But medicines only need to be taken when there is something (176) THE PHYSICIAN IN THE HOME. 1 77 wrong. Why should there be something wrong ? Doctors and medicines are luxuries which those with large families and limited incomes ought to try to do without. Not that the doctor's practice ought to be taken away from him ; he ought to have a regular income and be relieved from all financial anxiety, just for calling upon every- body and asking how they feel and telling them how everybody else in the neighborhood is feeling. Doctors are among the most genial of men ; they can amuse and excruciate at the same time, and make you laugh and howl during the same operation. The doctor is gen- erally the best informed man in the village, and his society is on this account much sought for and valued. But there are other ways of getting on friendly terms with him than making one's self sick, and you need not pay your first visit to him on a broken leg. He will be still invaluable in his neighborhood if he give warning of epidemics, and, like the curfew bell, sound the hour when everybody should be in bed. His cheerful greeting will do you more good than his long- drawn face when he sees you in a very bad way. Let your children hail his coming as the "minister of health," not a "black prophet" of stomachic woe. The American doctor, as a rule, is so true a man, so noble a gentleman, and so proud of his profession as a conserver of health, that he would far rather see you well than sick even if he loses a fee by it. There are some places where the policemen are promoted according to the number of arrests they have made during the year. It is therefore to the interest of each policeman to arrest as many persons as he possibly can, so he improves the opportunity by locking up as a " suspicious character " any young man from the country who asks him the time or the distance. But surely the better plan would be to make his promotion dependent upon the good order and absence of violence on his " beat," just as judges com- pliment the grand juries when there are very few cases on the calendar awaiting trial. So ought it to be with the village doctor and undertaker. Their fees ought to depend not upon the number of patients they give physic to or bury, but upon the health of the community in which they live, 12 1^8 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. How beautiful would be the ideal parish in which the doctor should be able to say, " I have not lost a patient ! " not because he has no practice, or because he has very nearly lost a great many patients, but because young and old, weak and strong, rich and poor, follow the rules he constantly impresses upon them for the preservation of health and the avoiding of sickness.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

But medicines only need to be taken when there is something (176) wrong. Why should there be something wrong ? Doctors and medicines are luxuries which those with large families and limited incomes ought to try to do without. Not that the doctor's practice ought to be taken away from him ; he ought to have a regular income and be relieved from all financial anxiety, just for calling upon everybody and asking how they feel and telling them how everybody else in the neighborhood is feeling. Doctors are among the most genial of men ; they can amuse and excruciate at the same time, and make you laugh and howl during the same operation. The doctor is generally the best informed man in the village, and his society is on this account much sought for and valued. But there are other ways of getting on friendly terms with him than making one's self sick, and you need not pay your first visit to him on a broken leg. He will be still invaluable in his neighborhood if he give warning of epidemics, and, like the curfew bell, sound the hour when everybody should be in bed. His cheerful greeting will do you more good than his longdrawn face when he sees you in a very bad way. Let your children hail his coming as the "minister of health," not a "black prophet" of stomachic woe. The American doctor, as a rule, is so true a man, so noble a gentleman, and so proud of his profession as a conserver of health, that he would far rather see you well than sick even if he loses a fee by it. There are some places where the policemen are promoted according to the number of arrests they have made during the year. It is therefore to the interest of each policeman to arrest as many persons as he possibly can, so he improves the opportunity by locking up as a " suspicious character " any young man from the country who asks him the time or the distance. But surely the better plan would be to make his promotion dependent upon the good order and absence of violence on his " beat," just as judges compliment the grand juries when there are very few cases on the calendar awaiting trial. So ought it to be with the village doctor and undertaker. Their fees ought to depend not upon the number of patients they give physic to or bury, but upon the health of the community in which they live. 1^8 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. How beautiful would be the ideal parish in which the doctor should be able to say, " I have not lost a patient ! " not because he has no practice, or because he has very nearly lost a great many patients, but because young and old, weak and strong, rich and poor, follow the rules he constantly impresses upon them for the preservation of health and the avoiding of sickness.

The hearthstone; or, Life at home