The Pioneers; Or, The Sources of the Susquehanna

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f bristling brown hair and on the other a short, twinkling visage, that appeared to maintain a constant struggle with itself in order to look wise. He was the youngest son of a farmer in the western part of Massachusetts, who, being in some what easy circumstances, had allowed this boy to shoot up to the height we have mentioned, without the ordinary interruptions of field labor, wood-chopping, and such other toils as were imposed on his brothers. Elnathan was indebted for this exemption from labor in some measure to his extraordinary growth, which, leaving him pale, inanimate, and listless, induced his tender mother to pronounce him "a sickly boy, and one that was not equal to work, but who might earn a living comfortably enough by taking to pleading law, or turning minister, or doctoring, or some such like easy calling.' Still, there was great uncertainty wh

nough, and had previously, at odd times, laid the foundations of reading, writing, and arithmetic, he was soon conspicuous in the school for his learning. The delighted mother had the gratification of hearing, from the lips of the master, that her son was a "prodigious boy, and far above all his class." He also thought that

to be seen sometimes watering a horse, at others watering medicines, blue, yellow, and red: then again he might be noticed lolling under an apple-tree, with Ruddiman's Latin Grammar in his hand, and a

eeting in a long coat (and well did it deserve the name!) of black homespun, wi

an was last seen; but all would not do; and at length Elnathan was seen issuing from his door with a very grave air, preceded by a little white-headed boy, out of breath, trotting before him. The following day the youth appeared in the street, as the highway was called, and the neighborhood was much edified by the additional gravity of his air. The same week he bought a new razor; and the succeeding Sunday he entered the mee

l different roads. At the end of that period, Dr. Todd attained his legal majority. He then took a jaunt to Boston to purchase medicines, and, as some intimated, to walk the hospital; we know n

lled with home-made household linen, a paper-covered trunk with a red umbrella lashed to it, a pair of quite new saddle-bags, and a handbox. The next intelligence t

be extremely amused with this true narration of the servitude of Elnathan in the temple of Aesculapius. But the same consolation was afforded to both the juris

saddle-bags on the strangers constitution. Happily their number was small, and in most cases their natures innocent. By these means Elnathan had acquired a certain degree of knowledge in fevers and agues, and could talk with judgment concerning intermittents, remittents, tertians, quotidians, etc. In certain cutaneous disorders very prevalent in new settlements, he was considered to be infallible; and there was

nce to acquire an experience that rendered him deserving of it; and Elnathan had been present at one or two of these operations. But on the present occasion the man of practice was not to be obtained, and the duty fell, as a matter of course, to the share of Mr. Todd. He went to work with a kind of blind desperation, observing, at the same time, all the externals of decent gravity and great skill, The sufferer's name was Milligan, and it was to this event that Richard alluded, when he spoke of assisting the doctor at an amputation by holding the leg! The limb was certainly cut off, and the patient survived the operation. It was, however, two years before poor Milligan ceased to complain that they had buried the leg in so narrow a box that it was straitened for

hich he frequented in his ordinary practice, and contained so many well-dressed persons and anxious faces, that his usually firm nerves were a good deal discomposed. He had heard from the messenger who summoned him, that it was a gun-shot wound, and had come from his

dly from the daughter to the earnest dignity of the father's countenance; thence to the busy strut of Richard, who was cooling his impatience at the hunter's indifference to his assistance, by pacing the hall and cracking his whip; from him to the Frenchman, who had stood for several minutes unheeded with a chair for the lady; thence to Major Hartmann, who was very coolly lighting a pipe three feet long by a candle in one of the chandeliers; thence to Mr. Grant, who was turning over a manuscript with much earnestness at one of the lustres; t

is a youth whom I have unfortunately wounded in shooting a

ink can prescribe, unless he knows the truth of the case? It is always so with some

that I did not aid in destroying the buck; but the youth is injured by my hand, be that as i

sieur Le Quoi, bowing politely, with a sweep of

we keep the young man in pain. Remarkable, thou wi

lad in a plain suit of the common, light-colored homespun of the country, that was evidently but recently made. His hand was on the lapels of his coat, in the attitude of removing the garment, when he suddenly suspende

rm the lady; I will retire to anothe

an of importance, felt much emboldened to perform the duty. "The strong light of these candl

is slim pug nose; and, if they were of no service as assistants to his eyes, neither were they any impediment to his vision; for his little gray organs we

ell he seems in spectacles! I declare, they give a grand look t

s if from deep abstraction, and, coloring excessively, she motioned to a young wom

s of interest that each one felt in his condition. Major Hartmann alone retained his seat, where he continued to throw out vast quantities of smoke, now rolling his eyes

olemnity and care that were worthy of the occasion. An old shirt was procured by Benjamin, and placed in the hand of the ot

aid: "Here, Squire Jones, you are well acquainted with these things; will you please to scrape the lint? It should be fine and soft, you know, my dea

quite plainly, "You see this fellow can't get along without me;"

glittering steel, as if to remove from the polished surfaces the least impediment which might exist to the most delicate operation. After the rather scantily furnished pocket-case which contained these instruments was exhausted, the physician turned to his saddle-bags, and produced various phials, filled with liquids of the most radiant co

ith every other feature of his face in a state of perfect rest, "put you have a very pretty pocket-b

are said to make in order to awaken their dormant courage, or for a natural effort to clear the

they may not altogether suit the stomach. It is no small part of our art, sir," and he now spoke with the confidence of a man wh

Scripter for what he says. The Bible tells us how thin

here is a youth who needs no deception to lure him to his own be

intense cold of the evening had stopped the bleeding, and Dr. Todd, casting a furtive glance at the wound, thought it by no means so formidable an affair as

ke a knitting-needle, with a button fastened to the end on't; and then he pushed it into the wound and then the young man looked awful; and then I thought I should have swaned away-I felt in sitch a dispu't taking; and then the doctor had

the opinions of most of those who felt it necessary to entertain a species of

ribed by Remarkable, he was repulsed by the stranger, with a

he bone, and has passed directly through the arm to the opposite side, where it

the lint with the appearance of great care and foresight. "Admirably well scraped, Squire Jones: it is about the best lint I have ever seen. I want your assistance, my good sir

uke here, puffed up with an accidental thing, such as the time when he drew in the hip-joint of the man who was thrown from his horse; that was the fall before you came into the settlement, doctor; but they were men who were t

mustn't think to do it by getting in at the cabin windows. There are two ways to get into a top, besides the lubber-holes. The true way to walk aft is to begin forrard; tho'f it

has often seen shot extracted in the different ships in which he has served;

rape, that I've seen the doctors at work on. For the matter of that, I was in a boat, alongside the ship, when they cu

the reader may start

o have lived in the ne

d to hear of these Eur

t

Mr. Grant, with great simplicity, dropping the sermon he was agai

pound shot can easily be taken from a man's body, if so be a doctor only knows how, There's Squire Jones, now, ask

d," observed Richard; "the encyclopaedia mentions much more incred

dias," returned Elnathan, "though I cannot say that I have ev

nd, when a sudden motion of the patient caused the shot to fall out of itself, The long arm and broad hand of the operator were now of singular service; for the latter expanded itself, and caught the lead, while at

seen a shot more neatly extracted; and

ister-fashion. Now all that the doctor has to do, is to clap a couple of plugs i

little distance; "but here is a man who will take me under his care

e, and beheld, standing at one of the distant