h the
practice of surgery, I sincerely hoped that this exhibition would cure
all others of a wish to undergo the operation, but a little Mestizo
boy, about ten years old, who had been present all the time, crept
through the crowd, and, reaching the table, squinted up at us without
speaking, his crisscross expression telling us very plainly what he
wanted. He had on the usual Mestizo dress of cotton shirt and drawers
and straw hat, and seemed so young, simple, and innocent, that we did
not consider him capable of judging for himself. We told him he must
not be operated on, but he answered, in a decided though modest tone,
"Yo quiero, yo quiero," "I wish it, I wish it." We inquired if there
was any one present who had any authority over him, and a man whom we
had not noticed before, dressed, like him, in shirt and drawers,
stepped forward and said he was the boy's father; he had brought him
there himself on purpose, and begged Doctor Cabot to proceed. By his
father's directions, the little fellow attempted to climb up on the
table, but his legs were too short, and he had to be lifted up. His eye
was bandaged, and his head placed upon the pillow. He folded his hands
across his breast, turned his eye, did in all things exactly as he was
directed, and in half a minute the operation was finished. I do not
believe that he changed his position a hair's breadth or moved a
muscle. It was an extraordinary instance of fortitude. The spectators
were all admiration, and, amid universal congratulation, he was lifted
from the table, his eye bound up, and, without a word, but with the
spirit of a little hero, he took his father's hand and went away.

At this time, amid a press of applicants, a gentleman came to inform us
that a young lady was waiting her turn. This gave us an excuse for
clearing the room, and we requested all except the medical gentlemen
and the immediate friends to favour us with their absence. Such was the
strange curiosity these people had for seeing a most disagreeable
spectacle, that they were very slow in going away, and some slipped
into the other rooms and the yard, but we ferreted them out, and got
the room somewhat to ourselves.

The young lady was accompanied by her mother. She was full of
hesitation and fears, anxious to be relieved, but doubting her ability
to endure the pain, and the moment she saw the instruments, her courage
entirely forsook her. Doctor Cabot discouraged all who had any distrust
of the