Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1884 — A Doctor’s Tribulations. [ARTICLE]

A Doctor’s Tribulations.

The individual who imagines that he i s going to give satisfaction to the general public m anything he may undertake is certainly the victim of delusion. It is imposslible to please everybody. The man, be his station in life what it i may, who comes up to the expectation , of the multitude has not yet been born. The editor in particular soon makes this discovery. The clergyman, a so, knows that there are people in his congregation who are never satisfied with what he does or leaves undone. The doctor is another proiess’onal man who has a hard row to hoe. If a doctor dresses well and wears a higli hat, people say that he is a medical dude. If, on the other hand, he pays little or no attention to his toilet, then he is accused of lack of dignity. If he goes into society, attends balls and parties, then the impression is that he is fishing for popularity. If the physician visits his patients while they are in good health, he is accused of attempting to sponge. He comes to the house in order to be invited to dinner. If, on the other hand, he never comes unless he is called, the inference that the only use he has for bis patients is to make money out of them when they are sick. If the doctor attends church, of course he is a hypocrite, who is trying to work on the religious feelings of the community. If he does not attend church, nothing can be plainer than that he is an infidel or a socialist. If the doctor’s wife does not return the calls that other ladies make on her, then she is putting on airs, turning up her nose at her betters, etc. If she does return the calls, then she is plucking patients for her husband to shoot at. If the doctor’s horse is fat, that is a sure sign that he has not got much to do. If the animal is emaciated, he is a brute for not taking better care of his horse. If he drives fast, he is trying to create the false impression that he has been called to the bedside of some important patient. If he drives slowly, he does not care a cent whether or not his patients die before he gets to them. If the patient recovers his health, he is indebted to a kind Providence, or a strong constitution, or to the care that was taken of him during his illness. In no case is the doctor entitled to any credit for the recovery. If the patient dies he was undoubtedly murdered by his physicians. If the medical man is sociable and talkative, the people say we do not want a doctor who tells everything he knows. If he is a silent man, then they say a doctor should encourage his patients to be communicative. If he talks politics, they say that a doctor should have no politics; and if he does not talk politics, then he is a ’sneak and a time-sefver who either has no opinions or is afraid to own up as to what his politics really is. If the doctor does not run his horse to death when he is called, he is not taking sufficient interest in the case. If he does not send in his bill, his object is to prevent the patient from engaging another doctor. If he does send in his bill, he is in a fearful hurry for his money, and so on to the end of the chapter.— Texas Siftings.