I had a "call" to practise in a country town twenty-five miles from E----, where my family was to remain a few days till I had secured a house to cover their heads amongst the good friends who were to become my future patrons, as a few of them had been previous to my going to college. The stage, a one-horse affair, called for my trunk, medicine-case, etc., and, having no money with which to pay my fare, I told the driver that "I would walk along," while he picked up another passenger in an opposite direction, "and if he overtook me on the road before I got a ride with some one going to S----, he could take me in." I walked bravely along a mile or more, and, hearing the stage coming, I stepped from the road-side, secreting myself beneath a friendly tree till he drove past. Issuing from my hiding-place, I trudged along till noon. My darling little wife had taken the precaution to place in my oversack pocket some doughnuts and cheese, and, when I had reached a clear, running brook, I sat myself down upon a log, under the shade of the woods, and partook of my very frugal meal, quenching my thirst from the waters of the brook, which, like Diogenes, I raised in the hollow of my hand. Thus refreshed, I picked up my overcoat, and again walked along. Before dark I reached S----, pretty tired and foot-sore from such a long walk. [Illustration: THE PENNILESS PHYSICIAN.] The people, who were expecting me, were much surprised at my non-arrival in the mail; but the unsophisticated driver assured them I had probably secured a ride ahead of him, and I would put in an appearance before nightfall. About midnight the door-bell rang,--I stopped at the hotel that night,--and a young gentleman asked for Dr. C. I answered the call at once, which was to the daughter of one of the most influential citizens of the place. The young man who called me was her intended. They had been to a party, and she had partaken freely of oysters, milk, and pickles. Never did fifteen grains of ipecac prove a greater friend to me than it did on that occasion; and in an hour I was back to bed again. The news of the new doctor's arrival, fresh from a New York college, and his first "remarkable cure of the post-master's daughter" that same night, spread like wildfire, and my reputation was nearly established. [Illustration] XI. GHOSTS AND WITCHES. "Save and defend us from our _ghostly_ enemies."--COMMON PRAYER.