Short stories; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
Well, she went to see the doctor, the most celebrated in New York--at
the infirmary, of course, for she was too poor to go to his office; one
consultation would have taken every cent she had--her cousin went with
her, and told me of it. She said that when she came downstairs to go she
never saw such a sight. On her head she had her blue cap, and her green
shade and her veil, and her shawl; and she had the old umbrella and long
stick, which she had brought from the country, and a large pillow under
her arm, because she “knew she was going to faint.” So they started out,
but it was a slow procession. The noise and bustle of the street dazed
her, her cousin fancied, and every now and then she would clutch her
companion and declare she must go back or she should faint. At every
street-crossing she insisted upon having a policeman to help her over,
or, in default of that, she would stop some man and ask him to escort
her across, which, of course, he would do, thinking her crazy.
Finally they reached the infirmary, where there were already a large
number of patients, and many more came in afterwards. Here she shortly
established an acquaintance with several strangers. She had to wait an
hour or more for her turn, and then insisted that several who had come
in after her should go in before her, because she said the poor things
looked so tired. This would have gone on indefinitely, her cousin said,
if she had not finally dragged her into the doctor’s room. There the
first thing that she did was to insist that she must lie down, she
was so faint, and her pillow was brought into requisition. The doctor
humored her, and waited on her. Her friend started to tell him about
her, but the doctor said, “I prefer to have her tell me herself.” She
presently began to tell, the doctor sitting quietly by listening and
seeming to be much interested. He gave her some prescription, and told
her to come again next day, and when she went he sent for her ahead
of her turn, and after that made her come to his office at his private
house, instead of to the infirmary, as at first. He turned out to be the
surgeon who had been at her house with the Yankees during the war. He
was very kind to her. I suppose he had never seen anyone like her.
She used to go every day, and soon dispensed with her friend’s escort,
finding no difficulty in getting about. Indeed, she came to be known on
the streets she passed through, and on the cars she travelled by, and
people guided her. Several times as she was taking the wrong car men
stopped her, and said to her, “Madam, yours is the red car.” She said,
sure enough it was, but she never could divine how they knew. She
addressed the conductors as, “My dear sir”, and made them help her not
only off, but quite to the sidewalk, when she thanked them, and
said “Good-by”, as if she had been at home. She said she did this on
principle, for it was such a good thing to teach them to help a feeble
woman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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