rb lake trout and pickerel could be taken every day, and urged me
to go with them. As I had nothing special to do for a few days, I went.
When we reached Meredith we stopped at a tavern near the lake, kept by
one of the oddest landlords I have ever met. After a good supper, as
we were sitting in the barroom, the landlord came up to me and at once
opened conversation in the following manner:

"Waal, where do you come from, anyhow?"

"From Boston," I replied.

"Waal, what be you, anyhow?"

"Well, I practice medicine, and take care of the sick."

"Dew ye? Waal, do ye ever cure anybody?"

"O, sometimes; quite frequently, in fact."

"Dew ye! waal, there's a woman up here to Lake Village, 'Squire
Blaisdell's wife, who has had the dropsy more'n twelve years; been
filling' all the time till they tell me she's bigger'n a hogshead now,
and she's had a hundred doctors, and the more doctors she has the bigger
she gets; what d' ye think of that now?"

I answered that I thought it was quite likely, and then turned away
from the landlord to talk to my friends about our proposed sport for
to-morrow, mentally making note of 'Squire Blaisdell's wife in Lake
Village.

After breakfast next morning we went out on the lake, cut holes in the
ice, set our lines, and before dinner we had taken several fine trout
and pickerel, the largest and finest of which we put into a box with
ice, and sent as a present to President Pierce, in Washington. We had
agreed, the night before, to fish for him the first day, and to send
him the best specimens we could from his native state. After dinner my
friends started to go out on the ice again, and I told them "I guess'd I
wouldn't go with them, I had fished enough for that day." They insisted
I should go, but I told them I preferred to take a walk and explore the
country. So they went to the lake and I walked up to Lake Village.

I soon found Mr. Blaisdell's house, and as the servant who came to the
door informed me that Mr. Blaisdell was not at home, I asked to see
Mrs. Blaisdell, And was shown in to that lady. She was not quite the
"hogshead" the landlord declared her to be, but she was one of the worst
cases of dropsy I had ever seen. I introduced myself to her, told her my
profession, and that I had called upon her in the hope of being able to
afford her some relief; that I wanted nothing for my services unless I
could really benefit her.

"O, Doctor," said she, "you can do nothing for me; in