Doctor Bolus and His Patients

Excerpt

ld Doctor Bolus was an old fashioned Doctor, and every morning started out with his cane, to visit his patients, sometimes taking with him his student, a man who had taken to studying medicine at thirty years old, in the hope of being the successor of Doctor Bolus.

We will follow the Doctor’s rounds for one morning. First he called at the Squire’s, whose father was sick. The Doctor examined his tongue, felt his pulse, and mixed a white powder and a gray powder, giving directions for him to take a little every two hours. Then, after talking over the state of the crops with the Squire, he went on to his next patient, old black John, the colored man. John was very poor, but a good Quaker had relieved his wants and the Doctor gave him a dose of calomel, telling him he would soon be at work again.

The Doctor’s next call was to see little Kitty Green, the merchant’s daughter; Kitty had meddled with a sharp knife, and cut her finger pretty severely; if she had been a poor man’s daughter it would have got well without the doctor, but rich people can afford to call the doctor for little things, so Doctor Bolus applied some salve to Kitty’s finger, and she was soon playing again.

The next patient was Mrs. Droley, who always imagined she was sick, and had been one of the Doctor’s regular patients for several years; and if a few days passed without his calling on her, he was sure to be sent for. Mrs. Droley kept her room and her bed much of the time, thinking she had only strength to feed her cat. The doctor could not do her much good, but gave her a little harmless medicine.

The last call the Doctor made before his dinner, was at Mrs. Smith’s. She had been sick for a long time, and a few months before this her husband had been drawn in to commit a robbery, for which he was sentenced to imprisonment for life. She was rapidly failing, and would soon die. She had mourned only that she must leave her little daughter destitute, but was now assured that a good home was provided for Mary by her friends; and she felt that she could die happy.

DOCTOR BOLUS

After dinner Doctor Bolus went to visit a very poor woman, who was sick with a lung fever, and all alone, only when a colored girl came in to help her, or to read to her. The Doctor knew he could not cure her, and only gave her a little medicine to soothe her pain.

His next visit was to Susan Blake, a little girl of ten years old, who was very sick, and could not recover. She had one sister, and they were orphans. It was hard indeed for them to part, but they both knew that death would soon separate them.

Doctor Bolus was next called to pull a tooth for a little girl, (see ,) and then went to see Joe Glutton as he was called. Joe well deserved the name for his greediness; a day or two before he had slily climbed up to a dish of sweetmeats, and eaten very freely of them; that night he was taken severely sick, and was obliged to take much bitter medicine. This was not the first time he had suffered for his greediness. The Doctor had a fine pear tree which was often robbed; when the pears were ripe, he had inserted emetics in several of the finest of them, and soon after was called to visit Joe, who had been suddenly taken with vomiting; the Doctor soon relieved him, but found he had been eating his pears.