Going up to the sufferer and finding that some one of his old, and to
the doctor well-known, maladies had at last secured a fatal grip upon
him, he first administered a tonic which he knew would give him as much
strength as possible, and then went out into the yard, where, after
putting up his horse, he gathered chips and wood from under the snow and
built a roaring fire. Having done this, he put on the kettle, trimmed
the lamp, and after preparing such stimulants as the patient could
stand, took his place at the bedside, where he remained the whole night
long, keeping the fire going and the patient as comfortable as possible.
Toward morning the sufferer died and when the sun was well up he finally
returned to his family, who anxiously solicited him as to his
whereabouts.
"I was with Id Logan," he said.
"What's ailing him now?" his daughter inquired.
"Nothing now," he returned. "It was only last night," and for years
afterward he commented on the death of "poor old Id," saying always at
the conclusion of his remarks that it must be a dreadful thing to be
sick and die without friends.
His love for his old friends and familiar objects was striking, and he
could no more bear to see an old friend move away than he could to lose
one of his patients. One of his oldest friends was a fine old Christian
lady by the name of Weeks, who lived down in Louter Creek bottoms and in
whose household he had practiced for nearly fifty years. During the
latter part of his life, however, this family began to break up, and
finally when there was no one left but the mother she decided to move
over into Whitley County, where she could stay with her daughter. Just
before going, however, she expressed a wish to see Doctor Gridley, and
he called in upon her. A little dinner had been prepared in honor of
his coming. After it was over and the old times were fully discussed he
was about to take his leave when Mrs. Weeks disappeared from the room
and then returned, bearing upon her arm a beautiful yarn spread which
she held out before her and, in her nervous, feeble way getting the
attention of the little audience, said:
"Doctor, I am going up to Whitley now to live with my daughter, and I
don't suppose I will get to see you very often any more. Like myself,
you are getting old, and it will be too far for you to come. But I want
to give you this spread that I have woven with my own hands since I have
been sixty years of age. It isn't very much, but it is meant for a token
of the love and esteem I bear you, and in remembrance of all that you
have done for me and mine."
Her eyes were wet and her voice quivering as she brought it forward. The
doctor, who had been wholly taken by surprise by this kindly
manifestation of regard, had arisen during her impromptu address and now
stood before her, dignified and emotionally grave, his own eyes wet with
tears of appreciation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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