His next visit was to Susan Blake, a little girl of ten years old, who was very sick, and could not recover. She had one sister, and they were orphans. It was hard indeed for them to part, but they both knew
that death would soon separate them.
Doctor Bolus was next called to pull a tooth for a little girl, (see [frontispiece],) and then went to see Joe Glutton as he was called. Joe well deserved the name for his greediness; a day or two before he had slily climbed up to a dish of sweetmeats, and eaten very freely of them; that night he was taken severely sick, and was obliged to take much bitter medicine. This was not the
first time he had suffered for his greediness. The Doctor had a fine pear tree which was often robbed; when the pears were ripe, he had inserted emetics in several of the finest of them, and soon after was called to visit Joe, who had been suddenly taken with vomiting; the Doctor soon relieved him, but found he had been eating his pears.
The next place was at the carpenter’s,
where the baby and the grandfather were both sick. The grandfather was a very old man, and loved to tell over the story of his settling in the wilderness, when a young man. The Doctor left medicine for them, and then went on to Mrs. Thorn’s whose daughter was sick. He found the mother spinning, and the daughter trying to sew as she lay on the bed. Mrs. Thorn’s husband and six children had died
with consumption, and now the last, and youngest, on whom the mother had depended for aid, was wasting away with the same disease. The mother grieved deeply, but was cheerful, and said she hoped to meet them in heaven.