"It is very singular," replied his mother, looking after him, "my plasters always itch, and are very troublesome. I think they don't do much good except they itch."
Mrs. Clemens would have been less surprised had she known that the plaster began to itch the moment Dan was warm in bed. After enduring it awhile, he pulled it off and tucked it up chimney. So he told Frank Merrill, with whom, on the way to school, he shared some guava jelly given him by his mother, after taking the salts and senna, to take the taste out of his mouth.
CHAPTER XVI. PERIL OF BEING OUT EVENINGS.
Directly upon commencing the study of anatomy, Rich began to feel the need of something more than the plates contained in the books.
It was some distance to go, for the study of bones, to the doctor's house, and he wanted something that he could keep in his room, and have at hand to refer to; besides, the doctor had none of the bones of the trunk—only the skull and part of the limbs. He likewise wished to dissect and study muscles, tendons, the structure of skin, bone, veins, arteries, and internal organs, in their natural state, since for him to procure a human subject was at that time out of the question, as he was without means to purchase even a skeleton.
In these circumstances he conceived that much might be learned by a careful study and dissection of the bodies of animals in connection with the plates found in the books.
Mr. Clemens, the husband of Rich's landlady, owned and worked a large breadth of land, which necessitated the keeping of many horses, as he did all his farm work with horses; but after his decease the greater part of the land, and all the horses except one, were sold. On the lower floor of the stable was a small room, once devoted to storing and oiling harnesses, in which was a fireplace, and at one corner, a large closet without shelves, and very broad, where the more valuable riding harnesses, not in constant use, were hung, to defend them from dust. There were also some harness-maker's tools, old straps, thorough-braces, and a large leather boot, that had survived the vehicle to which it was once attached.
Fire-wood in those days was made but small account of, especially by Mrs. Clemens, who could not consume half of the decaying and downwood on her land.