e, though we had our
doubts. We had found such cases before in our practice east, where men
seemed to be alive, but it was only temporary. Before we had got them cut
up they were dead enough for all practical purposes. Then I laid the
icicle across Pa's abdomen, and went on to tell him that even if he _was_
alive it would be better for him to play that he _was_ dead, because he
was such a nuisance to his family that they did not want him, and I was
telling him that I had heard that in his lifetime he was very cruel to his
boy, a bright little fellow who was at the head of his class in Sunday
school and a pet wherever he was known, when Pa interrupted me and said,
'Doctor, please take that carving knife off my stomach, for it makes me
nervous. As for that boy of mine, he is the condemndest little whelp in
town, and he isn't no pet anywhere. Now, you let up on this dissectin'
business, and I will make it all right with you.' We held another
consultation and then I told Pa that we did not feel that it was doing
justice to society to give up the body of a notorious drunkard, after we
had paid twenty dollars for the corpse. If there was any hopes that he
would reform and try and lead a different life, it would be different, and
I said to the boys, 'gentlemen, we must do our duty. Doc, you dismember
that leg, and I will attend to the stomach and the upper part of body. He
will be dead before we are done with him. We must remember that society
has some claim on us, and not let our better natures be worked upon by the
_post mortem_ promises of a dead drunkard.' Then I took my icicle and
began fumbling around the abdomen portion of Pa's remains, and my chum
took a rough piece of ice and began to saw his leg off, while the other
boy took hold of the leg and said he would catch it when it dropped off.
Well, Pa kicked like a steer. He said he wanted to make one more appeal to
us, and we acted sort of impatent but we let up to hear what he had to
say. He said if we would turn him loose he would give us ten dollars more
than we paid for his body, and that he would never drink another drop as
long as he lived. Then we whispered some more and then told him we thought
favorably of his last proposition, but he must swear, with his hand on the
leg of a corpse we were then dissecting that he would never drink again,
and then he must be blindfolded and be conducted several blocks away from
the dissecting room, before we could turn him loose. H