Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 253, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1919 — Jungle Fever [ARTICLE]

Jungle Fever

By R. RAY BAKER

tCoprrUbt, l»l». by MtClura N.w»paper Uyndteete ) ’ "M P l ' fruyure in n Nn. tt » doctor; it was just tbo-e 'wo initials. , Carrie > ‘rot hers wlju: *4 to pul The letters to her n.iir'e . * v.-’m Fredericks —e>f course. r course at college ; bu’ < ’arro*—wus ~ prepared for thuj. Austin was not prepared 1 He- warned farrte to settle down with him. and co«»k and sweep - amt xto sundry ofher honselwldMjHtes. But Carrie was wilting after she “"Wrested a cifreef from The world. When she had proved to herself. anti everybody else that she was .•apalde of making her own way she would be content to give it ail up and be plain Mrs. Fredericks, subti:i' ' lng ami 'liearding the “M. D."

~ “Butthatlsn’i rea sonn htc. < ’nrrter 1 ' lie protested. “If yoti‘re sb determined to do something, why don’t you be n teacher? That won't take so long, and besides—-well, anything hut a woman - doctor for me It isn't tiieir place —- not by a long shot. Now. women make fine teachers, and I rather admire them, and think what a fine thing they are doing in educating the rising genOf course, I want you to get jnarried right away, but I know your disposition enough to realize that you won't until you learn some kind of profession. But make a little concession to me and be a teacher, (live up this doctor idea. Women doctors are no good.” 2Z Carrie took umhrage at lils atritutle. Women doctors were just as good as The men war! cry. and a tot bm~" “ter Th many cases STie contended. stamping her foot andgrowing —red_ with anger. Did he mean to intimate that she could not be a gooiT physician or anything else she chose tX lie? Very well, if that was nil the faith he had In her. he might as well take* his hat and coat and go. and he needn’t come back unless it was on her terms. She’d show him whether a woman could be a successful doctor. Maybe some time he’d get -down on and beg for the sen-ices of a feminine phystclan-. <■ - ——— —— -.-

Austin was desperate. He realized Carrie would not yield a point, and somehow he was bound to admire her for her ambition. “By George!” he pondered. *‘l believe she will do it at that. But who wants a doctor for a wife? People would pass me on the street and remark : ‘There goes Doctor Fredericks’ -husband.' That’s all I would count for. because she’d change her mind about giving tip practice, once she got her degree, t can’t do it. that’s all. I’ll wait a few days and see if she won’t change her mind, although I'm almost certain she’ll stick to it." He was hardly prepared for the Fwlft nes s with which thing- developed. His- n.ormng paper two days later made public the fact that "Mi ss Carrie .Croihers, daughter of Mr. ami Mrs. F-. D. Frothers. Ss.v Jefferson avenue, left last night for Ann Arbor, where she will take a, six years’ course in the study of iWdlcine at the FniVersity of Michigan.” Austin was so dejected that he ate <Mily one Of ,the two doughnuts furpished him for breakfast at the arm_duur lunch ami dr:_mk_<aiu half, thocoffee. He went around in a daze for three days, and was constantly afraid that, in his car,icily. a s assistant teller at the bank. Re might cash a cigar coupon for a hundred-dollaf cheek or commit some equally tragic error. ’ln desperation he wrote her a special delivery letter, which came as near being of a pleading nature as his rather proud spirit would permit. The answer came the next"day on h postcard: “After six years. No sooner. Waft or not. as you see fit."

The reply and the manner of reply"‘Slie's, g/mig to ’ show me. is she? Very well, I'll show her, b>o.” he whispered vengefully >to himself, and- he went to the bank and resigned, after drawing out his savings arcbunt. ' He was determined to go away. He had no'idea what his destination would be', but it vo’jld be somewhere out of the civilised world, where he would try to forget and at the same time. give Miss Carrie Frothers a good opportunity to think things oyer and come to her senses. At the end of a year, he decided. ho-wpulrl:xxnnerbiEk7XtyT see If things were different. It was going to be hard for hinirhurlt vvghßT be harder to stay and “take her insults,” as he put it in conversation with his aggrieved self., By chance he picked up a newspaper which announced that Thomas Stevenson, the explorer, was preparing topsail in a week for Africa on a new expedition. _ , Austin's eyes brightened. Here was his. chance. He had hcootjipanied Stevenson on the latter’s first exploring journey into .the African wilds, and he would arrange to go with him this time. Invoking the aid of the telegraph, using as the address the name of Stevenson'S favorite hotel in New York. Austin ascertained that he would toe a welcome addition to <be party. . ; . ? The young man found the explorer packing up in his room. There yas a hearty hMudshake and a brief exchange <rf words, and a week later Austin galled with gtevenson and £ve ptheis ■'■■■•a'

for Durban, on the southeastern coast of the dark continent. Arriving there they employed three Zulus and two Hottentots to make up the remainder of the expedition and do the work. Many w eeks later found the party north of the Transvaal, through which they had passed, and shortly aft terward they began exploring in earn- ■ Austin understood well before going 'that It whs_jl. hazardous undertaking _on. _»Jii£h_ JuriluuLudnlMduuL—XQ£~tb& danger- trmn l«oh disease and um-fvll- _ Izf-ri nat ix e-, e-peeittlly the Bushmen.- _ wnre. ailain and "seriixUKr—How over-T—be~ Wnnte’l ekeitement to occupy his mind. The < Xped 'l.m ' '>a* inuc-i Ili'iliths. nlwiiis bending me 'hward. eliu+bi-Hg-over mountains and ] i--itig through Tjinigle regions hi wild “bi - a sfs were t<> be reckon •■ iT with, ami Austin's e\i eriynee .wiili the elephant -rifle mi i.'ber w.-apons stood him in good, -It vid.

Steven-on wrole enn'stantly concerniiip 11. oh ■■ FViittrin»— ~ He he wtiH in uue-i of an undiscovered r 1 vyr. 1 mp■ _• to rf'lll Hoo-e’.ell's feut ill finding flo Tti\>-;- of rioiibt, ami lie pushed on i: h fe w res ts. In the vicinity of the Zambezi river Austin was taken down with jungle fevt■ r. Mid Stevenson.relucfaiiTty detailed . t wo. of. his ..Zulus 40 ca cry liiih ha ck to The'ToastT - The Journey was long and laborious, but It finally wtis completed and Austin was taken into the home of a hospitable English settler in a small colony. Austin was out of his head mo-l of the time, but at rare intervals 4)0... ( ftine out of Hie fever world and heard snatches of conversation, to which he sometimes rep Tied, ustnrHy \yi t h a u erra flc remark. During one of these near-lucid moments ho heard a man’s voice.

"He's got to‘have a doctor, and we’d belter summon that woman who arrired here .Ftst—month. —TTrey~s:ty she's a regular physician, although I’ve always been skeptical about the ability of a woman M. D. She’s the only medic around here, though, so we’ll have to have -her." .ed Austin, but. of Course, his words bort* no weight with the others. After weeks of struggling with the fever, one morning Austin awoke to find himself back in the world. He felt weak, but otherwise no traces of the disease remained with him. Hecstared round in wonder at the strange walls that surrounded him. Slowly his memory came back ; that is, the’part which dealt with events ,up to the time the "Texer ’had got fi strong hokl. on him. Strange jabbt-ring noises outside the window at his side attracted his attention ami his eyes encountered a number —of —half-tmked black —children engaged in various grotesque forms of play. "Well, how do you like it?" said a gentle voice at the other side of the bed. ‘■'Die woman doctor." he thought, recalling the words .he. hud liea.nl w hile in the throes of the fever. Turning his head slowly he looked into the pale blue eyes of t'arrie Cfolhers. "You !" he ejaculated. He was too :Tstoni<lied to articulate - any Turtlicr words for a moment, but mechanically he reached out his hand and took the small one extended toward him. ‘'TTien--then you brought me out of this," he finally said. “You’re the lady doctor!’’ ,—-x—. ' She smiled, captured- a vagrant strand of brown hair and replied, with; eyes sparkling in a strange way : ' “No; th'fr lady doctor is Elsie Shaw, an elderly woman, and she brought you out of this. But of course I helped nurse'you when D-rould fitrrf~ the time, Jon see. I'm pretty busy.” She pojntfd mn the wimluxv. . "Those black youngsters keep me pretty well occupied." she ■ -went on. "You see, I'jn a teacher in rhe mission school, and they are the rising genera- '