ided some four or five
miles distant, among the mountains. They were of that class of people
who look every man on his own things, and never, as the apostle would
enjoin, on the things of others. They knew very well that a physician,
though he might be half a conjuror, required sleep; still, they were
willing to finish their day's work, eat their supper, perform a large
number of _et ceteras_, even if they did not call for the doctor till he
had fairly taken off his boots to retire for the night. But there was
one consolation in all this, that they paid me promptly; and medical
men, as you know, like other men, work for pay. They cannot live wholly
on air.

In the same house with the family alluded to, was a young woman, about
twenty-five years of age, who had been confined to her bed ten or twelve
years. She was the only daughter of very indulgent parents, who had
never, from her earliest years, thought they could do too much for her.
In truth, this was the source of her feebleness. Some little ailment,
indeed, there might have been at the outset, induced by pie, cake,
preserves, pickles, or something which no truly kind parents should
permit a child to take; though nothing more than might have been got rid
of in its effects, by a little patient waiting. But instead of waiting a
little, the anxious mother had dosed and drugged her. And these ill
turns had been more and more frequent, just in proportion to the
frequency with which she had been drugged for them; till, at twelve
years of age, she was almost all the while complaining. And at
fourteen, she was completely bedridden--a burden to herself and to
others.

"I wonder," said my principal employer, at about twelve o'clock, when I
had attended to his own little family, and was about to leave, "whether
you could do any thing for our Millie. She has tried almost all the
doctors, to no purpose; but we have so much confidence here in your
skill, that she sometimes speaks of trying you. She is hardly willing to
'give up the ship' without another trial."

This, as you must be aware, was a stirring appeal to my love of
approbation; but it was too late at night to make a call on her at that
moment. So, promising to come and see her shortly, I took my leave, and
rode home, as usual, meditating.

Now I had never seen Emilia, but from the account which I had received
from the neighbors, as well as from the nature of the case, I knew very
nearly how she was; and that the gr