conduct of the N. C. 
 M. S.?" 
 
 He stood there vibrating, as flustered fat men 
 will, and waiting for further inspiration, when 
 the female member of the society, her eyes bright 
 and her cheeks a little flushed, rose to her full 
 height, looking straight at the fat man, and said : 
 
 "What right? By the right of fair dealing to 
 the patients who trust their lives in our hands. 
 Oh ! I wish I had been a man !" 
 
 22
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 IT looked somewhat, when Captain Jones got 
 out of the service, as if he might not recover 
 his usual pre-war poise and peace of mind. 
 Weeks went by after his return to the bosom of 
 his family and it seemed as if he was never to be 
 the same old happy and capable friend and father 
 again. But he did come back finally, and had it 
 not been so this record of his strange recovery 
 could never have been known or related here. 
 
 Dr. George Harvey Jones, as he was known in 
 ante-bellum days, was a man among men. Bred of 
 the best stock in one of our larger cities, he had 
 forged his way forward to the leading surgical posi- 
 tion in not only the city, but far wide of it. To 
 those in civil medical practice his scientific attain- 
 ments need not be told. As a man he had certain 
 marked characteristics, for which, by those who 
 knew him well, he was deeply respected and joyfully 
 loved. He was too modest and retiring, besides 
 being too busy, to have a host of intimate friends, 
 but the quality of his professional work assured a 
 broad acquaintance. He was tall and rather slender, 
 with a slight stoop; but it was by the lines of his 
 face which marked for the intelligent student of 
 human nature what manner of man he really was. 
 He was only a little way on in the fifties when the 
 war broke out, though he looked considerably older. 
 This may have been partly due to the thinnish 
 
 23
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 whiskers touched with gray. One needed only a 
 glance to see that his exercise had been largely 
 mental rather than muscular. To the young snap- 
 shot student of men he was rather a queer-looking 
 
 guy- 
 In his face one who saw, saw first of all an unusual 
 force of character tempered by a rare kindness of 
 nature; and in his eyes a humor which seldom lost 
 the fun of life. This last trait, however, by the time 
 1917 came upon us, had been almost sunk out of 
 sight by the tragedy of war which none can know or 
 none may feel as deeply as the doctor himself. The 
 shattered frame of youth, the fearful mutilation, 
 the suffering, the dreadful sickness, and the death 
 which is the medical man's part of the war game 
 to do for and deal with, must leave its mark on 
 every sincere and humane surgeon's mind. 
 
 It must be confessed that in April of 1917, when 
 First Lieutenant Jones sallied forth in a uniform he 
 appeared a rather odd figure. For some years he 
 had been on the books of the Medical Reserve 
 Corps, and this it was that made him available for 
 the first call for physicians. Although he had at- 
 tended for the allotted period of eight days a medi- 
 cal officers' camp a year or two previous, they had 
 not made of him a very snappy military personage. 
 Of this fact, however, he was quite unconscious. 
 What had been impressed on his mind at this camp, 
 though, had been carefully stored away in his brain, 
 and had been made a subject of considerable thought 
 and consequence to him. He had left that camp 
 which had given him his first military inlook with 
 
 24
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 a very strong belief that it was the military surgeon 
 and not the civil surgeon who deserved re- 
 spect for personal sacrifice in the choice of 
 his profession. Here he had become acquainted 
 with a kind of medical man he had not 
 known before. Here were sincere, earnest and 
 scientific men who, thinking nothing of personal ad- 
 vancement, were giving their all of talents to the 
 cause of sanitation and the prevention of illness; 
 who were giving their best of manly service to their 
 country, and all for a pittance, while the civilian 
 doctor drove from house to house collecting large 
 fees in a comfortable automobile. 
 
 In listening to the lectures of these Medical Of- 
 ficers, Dr. Jones could not know that the entire 
 Medical Corps of the regular establishment was not 
 perfectly reflected by these four or five fine men 
 who represented so well by their own personalities 
 what an Army Medical Corps should be. 
 
 With avidity he drank up the words of military 
 knowledge and wisdom they poured out. Through 
 their lectures on army discipline his own ideas of 
 faithful obedience to one's commanding officer were 
 crystalized, should one be called on to serve one's 
 country. He idealized that relationship between the 
 superior and inferior officer even to the point of 
 always endowing one's commander with wisdom 
 and real knowledge. He made it his faith. 
 
 It was with this military equipment Dr. Jones 
 eagerly entered on his service as Lieut. Jones and 
 made ready to rely on the wisdom of any order or 
 on any duty assigned to him. Of rank for himself 
 
 25
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 he gave no thought; that was for those into whose 
 hands he gladly and trustfully gave himself to 
 determine. 
 
 He knew the grim task which the people of his 
 country had before them and he wanted his share 
 of it. He also knew his share measured by his 
 ability and experience would be no light task or 
 foolish frittering away of time on schoolboy's duties 
 or calisthenic exercises. By his ability as a surgeon 
 he had risen to the foremost rank; by his ability 
 as an organizer he had the building up of one of the 
 most important hospitals in his part of the country 
 to his credit; by his energy and constancy he had 
 accustomed himself to a large daily task. These 
 things he wished his country to have the full benefit 
 of in the hour of her need. And it was these things 
 that filled Lieut. Jones's mind on that bright April 
 morning in 1917, when he received his orders for 
 duty from the War Department. 
 
 Let us here draw a pall over most of the details 
 of the following two years of military duty as it fell 
 to the share of Lieut. Jones, who later on and before 
 the forces of war were dispersed, became Captain 
 Jones of the Medical Corps. The record will show 
 with what celerity and care each duty assigned to 
 him, no matter how simple or trivial, was carried 
 out. After a few weeks devoted to counting teeth 
 in a recruiting station, under the direction of one 
 of his previous students he was sent to the training 
 camp for doctors. 
 
 Here he followed out the schedule of daily duties 
 with minute care, devotedly trying to extract from 
 
 26
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 the curriculum some useful bit of knowledge which 
 he might apply later to the cause he had so much 
 at heart. He saw what a splendid thing the en- 
 forced exercise and protracted daily hikes were for 
 the young men in the barracks with him, and he 
 tried to keep his mind as much as possible off the 
 all too obvious results, both immediate and future, 
 
 involved in running the elderly, fat and wind- 
 broken medical gentlemen up hill and down dale. 
 Of himself he thought not at all, further than to 
 make a mental note of the fact that he remembered 
 he had paid his life insurance up to date. 
 
 After two months of military polishing and with 
 hardly any physical impairment as a result, the 
 longed-for overseas orders arrived. 
 
 In due time the little group of medical material 
 of which he was one, found itself in France. They 
 were destined for service with the British forces 
 at the front who were sorely in need of fresh medi- 
 cal replacements. For some reason or other Lieut. 
 
 27
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 Jones felt a gladness which it was hard for him to 
 understand. He loved his country and he had lost 
 no time in placing himself in his country's service 
 where he felt he was best fitted to be of some actual 
 use, and yet this assignment with the British pleased 
 him. But this was no time for the solving of per- 
 sonal problems ; there was work at hand to be done, 
 and he went to it. He got along famously with his 
 new associates. Not that he had failed to get on 
 with the regulars of the Medical Corps at home who 
 had commanded him, for he had. It was for them 
 to do the bidding and for him to fall to, and there 
 had never been the slightest hitch. He somehow or 
 other seemed soon to become great friends with 
 these quiet, apparently indifferent British officers, 
 with whom he was now working shoulder to shoul- 
 der. They somehow seemed to understand each 
 other. He was only a day or two at the rather 
 simple tasks first found for him when they had 
 something more important for him to do. This also 
 was only a transient place, for without seemingly 
 to notice the manner of his work or its results they 
 quietly raised him to more responsibility, which in 
 his simple way of doing things, he as quietly took 
 hold of. 
 
 It seemed as though these British fellows knew 
 without thinking about it just what this new Lieut. 
 Jones of theirs could do, and they gave it to him 
 and he did it. 
 
 It was almost three months that he had been 
 with them, these splendid, purposeful, forward 
 plodding, kindhearted, discerning British friends of 
 
 28
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 his for they had really become friends when the 
 orders came which were to see him back with his 
 own people again. When he said good-bye to them 
 he wore the little ribbons which betokened their 
 appreciation of his services while he was with them, 
 but when he got back to the unit and to his people 
 again the ribbons were in his pocket along with the 
 medals they stood for. Somehow he did not know 
 just why he did this. 
 
 In his new assignment Lieut. Jones had for a 
 time considerable leisure. The hospital which had 
 only recently been set up had hardly begun to func- 
 tion. The young medical officer in command was 
 plotting out this and that kind of treatment while 
 the administrative affairs limped along. There was 
 a tension in the atmosphere of an indefinite charac- 
 ter which was not altogether easy to explain. Two 
 or three majors who had 
 just been taken into the 
 service, and who had 
 held off going in until 
 they were sure of a 
 higher rank, arrived 
 from the other side. 
 One of these young men 
 Lieut. Jones knew, as 
 only a few years ago he 
 had been one of Lieut. 
 Jones's internes in his 
 hospital at home. It was 
 only a few days after 
 this that Lieut. Jones was
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 transferred to another unit; and this time, happily 
 for him, a fairly busy one. It was here that some fate 
 had marked for him a halting place; for here he 
 remained many consecutive months. The young 
 Colonel in command, who had been a Lieutenant in 
 the regular corps when the war came upon our 
 country, was especially keen to try out many methods 
 of surgical care as well at the same time to ad- 
 minister the executive side of the hospital. Others 
 as well as Lieut. Jones saw the future of this plan. 
 It is perhaps best at this point to bridge over any 
 further record of Lieut. Jones's army experiences 
 with but very few words. That he was quickly 
 responsive to all that he was called upon to do. 
 That he faithfully watched for an opportunity 
 where his own initiative could be brought usefully 
 into play. That he was as wholly indifferent to his 
 own comfort or personal advancement as he was 
 entirely possessed to see his country's cause intel- 
 ligently, energetically and economically carried 
 forward. 
 
 With these things in mind then, the unrest which 
 slowly worked its baneful way into the sensitive soul 
 of First Lieut. Jones can perhaps in part be ap- 
 preciated. But heavy of heart as he was he did his 
 duty and as the British say "stuck it" until the 
 very day of his discharge. 
 
 Then it was that this curious inhibition seemed 
 to seize hold of him. The reaction had come at 
 last, and when he was free to tell the whole world 
 and his representatives in Congress assembled any- 
 
 30
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 thing he chose, his lips were sealed. His mind 
 seemed to be choked with things he could not say. 
 His family, when he reached them, complained 
 "we cannot get a word of any of his army ex- 
 perience from him." His friends said, "but he will 
 tell us nothing, and we had expected to hear so 
 much." But all saw that he was suffering a mental 
 
 distress which made the serious business of setting 
 about his private affairs again practically impos- 
 sible. It seemed plain to those about him that there 
 was no personal bitterness or resentment hidden 
 behind this singular restless, dejected state of mind 
 which so utterly unfitted him for a return to work. 
 He even seemed a bit queer, they thought, at times, 
 yet no clue to the real trouble could be gotten from 
 him. 
 
 His family and friends took counsel together. 
 31
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 They were puzzled. They were more they were 
 really anxious. "Let us avoid calling in a doctor 
 if possible," said his wife. What wisdom a physi- 
 cian's wife often shows! For all that, they finally 
 decided to call in Dr. John Ledyard, not so much 
 because he was considered the best psychiatrist in 
 the city, but that he was looked upon as really hav- 
 ing a lot of common sense. Besides he was a close 
 friend of Dr. Jones. 
 
 When Dr. Ledyard had had a talk with Dr. Jones 
 and gone over his case carefully without having 
 arrived at any further conclusions than everyone 
 else, which was, that it was a "queer case," he came 
 out flatly with the opinion that the patient should 
 have rest and quiet out on a western ranch. Ac- 
 cordingly the details of the journey were made, and 
 arrangements for a shack on the ranch of an ac- 
 quaintance of Dr. Ledyard completed. Mrs. Jones 
 was to go with him, and it was decided to take the 
 boy and girl along, too. 
 
 When the equipment for outdoor life was got, 
 they were ready to start. Though the patient 
 seemed to take little or no interest in the plans he 
 set up no objections to the project, this once 
 spirited and useful leader who was now being so 
 pliantly led. 
 
 Dr. Ledyard was at the train to see them off and 
 he promised that at the end of the summer he would 
 run out for a little visit with his old friend. 
 
 Thus it was that the first step toward the yet un- 
 thought of extraordinary remedy which was to 
 effect Dr. Jones's recovery was taken. 
 
 32
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 While the country through which they traveled, 
 with its bloom of early summer freshness, should 
 have roused the most dejected to joy in merely liv- 
 ing, it left the doctor wrapped in his thoughts and 
 indifferent. A few days after they arrived one 
 would have thought, except for the cut of their 
 outing clothes, that they were quite old inhabitants. 
 Mary and her mother had set immediately to work 
 cleaning and making home-like the little cabin set 
 off at a distant corner of the ranch. Dr. Jones and 
 Fred, his son, had taken over the task of setting to 
 rights the long unused barn a little distance from 
 the cabin, and making the bit of ground around 
 these simple buildings as tidy and neat as possible. 
 They were set up on a little rise of ground which 
 fell off quite sharply to the east of the cabin, and at 
 the bottom of which reached by a path through a 
 bit of woods was a sparkling stream making its 
 winding way along a stony bed. The main build- 
 ings of the ranch, a mile or so away, were hidden 
 from view by a little intervening knoll so that a 
 search in all directions failed to reveal a single 
 habitation. The weather had been perfect and the 
 blue of the distant mountains almost matched the 
 blue of the sky. They were situated just in that 
 interval between the heights far away to the west 
 of them, and the plains off toward the eastward 
 which gave the uneven country patched with forest 
 growth and park-like spaces that sense of wildness, 
 and at the same time a look of cultivation which so 
 often goes with that vast western area. 
 
 Four or five weeks had slipped by, and who in 
 33
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 that crystal atmosphere gazing off on the superb 
 display of nature with all artifice excluded, could 
 willingly think back on such painful scenes as war- 
 ring nations packed full of people and only then 
 cooling off from the heat of conflict; and yet the 
 bent head of the doctor as he sat on the little bench 
 by the cabin door told its story of a troubled and 
 still wounded mind. Mary, who was sitting near 
 by doing some mending and stealing from time to 
 time little anxious glances at her father's silent fea- 
 tures, laid her work aside and exclaimed: 
 
 "Oh, father! why can't you just tell it all to me?" 
 
 "Ah, child," he said, "if I only could." Then- 
 after a little silence, "how does that thing of Steven- 
 son's go 'There's so much good in the worst of 
 us, and so much bad in the best of us' " 
 
 "Oh, yes," broke in Mary, "I know That it 
 hardly behooves any of us to talk about the rest 
 of us.' " 
 
 "Yes, yes," he said, "that's it! Stevenson was 
 a fine fellow, but I've no doubt he was thinking of 
 party politicians and newspapers when he jotted 
 down that text. It won't do for my purpose, 
 though no, it won't do for me." 
 
 He rose heavily and went into the cabin, while 
 Mary, shaking her head slowly, picked up her 
 sewing again. Fred had been gone all day and as 
 the afternoon waned Mary was not surprised to 
 hear in the distance the cowboy's whoop which 
 Fred had adopted. He had started off early in the 
 morning to ride some fourteen miles down to Stay- 
 
 34
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 ville where the little Post Office and store were to 
 see if there were any letters. 
 
 Though she was not surprised to hear his calls, 
 which were slowly growing closer, there was some- 
 thing in the now petulant, now angry quality of 
 these noises which made her throw aside her work 
 and stand up to see if she could get a glimpse of 
 him coming over one of the little hills where the 
 narrow road lay. It was not long before her search 
 was rewarded, for coming out of a little clump of 
 trees by the road at the foot of their own hill could 
 be seen Fred doubled up in the saddle and backing 
 old Bessie with apparently an effort to get on the 
 road again. It was impossible in just that position 
 for Mary to see him tugging at a rope. Her amaze- 
 ment can partly be appreciated when the sight of a 
 long-eared animal on its haunches, which at the 
 distance did not look unlike a huge rabbit about the 
 size of a pony, came sliding out, as it were, from 
 underneath the trees toward her brother. She ran 
 a little forward, not knowing in her first impulse 
 whether to cry for help or not, when suddenly, and 
 apparently without any reason, the animal got on 
 his four legs and trotted forward, passed Fred and 
 sat down again in the middle of the road. The 
 boy, straightening up and turning his horse, rode 
 on past his companion until the rope became taut 
 again, when he was halted after another short slide 
 by the animal such as the one which greeted Mary's 
 eyes at the first sight of it. After a few minutes 
 of this straining and tugging (Mary could now see 
 the rope) the boy launched another series of whoops 
 
 35
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 intermingled with some of the choicer epithets he 
 had learned from a neighboring ranchman. These 
 methods, however, even when coupled with jerks of 
 the rope, made apparently not the slightest impres- 
 sion. Again, without reason or warning, the animal 
 rose and trotted on. This time Fred was quicker 
 and by keeping the rope slack followed on for a 
 considerable space until the next sitting took place. 
 Then came another slide by the beast, and a few 
 more not over-carefully chosen words from the boy, 
 and the usual wait until at the convenience of his 
 companion another stage in the journey was ac- 
 complished. By the time the travelers in this fashion 
 had gotten almost to Mary, Mrs. Jones had arrived 
 upon the scene to learn the cause of the unusual 
 sounds which had reached her in the cabin. Fred, 
 when he reached them, and with great beads of 
 perspiration falling from his disgusted and tired 
 countenance, delved deep into his pocket. 
 
 "Here's the mail," he said, as he thrust a crumpled 
 package of letters and papers toward his mother. 
 
 "But where on earth," exclaimed Mrs. Jones, 
 "did you get that creature?" 
 
 "Bought him," laconically muttered Fred. 
 
 "But where?" 
 
 "Village," said Fred. 
 
 "What are you going to do with him?" asked 
 his mother. 
 
 The boy, who had turned around, replied, "Take 
 him to the barn. Is supper ready?" 
 
 But the answer to this question he did not get, 
 for either it was his casual mention of the barn or 
 
 36
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 for some other utterly unanswerable reason, his 
 four-footed friend made a rush for the building 
 spoken of, and it was all Fred could do to keep 
 from being pulled out of the saddle as he urged 
 the tired Bessie in that direction. Though Mary 
 and her mother had come to expect surprises from 
 the lad, they found it hard to contain their amuse- 
 ment at this last. 
 
 "Oh, if father had only been his old self," said 
 Mary, "what wouldn't he have given to have seen 
 Fred as he came up our hill." 
 
 With the mention of the doctor the old look of 
 anxiety returned to Mrs. Jones's eyes, as she drew 
 Mary toward the cabin, saying, "Come, we must 
 look at our letters. Perhaps there will be some- 
 thing to cheer your father up." 
 
 She said this in a rather hopeless fashion, looking 
 over the package Fred had given her as they walked 
 toward the door. 
 
 "Oh, here is a letter to me from Dr. Ledyard !" she 
 exclaimed as she stopped to tear it open and eagerly 
 read it. "He says he will be out to see us about the 
 middle of September, and he hopes your father is 
 quite himself again by this time. That is only two 
 weeks off. I'm afraid he will not see much change 
 in his patient, dear," putting her arm around 
 Mary's shoulder, as they started on again toward 
 the cabin. 
 
 The next day, when they were all seated around 
 the dinner-table about noon, Dr. Jones looked up 
 and addressed his son. 
 
 "Fred," he said, "what is that animal you 
 37
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 brought back with you yesterday? I've been look- 
 ing at him this morning in the barn." 
 
 "A burro, the fellow said it was," he replied. 
 
 "Yes, I know, but that isn't what I mean." 
 
 "Oh, you want to know what a burro is," said 
 Fred. "Well, maybe you could call it the Ford of 
 the horse family, that is, before they put the self- 
 starter into it." 
 
 His mother and Mary thought they saw some- 
 thing like a smile about the doctor's mouth, when 
 they compared notes later; but Fred's definition 
 after they had seen something of his experience the 
 day before did not tend to make very sober judges 
 of them. 
 
 "No," the doctor said, "what I wanted to know 
 is, how you came by that animal ?" 
 
 "Oh, I just bought him, that's all." 
 
 "Why did you buy him?" 
 
 "Because the fellow wanted to sell him." 
 
 "How much did you pay for him?" his father 
 asked. 
 
 "Three dollars," said Fred. 
 
 "Has he a name?" 
 
 "Sure, I named him." 
 
 "What is his name?" the doctor inquired. 
 
 "Colonel," Fred jerked out as he got up from 
 the table and lounged toward the door. 
 
 "Hold on!" shouted his father, and Fred turned 
 around. 
 
 Mary and her mother both said afterwards they 
 were sure father almost smiled. 
 
 "Look here," said the doctor, "I'll buy the the 
 38
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 I'll buy him from you. Will you take six dollars? 
 That's twice as much as you paid." 
 
 "I'll take three," said Fred "if you pay me right 
 now." 
 
 "All right," said his father, taking out his pocket- 
 book and handing the money to Fred. "Now the 
 the animal's mine." 
 
 "Yes," said Fred slowly, "he's yours now, dad," 
 and he rushed out of the door. 
 
 The next morning the doctor was up earlier than 
 usual, and it was remarked between Mary and her 
 mother just before dinner time that he had spent a 
 good part of the forenoon in the barn. Three or 
 four days slid by, and it was noticed that the doctor 
 was up early every morning now, besides they 
 somehow thought he seemed to carry himself 
 straighter. No one, however, had noticed the doctor 
 walking out each morning from the barn door which 
 opened away from the cabin, and that with him 
 each morning was the colonel. What took place 
 during this earlier association between the doctor 
 and the colonel must be left to conjecture, for there 
 is no record of it. But it was about this time 
 when Fred was fooling around outside of the barn 
 that his father's voice inside attracted his attention. 
 A large knot in one of the boards of the barn had 
 fallen out and left a hole about on the level with 
 Fred's eye. W r hat he saw inside of the barn made 
 him curious and anxious to stay, but a sense of 
 honor which one would have naturally expected a 
 child of Dr. Jones to have, made him immediately 
 withdraw his eye from the knothole and betake him- 
 
 39
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 self to a log a little distance off, where he sat down 
 to think over the situation. No, he could not spy 
 on his father that way, though he was very curious 
 indeed to understand better what that glimpse had 
 revealed. There was his father leaning back in a 
 little old wooden chair, very much as one might sit 
 in a swivel chair by his desk. There was no desk, 
 however, but a barrel, turned bottom up, served as 
 one, and on this his father was lightly tapping with 
 a pencil he held in his hand. The colonel was stand- 
 ing very still in front of his father and apparently 
 listening attentively to him. After sitting on 
 the log a little while longer and thinking over what 
 he had seen, Fred's curiosity got the better of him, 
 and he made up his mind to go into the barn and 
 take a chance on breaking up the privacy of the 
 interview taking place there. He therefore betook 
 himself around to the barn door, which he pushed 
 open and entered. Fred was rather taken aback 
 by the fact that his father, on seeing him, evinced 
 no apparent surprise. 
 
 "Come in," his father said, "and close the door. 
 I was just about to make a few remarks to the 
 colonel here, which you, as a citizen and a pro- 
 spective member of the medical profession, might 
 perhaps profitably listen to." 
 
 As Fred sat down, his father continued, "the 
 colonel and I have after a rather short acquaintance 
 come to a nicety of understanding which is proving 
 most satisfactory." 
 
 The colonel at this point blinked his eyes and 
 started to lie down and roll over, but a little re- 
 
 40
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 minding tap with the cane the doctor had brought 
 him almost immediately back to "attention." 
 
 "We have lapses," the doctor said to his 
 son, "but they are growing less frequent." "Now," 
 he said, addressing the colonel, "let us go on with 
 these little daily talks which are proving so mutu- 
 ally helpful. You, as a representative of the regular 
 establishment; as an officer in the Army's Medical 
 Corps, must see that you don't see, in fact, must see 
 that you can't see or never have been able to see; 
 but let that go, it is relatively a small matter. As 
 yet you do not show any signs of understanding 
 why we of the medical profession in civil life went 
 into army service. Now this may surprise you 
 when you know that we really went in as doctors to 
 serve our country, to serve the boys in the camps 
 and in the trenches; and it wasn't at all as you 
 supposed, that we went in to serve you." 
 
 At this the colonel cooly turned his back to the 
 doctor and raised his tail straight in the air. 
 
 "Sometimes, Fred," said his father, "I am almost 
 led to believe the colonel gives hardly more than 
 superficial attention to some points which we doc- 
 tors think are quite important. Attention !" shouted 
 the doctor, "About FACE ! Into the army we went, 
 Colonel," continued Dr. Jones after his order had 
 been executed, "and without hesitation or reserva- 
 tion we placed ourselves trustfully and absolutely 
 in your hands." 
 
 The colonel's right ear dropped down to the side 
 in a curious knowing fashion, and he winked 
 slowly. 
 
 41
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 "Attention !" 
 
 The ear stood up. 
 
 "But," the doctor went on, "though we went in 
 with the innocence of a lamb, we came out with 
 the wisdom of a Solomon." 
 
 The colonel gave a slight shake. 
 
 "So," said the doctor, "if you should consider 
 reviving the Medical Reserve Corps it might 
 be best to think the matter over first. You 
 will find some doctors who think highly of soldier- 
 ing titles, such as Captain and Major and Colonel; 
 you will find others who think more highly of pro- 
 fessional and scientific usefulness ; but you will find 
 all will be loath to acting as a steed upon which the 
 regular medical corps can ride to higher rank and 
 its own personal glory." 
 
 Here the colonel took a look around the 
 42
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 barn. "No, Colonel," said the doctor, "there 
 is no one else present here but Fred, so you 
 need have no anxiety. And as we are alone," 
 the doctor's voice had risen and become 
 more emphatic, "let me tell you this before we 
 close this subject for the morning. You've clean 
 missed the measure of the men of the civil medical 
 profession who gave up everything they had to go 
 into this war with you, and whose talents you wasted 
 like water and whose character you never took 
 count of. Tangled up in red tape and held down 
 by the inexperienced boys you made their com- 
 manding officers, you compelled them to inaction 
 when they might have been saving countless lives; 
 you doomed them by delays when they might have 
 carried your whole corps to real accomplishment 
 and actual glory. Your responsibilities, Colonel, 
 were great, and if you had taken the medical pro- 
 fession in as your partners in medical matters in- 
 stead of your inferiors, you would have won for 
 your country much that you have forever lost. They 
 made no profession of military matters, but they 
 were gentlemen at heart most of these medical 
 men,, and you need not have been fearful or 
 jealous of your own positions or your own rewards. 
 
 You were ," but here the colonel could stand it 
 
 no longer. He drew up his head and flopped down 
 on his haunches and let out the most piteous "hee, 
 haw hee, haw hee, haw, haw, haw." 
 
 "Come, Fred," the doctor said as he rose, "we 
 may as well go to the cabin," and as they walked 
 
 43
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 out he added, "and I believe I could eat some din- 
 ner, too." 
 
 The fact that the doctor's appetite was returning 
 had not been lost on Mary or her mother. Women 
 are keen observers in these small matters which are 
 often the straws telling the wind's direction. But 
 not until this day had they noticed any real signs 
 of encouragement. It was after dinner when they 
 were all sitting about the doorway that the doctor 
 remarked to the family at large as he looked off 
 toward the blue heights in the distance. "Here 
 we have been for almost two months and I don't 
 believe any of you appreciate what a beautiful spot 
 this is, with the brook and the trees and the hills 
 and those magnificent mountains over there and 
 the blue sky above us." 
 
 Mary and her mother exchanged glances. 
 
 After this day Fred was a regular attendant at 
 the morning conferences, and each day to the family 
 were the doctor's returning spirits made more evi- 
 dent. Fred did not deem it necessary to mention 
 to his mother or sister anything of these morning 
 experiences; for, as he said to himself, "women 
 don't understand these things." Fred did not him- 
 self understand that all these days in which he had 
 not missed a word of this wonderful and illuminat- 
 ing talk from his father to the "Colonel" that his 
 father had been taking this means of unburdening 
 his mind to his boy. Dr. Jones himself knew how 
 perfectly useless it would be to tell these things to 
 the world; but to talk them out to someone made 
 
 44
 
 How Dr. Jones Came Back 
 
 him feel better and in the course of a week he had 
 talked out enough to make him feel like quite a dif- 
 ferent man; and when Dr. Ledyard arrived he 
 found his patient cured. 
 
 45
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 ON this particular evening, it must be con- 
 fessed, as I started out to attend the meeting 
 of The Elite Obstetrical Society, my mind 
 was not over-stirred by any special anticipation of 
 excitement. That there might be some sound and 
 deliberate debate was all I had reason to allow my- 
 self the pleasure of looking forward to. I had not 
 at all counted on any other element entering into 
 the occasion to lift my thoughts out of the usual 
 quiet conventionality of these gatherings. 
 
 Although not especially engaged in the field of 
 obstetrics myself I still liked to follow its prog- 
 ress. 
 
 Having been away for over two years on account 
 of the war that is, having been away from the 
 meetings I mean, I would have been away that is, 
 well I felt it was my duty to remain at home as 
 so many others went into the military service. As 
 I was saying, over two years away from these 
 obstetrical meetings left me rather poorly informed 
 as to the progress my obstetrical friends had been 
 making this while. I was glad, therefore, to be 
 going to this meeting to polish up somewhat that 
 knowledge which my absence had rendered rather 
 rusty. 
 
 On arriving, the pleasure of meeting so many 
 old acquaintances and friends after so considerable 
 a lapse of time was very gratifying; and to look 
 
 46
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 about at this well-groomed group of successful 
 physicians in evening dress was indeed refreshing. 
 
 On taking my seat I looked anew at the pro- 
 gram, and this time with a special interest; for I 
 had just been presented to the distinguished guest 
 of the society, Dr. Lightfinger, who was to deliver 
 the address to us on that evening. 
 
 He was the ready up-and-doing delightful type 
 of man to whom we owe our splendid rapid urban 
 upbuilding of the west. My eyes followed him 
 with interest as he made his way up to the plat- 
 form in front, giving his rather large soft hand- 
 shakes to the right and left as he passed on. In 
 personal appearance, tall with black curly hair, he 
 was distinctly moulded for female admiration es- 
 pecially for the admiration of our newer type of 
 woman. One might almost say that Nature her- 
 self had made of him a lady's 
 specialist, so altogether harmoni- 
 ous was he with the field of en- 
 deavor in which he was pursuing 
 his career. He sat down on the 
 right of the chairman. To the 
 left ranged the other speakers 
 "by invitation." 
 
 After the usual preliminary 
 introduction in which the chair- 
 man introduces the speaker by ex- 
 plaining that he needs no intro- 
 duction, Dr. Lightfinger rose to 
 speak. My seat chanced to be 
 along the side of the room and 
 
 47
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 near the front, so that as the greeting of applause 
 broke forth I noted the genuineness of its char- 
 acter in the faces of the audience. It was 
 at that moment my eye caught sight of a face 
 entirely strange to me, yet there were a good 
 many other faces also which were strange to 
 me there that evening. Was it because this 
 man remained with hands still and with a pecu- 
 liarly immobile, or shall we say sceptical, ex- 
 pression on his face while others were assiduously 
 clapping, that my eye caught his person and my 
 mind so suddenly became occupied with his per- 
 sonality? The answer seems hardly worth pur- 
 suing, for whether it was this or something else 
 which aroused so immediate an interest is of small 
 concern beside the fact that a sudden and peculiar 
 interest in this individual seemed all at once to be 
 experienced by me. It seemed to me he presented 
 a striking ruggedness of appearance foreign to the 
 faces usually seen about New York. There was 
 that in his firm features and direct clear eyes which 
 seemed to pull one up with a kind of mental start. 
 A something instinctively reminiscent of old New 
 England ancestry seemed to be aroused. 
 
 But such musing was rudely checked by the 
 voice of the speaker as he began his address. The 
 title of which, as the program announced, was, 
 "My Method of Hand Delivery by Version of the 
 Child." It is to be regretted that time has robbed 
 my memory of so many of the pleasing and well 
 rounded scientific terms used in this branch of 
 medicine ; and that I shall have to fall back on sim- 
 
 48
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 pie descriptive terms in setting forth an account of 
 this illuminating evening's discourse. In general, 
 however, I shall follow as closely as possible the 
 doctor's rendering of his thesis. 
 
 Fortunately for my better understanding of his 
 remarks I did remember the term Version and that 
 it meant turning the baby from its usual position 
 before birth, to an opposite position where it is 
 brought into the world feet first. I also remem- 
 bered that this delicate and somewhat hazardous 
 procedure might be employed on those rare occa- 
 sions when it seemed necessary to relieve an ab- 
 normal situation which threatened the life of the 
 mother or child. The speaker's remarks will soon 
 show how far indeed behind in this particular 
 branch of our profession I had fallen during my 
 enforced absence from these meetings. 
 
 "It's a great honor, I'll say, to have this chance 
 to hop over East and give you fellows here in New 
 York my little talk." The speaker's easy one 
 might almost say breezy way of beginning his 
 discourse immediately captivated us. "It's 
 the hand-picked baby," he continued, "that's 
 the baby of the future. What's the indi- 
 cation for my method of version and pull- 
 'em-out operation? That's the question 
 everybody asks first thing. The answer is simple. 
 When a woman's going to have a baby. Now, of 
 course, you can't expect the small town and coun- 
 try doctor to get the big idea as fast as us city 
 fellows do. Hidebound conservatism, that's their 
 trouble. If you want to get any return on your 
 
 49
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 time spent in our profession in these days watch 
 the surgeons. That's what I tell the country prac- 
 titioner." This was followed by some applause, 
 particularly by the younger men present. "Now I 
 suppose you want to know the technic my technic 
 of this little operation," went on Dr. Lightfinger. 
 "It's how it's done, not why it's done; that's always 
 the interesting thing in surgery. For example, if 
 you have an apple tree you don't ask why you 
 want the apples and you don't necessarily wait for 
 the apples to come down by 'emselves either. 
 When you see that the apples are about ripe you 
 go up after 'em and pull 'em down. Well, that's 
 what my operation means." 
 
 I do not know why, but for some reason or other 
 my gaze happened to wander across the room and 
 quite incidentally to light on the face of the stranger 
 again. And among all the sympathetic faces of 
 the listeners his struck me as being, well, to say 
 the least, unsympathetic to our speaker's interest- 
 ing and distinctly progressive discourse. I thought 
 little of it at the time and again found my atten- 
 tion fixed on Dr. Lightfinger. 
 
 "When the woman is ready to have the baby; 
 that is, when the operator is ready for her to have 
 it," he went on saying, "she is brought to the op- 
 erating room, and there put under. Under is the 
 word. We give her a regular surgical anaesthesia. 
 We must make sure she has it good before the sec- 
 ond or 'business' stage of labor begins. If you 
 don't catch 'em before the real pains have set in 
 you miss more than half of the thing that is mak- 
 
 50
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 ing this operation popular. Make no mistake 
 about that, for it's the avoidance of any discom- 
 forts of having a baby that takes with our present- 
 day woman." The approving nods throughout the 
 audience attested to the fact of this wise observa- 
 tion. "Now when the mother and baby are thor- 
 oughly and deeply insensible and all muscular ef- 
 fort and resistance suspended, the operator rolls up 
 his sleeves and draws on what we call our 'party 
 gloves/ which come up to the elbow. At this 
 point there is no need to hurry. The patient will 
 not run away. With a pass of the hand lubricated 
 with soft soap, baby John or baby Jane, as the 
 case may be, is grasped by the feet and around our 
 little friend swings, looping the loop, so to speak, 
 and then presto ! the little feet are dragged into 
 sight. The fol- 
 lowing steps are 
 easy; just a pull, 
 then a twist, then 
 another pull, with 
 possibly a slight 
 tug, and there is 
 your next Ameri- 
 can voter out on 
 the table." 
 
 For a moment 
 the speaker 
 paused for breath 
 after this minute 
 and lucid descrip- 
 tion. "I have de-
 
 The Narrozv-Minded Layman 
 
 scribed the technic of doing this operation," con- 
 tinued the doctor, "but it is in the management of 
 this class of cases that the trick really lies. For 
 if you manage these cases properly you'll find they 
 will flock to you." On the last words there was 
 a perceptible rustle in the audience as it straight- 
 ened itself up. "And remember," went on the 
 speaker, "each case is an operation. A regular sur- 
 gical operation with a regular surgical fee." It 
 seemed to me I could hear a slight scraping on the 
 floor as though chairs were being pulled just a 
 little closer to the speaker. "Last year," went on 
 Dr. Lightfinger, "I had more than a thousand of 
 these operations." As I looked up I saw a number 
 of the older men figuring on little pieces of paper 
 or on the backs of their programs. "Of all these 
 cases I lost only seventeen," said the doctor. As 
 every one looked up with surpise the speaker smiled 
 and shook his head. "No, no, gentlemen, I'm not 
 referring to my mortality. We will not speak of that. 
 These seventeen patients I lost were so many opera- 
 tions lost; for failing to call me in time, they had 
 their babies in the odd way at home before I could 
 reach them to get them into the hospital. With the 
 great majority of our present-day women, how- 
 ever," the speaker pursued, "there is little danger 
 from this kind of loss in practice. Our women are 
 getting to dread any pain worse than our fore- 
 fathers ever feared Satan. What with canned food 
 from the delicatessen shop, and electric cooking on 
 the table ; what with absolutely no exercise or house- 
 hold work to make them strong, they haven't the en- 
 
 52
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 durance or the courage to face pain or stand any 
 strain whatever. So usually it's no trouble to per- 
 suade our women of today to see the sense of my 
 'painless extraction' method." 
 
 This little sally of the doctor's brought a general 
 laugh, for he really could be very funny. I say a 
 general laugh, but that perhaps is not strictly cor- 
 rect, for a chance glance across the room brought 
 the stranger's face at that moment into my view. 
 In it I beheld a most peculiar expression, an ex- 
 pression I find difficulty in defining. Was it dis- 
 gust? Hardly, I see no reason for that. Per- 
 haps it was indigestion. At any rate the doctor 
 was speaking again and I turned my whole atten- 
 tion once more in his direction. 
 
 "Now I hope you will all take up this method 
 of the hand-picked baby here in New York," Dr. 
 Lightfinger went on to say. "Why, there is prob- 
 ably no city in the country as well suited for this 
 operation as right here, unless possibly you include 
 Chicago, where the women are simply a soft and 
 pleasure seeking class, and where they hardly know 
 what physical strength and endurance means. Be- 
 sides," he added, "if you take it up here it will be- 
 come the fashion in Chicago and all over the coun- 
 try just as skyscrapers, shimmy dances, knee skirts 
 and suffragettes have become the general fashion in 
 all our other cities bv your New York example. 
 
 "Now gentlemen, in bringing my little talk to a 
 close I want to say that I do not claim that this 
 operation of mine is the last word in obstetrics. I 
 feel rather that it may be looked upon as perhaps a 
 
 53
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 stepping stone, and that later we may possibly edu- 
 cate our patients up to expecting a Caesarean op- 
 eration as a routine thing." With this last far- 
 sighted observation the speaker resumed his seat as 
 the audience broke out in a prolonged applause. 
 
 As I glanced about the room in interest, noting 
 the society's fullness of response to this master of 
 obstetrical methods, my eye unconsciously fell once 
 more upon the stranger. Rigid and still he sat in 
 the midst of our hearty demonstration which fol- 
 lowed our confrere's splendid discourse on his im- 
 portant contribution to our profession's art and 
 knowledge. Rigid. Yes, more than rigid this 
 stranger sat, his firm features had taken on a pecu- 
 liar tense expression. He looked as if he were 
 about to hurl out some crushing anathema. Was 
 this only my imagination ? I sat wondering, for 
 no one else seemingly was paying the slightest at- 
 tention to this strangely antipathetic person with 
 his suppressed expression. 
 
 But the business of the evening was being re- 
 sumed and I had no mind to lose any of its inter- 
 esting features by a wandering inattention. Quiet 
 was once more restored and the chairman was on 
 his feet. His smiling face showing the satisfaction 
 we were all then enjoying as our minds lingered 
 over the words and wisdom of our eminent guest. 
 He was saying just what chairmen always say at 
 this juncture, "but," he added with a flutter of 
 originality, "we have not partaken of all our in- 
 tellectual food as yet." Which witticism brought 
 from two or three of our quicker minded members 
 
 54
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 a precipitate laugh. "We have here," continued 
 our chairman as he pointed to the gentleman on 
 his left, "a noted specialist in our field of work, and 
 one who is little behind Dr. Lightfinger himself in 
 the employment and the expounding of modern 
 methods." I am sorry I cannot recall this gentle- 
 man's name. To me he was a stranger, and I had 
 been taking much interest in a quiet study of his 
 personality as I sat below him, I like to make 
 these little studies and from such observation make 
 deductions and thus determine where people come 
 from and what their rating at home may be. But 
 where this gentleman came from puzzled me. It 
 was either from Brooklyn or London, I felt quite 
 sure. Some things about him suggested Brooklyn, 
 yet when he rose slowly to speak but I must get 
 back to the subject. 
 
 The gentleman had already risen and was lift- 
 ing Dr. Lightfinger to a pinnacle of permanent 
 fame. He had himself, he said, been a student of 
 this master's remarkable technical skill. He told of 
 his long acquaintance with the doctor and his ad- 
 miration of his progressive work. And with a 
 large number of other pleasing remarks he brought 
 his words to a close and gracefully resumed his 
 chair. 
 
 The discussion of the subject was then thrown 
 open and one after another of our society's pro- 
 fessors rose to speak. There was none but spoke 
 in praise of our guest's ability in operating upon 
 the expectant mothers. Some of our more conserva- 
 tive professors hesitated to advise that all women 
 
 55
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 should be delivered in the fashion Dr. Light- 
 finger advocated and personally practiced; but I 
 cannot recall one who came out with a flat denial 
 that Dr. Lightfinger was not pursuing the right, 
 the proper and the scientific course. 
 
 Not being a specialist in this work myself it 
 would be presumptuous indeed for me not to look 
 to the wisdom of our own professors as conclusive 
 and not to admire with them the great advance in 
 the field of obstetrics I had the honor of becoming 
 acquainted with on that long to be remembered 
 evening. 
 
 As I looked toward our chairman I saw his eyes 
 roving the room for any further discussion of the 
 subject. By his side sat Dr. Lightfinger, his face 
 lighted with that quiet satisfaction and pride which 
 one sees in the countenance of those, who having 
 scaled the heights, sit in peaceful contemplation of 
 the scene below. All about the room the faces 
 seemed to reflect that contentment which one might 
 expect as the aftermath of the splendid intellectual 
 excursion upon which we had been carried that 
 evening. 
 
 The chairman, it seemed to me, was about to 
 turn his smiling face to our eminent guest and 
 speaker and offer to him the opportunity of any 
 closing remarks, when when rising slowly to his 
 feet I beheld the stranger the individual who had 
 drawn my attention so often during the evening. 
 My breath caught in astonishment. His strangely 
 compelling features seemed to me oddly set. I do 
 not know what impression the others in the room 
 
 56
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 may have had as the man came to his feet. I saw 
 no unusual signs of surprise as I glanced quickly 
 about and over their faces. From the chairman's 
 face there certainly shone the same affable and at- 
 tentive expression as he formally inclined his head 
 to indicate to this man who had risen that he had 
 the floor. A queer feeling came over me. Was 
 my astonishment then entirely unfounded, entirely 
 a thing of my own imagining? Why indeed did 
 the occurrence of this person's rising set any emo- 
 tions loose within me? Did I expect a rude and 
 incoherent outburst? An outburst which would 
 shatter that fine mental state to which we all had 
 been exalted and which only scientific men can 
 know? The next moment I felt a fool and that 
 was the quick answer to my forebodings; for the 
 low tones of the stranger's voice were already roll- 
 ing slowly and indeed very coherently forth. I 
 gasped internally to think that I should have antici- 
 pated an unruly demonstration from him this 
 man of the quiet, even voice. 
 
 "Mr. Chairman," he was saying, "I do not wish 
 to enter upon any discussion of the subject pursued 
 here this evening under a misapprehension of the 
 fact that I am simply a layman, and chance to be 
 present as an acquaintance of one of your 
 members." 
 
 Now it is a little unusual for a non-professional 
 man to attend our meetings, and it is rather more 
 unusual for him to essay his opinions. Never- 
 theless we are, as it is very well known, an un- 
 usually broad-minded profession, and without hesi- 
 
 57
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 tation the chair ruled that unless any member ob- 
 jected we would welcome the stranger's remarks. 
 There being no objection offered, the stranger 
 bowed his acknowledgment, and moving a few 
 steps, came to the side of a table by the wall. 
 He then turned so that he faced us all. Once he 
 had turned he gave the impression of being planted 
 there, so firmly did he seem to stand. For full a 
 minute the man remained perfectly silent, looking 
 into the faces of his audience. Looking deep into 
 us, it seemed to me. 
 
 I cannot tell what was passing at this moment in 
 the minds of the others. Much less can I describe 
 my own thoughts. A grotesque image appeared 
 to rise in my mind. The man before us gave 
 me the strange impression of a powerful piece of 
 rapid fire artillery and that we were all actually 
 looking into a cannon's mouth. The absurd fancy 
 carried itself on. It seemed to me as if each one 
 of us was experiencing the same impression. 
 
 The room was very still. What could he have 
 to say, a mere layman, in this gathering of highly 
 trained and scientific men? I was beginning al- 
 most to feel uncomfortable for him as he stood 
 there silent and fixed. Then came his words. I 
 might well have saved my sympathy, for his be- 
 ginning indicated no need of moral support. 
 
 "What measure may be employed," began the 
 stranger, "to estimate the esteem which is the heri- 
 tage of the physician? From antiquity forward, 
 what profession is there which has been so faith- 
 fully followed, so implicity trusted and so pro- 
 
 58
 
 The N arrow-Minded Layman 
 
 foundly respected?" His clear, precise words, 
 though spoken in the lowest tones, carried to every 
 corner of the large meeting room. "You doctors, 
 you who are the champions of humanity," he went 
 on, "I stand before you a picked few of you sta- 
 tioned at the peak of your profession. You stand 
 atop of wonder. The world gapes upwards at 
 your achievements." 
 
 Oh, how I had misjudged him! This man with 
 the even tones and perceiving mind. I looked 
 about at his eager auditors. They, too, were not 
 missing a word. Our distinguished guest and 
 speaker of the evening seemed to me to be larger 
 and broader ; he seemed actually to have swelled in 
 all dimensions as he sat there next to our smiling 
 chairman. 
 
 But the stranger was proceeding. "Times 
 change. Conditions alter. Men get new and dif- 
 ferent impressions of their fellowmen," went on 
 the layman. "My father was a physician. In him 
 my respect for your profession was born. We lived 
 in a small New England community. There it was 
 he dedicated himself to his difficult life work. His 
 pay was meagre, but his reward was great; 
 for he was conscious of the service he rendered ; the 
 service he gave in trying to guide his people in the 
 pathway of God's laws as prescribed by Nature." 
 As I looked around I could see that the fine simile 
 he had drawn had not gone unnoticed. "I repeat," 
 went on the speaker, "men get new impressions of 
 their fellowmen." There was an emphasis put into 
 
 59
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 this last remark which seemed to straighten the 
 backs of his listeners. 
 
 "I have been in your great city here but a few 
 days. Chance has thrown in my way a few 
 glimpses of the modern physician the physician 
 who is thrilling the world with his new conquests. 
 It is in the great city you find the essence of this 
 modern medical man who is leading the world 
 on" he repeated slowly "on, on, to what?" His 
 hearers were now all alert as he continued. "It 
 will not take long to sketch the trend of humanity 
 in the hands of this present medical profession." 
 The speaker was leading on to a fine climax, I 
 felt sure of that. As I looked up the audience ap- 
 peared as if it wanted to clap, waiting only for the 
 speaker's pause. "I will tell you just a few facts 
 which have come before my face, during this one 
 day, and in your own particular specialty of the 
 baby and how its career is directed. They were in- 
 teresting facts," he continued, "and perhaps they 
 may solve some problems in our present social puz- 
 zles, when they receive thoughtful attention." 
 
 The room remained very quiet as we all listened 
 to hear his summing up of our great profession's 
 progress. 
 
 "This afternoon I chanced out on your brilliant 
 Fifth Avenue," he started. "A luxurious motor 
 was rolling by. I saw a little man with a little 
 pointed beard leaning back amidst the cushions. 
 'There,' exclaimed my companion, 'is one of our 
 most eminent physicians. He has made over a mil- 
 lion dollars !' " Several of the younger men at this 
 
 60
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 moment involuntarily clapped their hands. "Over 
 a million dollars," slowly repeated the speaker, 
 "teaching mothers how to mix cow's milk and sugar 
 to fool their new-born babies with, while they 
 hunted pleasure and excitement in their skins of 
 slaughtered animals and feathers of slain birds." 
 
 Several of our prominent physicians looked up in 
 utter surprise at this sudden suggestion of criticism. 
 How absurd indeed for this layman to be express- 
 ing his narrow-minded views of our scientific af- 
 fairs. What could he know of our far-sighted 
 goal, anyway? 
 
 "All doctors," he went tensely on, "I am told, 
 have now learned how to instruct mothers in this 
 method of defrauding the infant of its natural food, 
 and natural birthright." What does he mean? 
 What is this layman driving at? That was the 
 question I read on all the faces of his listeners as 
 I glanced about. "This," went on the speaker in 
 even more distinct terms, "may be looked upon as 
 one of the steps leading up to our present shame- 
 ful and disorderly social state." 
 
 " 'Come,' my companion next said to me," the 
 stranger went on saying, " 'and I will show you 
 some of these bottle-fed babies those that have 
 survived and are now grown up.' He took me into 
 a large and ornate hotel near by. He showed me 
 a great room edged with little tables. The room 
 was filled with boys and girls in their teens. The 
 girls were being hugged and danced about on the 
 polished floor, or inhaling cigarettes at the small 
 tables. The boys were pouring out drinks from 
 
 61
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 their pocket flasks. 'This/ said my guide, 'is the 
 generation of cheated children, by the selfish or in- 
 capable mothers, tutored by their doctors. Here 
 is the dressing room where the little girls check 
 their corsets and paint their lips before going in to 
 dance !' " 
 
 The room seemed to have gotten warm and op- 
 pressive. I not only noticed it myself, but I saw 
 that the others had also. The chairman was wiping 
 his brow. They must have turned on an extra sup- 
 ply of steam heat, I found myself thinking; for it 
 certainly was getting stuffy in that room. But 
 somehow everyone seemed to sit up quite straight 
 as his next words shot out. "But tonight," his 
 voice had risen, "I learn that even God's plan of 
 giving birth to babies is about to be abandoned. 
 That besides forcing unnatural nourishment upon 
 the infant, it is to be forced into the world by un- 
 natural means. That each birth is to become an al- 
 together artificial act. That each mother and her 
 baby is to be drugged with the potent poison of an 
 anaesthetic, on the far off effect of which no one 
 dare venture an opinion. Supposing our women 
 do fear the pains of labor, what does that mean? 
 It means that they have been allowed to slide down 
 the slope of degeneracy into a state of physical un- 
 fitness for motherhood. And the only answer to 
 that from an intelligent medical profession is to 
 see that they are guided back to that state of strength 
 and health which is their human heritage." 
 
 I could see his listeners getting distinctly restless. 
 For myself I do not pretend to know anything 
 
 62
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 about this specialty so was not especially impressed 
 with the stranger's remarks. 
 
 "Each birth," he went on, "is to become a high- 
 priced surgical operation so that your fees will 
 compare favorably with your brothers, the surgeons 
 who have grown rich ahead of you." 
 
 Was it that the speaker was getting taller and 
 larger, or was it that his listeners were shrinking? 
 Perhaps it was simply an optical illusion on my 
 part. 
 
 "Yes," he said, "I commence to see the mean- 
 ing of the 'onward' movement of this modern medi- 
 cal profession." None of us liked this last re- 
 mark and I think some of us would have shown 
 our resentment if well, if the stranger hadn't kept 
 right on shooting out his remarks. "Once," he 
 continued, "the medical profession was an honored 
 profession pointing out to struggling humanity the 
 ways of Nature as the path to follow, the laws of 
 Nature as the laws to respect. With self sacrifice 
 and earnest effort, they pursued their way, pointing 
 out to their trusting patients the cost of greed and 
 artificiality and personal selfishness, and the tax it 
 levies on posterity. Is it on this hard-earned and 
 honorable reputation that you doctors of today are 
 entirely capitalized ?" 
 
 His last remarks were hurled out in such a way 
 that there was brought back to my mind that early 
 impression of him as he stood like a rugged piece 
 of field artillery getting the range. He was cer- 
 tainly getting his range. "What excuse," he thun- 
 dered, "has the medical profession to make for 
 
 63
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 playing into the hands 
 of human depravity and 
 degeneracy? That is 
 the question which 
 keeps coming back 
 when I see the children 
 who have been tricked 
 out of their mother's 
 milk and m o t h e r's 
 care and mother's love 
 and guidance." His 
 words were coming 
 very hot and fast now. 
 There was an apathetic 
 look, I thought, about 
 the audience, or was it apoplectic, for some were 
 looking very red indeed ! "There was a time," he 
 went boldly on, "when the worthless women who 
 refused to nurse their babies, or the sickly women 
 who could not nurse their babies, were looked 
 upon as not fit for the high estate of motherhood. 
 A time when the moral stand of the good phy- 
 sician allowed no compromise on this." 
 
 At this point I thought surely one of our great 
 professors would have would have well, would 
 have gotten up and said something; I, of course, 
 as I explained, was really out of the discussion. 
 The speaker's words were booming out again. 
 
 "The handiwork of the modern physician speaks 
 for itself. At the top of society his results roar 
 out their evidence. He has taught the pampered 
 rich how to spawn their puny posterity. The fash- 
 
 64
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 ion is fixed for the masses to follow. A degen- 
 erated population cries out its origin. Crimes, 
 crookedness and confusion have polluted our 
 generation. A state of moral and physical unfit- 
 ness reaches from the top of society down to the 
 very bottom of it." He finished off with a snap 
 of his powerful jaws. It was very unpleasant to 
 hear them come together. 
 
 He was raising his clinched and brawny fist 
 above the little table, and drawing in his breath to 
 hurl out another epithet. I remember thinking at 
 that particular moment of what would happen to the 
 table when that fist came down on it. The faces 
 of his listeners wore a peculiar look; a furtive 
 look. Some were restless. Some were red. His 
 big voice broke out again. I lost his words; for 
 just then a most shocking thing occurred. One of 
 our professors (the one whose splendid student's 
 manual was making such a stir in professional cir- 
 cles the book entitled "Cow's Milk for Kiddy 
 While Mother Roams") suddenly, and without the 
 slightest warning, toppled forward from his seat. 
 Several nearest by rushed to his aid. He was 
 prone on the floor before he could be reached. A 
 considerable confusion followed. A half dozen or 
 so grasped our confrere and bore him from the 
 room. Our professor was not a lightweight. The 
 broad doors of the apartment had been quickly 
 thrown wide. With the bearers of the burden 
 many others followed. A general exodus ensued. 
 It was not especially orderly. As I glanced back 
 into the room passing out with the others there 
 
 65
 
 The Narrow-Minded Layman 
 
 stood the stranger, the audacious layman, his arm 
 still raised. His voice was stilled, but on his face 
 there lingered the strangest look. I can still see 
 him as he stood there, a faint enigmatic smile 
 frozen about his lips. 
 
 After seeing the professor sufficiently revived and 
 taken away in his motor, and after learning from 
 one of our ch'agnosticians that it was nothing more 
 than "a slight ptomaine attack" which he had suf- 
 fered, I strolled homeward myself, my mind, as 
 can be imagined, very full of the unusual occur- 
 rence visited upon our meeting that evening. 
 
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