DOCTOR BOLUS
AND HIS PATIENTS.

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.

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 frontispiece,) 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.

The next place was at the carpenter’s,

where the baby and the grandfather were both sick. The grandfather was a very old man, and loved to tell over the story of his settling in the wilderness, when a young man. The Doctor left medicine for them, and then went on to Mrs. Thorn’s whose daughter was sick. He found the mother spinning, and the daughter trying to sew as she lay on the bed. Mrs. Thorn’s husband and six children had died

with consumption, and now the last, and youngest, on whom the mother had depended for aid, was wasting away with the same disease. The mother grieved deeply, but was cheerful, and said she hoped to meet them in heaven.

Next he called to see a little girl who had been sick for several days with a violent fever; he had been afraid she would die, but now found

her better, and the danger past. Her brother was standing by her, trying to draw her attention to a brood of chickens which had been hatched since she was shut up by sickness.

The Doctor had now finished his calls; but as he was walking home he was called to a young lady who had been with a party of young people, sailing on the pond, and in reaching

over too far had fallen into the water. The party were frightened, and it was sometime before she was taken out. The Doctor tried for several hours to restore her, but it was in vain; she was dead, and the whole