ared, in causing Edward Dolliver to neglect
the humble trade, the conduct of which his grandfather had now
relinquished almost entirely into his hands. On the contrary, with the
mere side results of his study, or what may be called the chips and
shavings of his real work, he created a prosperity quite beyond anything
that his simple-minded predecessor had ever hoped for, even at the most
sanguine epoch of his life. The young man's adventurous endowments were
miraculously alive, and connecting themselves with his remarkable
ability for solid research, and perhaps his conscience being as yet
imperfectly developed, (as it sometimes lies dormant in the young,) he
spared not to produce compounds which, if the names were anywise to be
trusted, would supersede all other remedies, and speedily render any
medicine a needless thing, making the trade of apothecary an untenable
one, and the title of Doctor obsolete. Whether there was real efficacy
in these nostrums, and whether their author himself had faith in them,
is more than can safely be said; but at all events, the public believed
in them, and thronged to the old and dim sign of the Brazen Serpent,
which, though hitherto familiar to them and their forefathers, now
seemed to shine with auspicious lustre, as if its old Scriptural virtues
were renewed. If any faith was to be put in human testimony, many
marvellous cures were really performed, the fame of which spread far and
wide, and caused demands for these medicines to come in from places far
beyond the precincts of the little town. Our old apothecary, now
degraded by the overshadowing influence of his grandson's character to a
position not much above that of a shop-boy, stood behind the counter
with a face sad and distrustful, and yet with an odd kind of fitful
excitement in it, as if he would have liked to enjoy this new
prosperity, had he dared. Then his venerable figure was to be seen
dispensing these questionable compounds by the single bottle and by the
dozen, wronging his simple conscience as he dealt out what he feared was
trash or worse, shrinking from the reproachful eyes of every ancient
physician who might chance to be passing by, but withal examining
closely the silver or the New England coarsely printed bills which he
took in payment, as if apprehensive that the delusive character of the
commodity which he sold might be balanced by equal counterfeiting in the
money received, or as if his faith in all things were