Two performances were given in Rochester, and here I succumbed. I could
stand it no longer, but went to bed and sent for a physician. The ladies
went directly to New York from the Falls, and the doctor “managed” for
me, which kept him pretty busy. He came to my room after the evening
performance and wished to nurse me during the night. My physician
declared me in a serious condition and ordered me to take the first
train home. Dr. Watson insisted that under such conditions I was too
feeble to move, and ruled against the physician; so I stayed in bed and
left for New York the next morning, leaving the doctor in Syracuse to
fill two engagements there.
He spoke to two unusually large crowds in Syracuse; at Ithaca the
following noon, at Elmira in the evening, and then back to New York.
Twice a day he had been keeping up his readings while I dragged and
pushed him along, and a better-natured, more delightful spirit never was
known. My business was to make the work as easy for him as possible, no
matter what fatigue it caused the “manager.” What else is a “manager”
for?
I was side-tracked at home two days. I had planned for several readings
in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. The biggest business was yet to
come. The Watsons were our guests for a couple of days while I was laid
up. One must entertain and house Dr. Watson under one’s roof to know
what a buoyant, soul-reviving, happy spirit he possesses. He was in
excellent humor and entertained us all day long with whimsical
descriptions of cranks who visit him--crank preachers from foreign lands
who get their living by appeals in all directions for collections and
opportunities to preach. It was certainly the most remarkable,
inimitable, and side-splitting facial display of serio-comic genius I
ever saw or heard. What an actor he would have made!
Our next stand was Philadelphia, November 14th, where Mr. Harold Pierce,
the gentleman who had the doctor in charge for that Saturday afternoon
and Sunday, prior to the doctor’s lecture the Monday following, met us
and took absolute charge of the doctor and his party. Pierce is a
hero-worshipper, but a splendid fellow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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