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In the autumn of one thou&longs;and
&longs;even hundred and eighty five, I returned
to my parents, who received me with
rapture. My father had reared, for me,
a likely pie bald mare. Our &longs;addler equipped
me with hor&longs;e furniture, not forgetting
the little &longs;addle bags, which I richly
repleni&longs;hed with drugs, purcha&longs;ed at
Bo&longs;ton. With a few books, and my surgeon's
in&longs;truments, in my portmanteau,
and a few dollars in my pocket, I &longs;at out,

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with a light heart, to &longs;eek practice, fame,
and fortune, as a country practitioner.

My primary object was to obtain a
place of &longs;ettlement. This I imagined an
ea&longs;y ta&longs;k, from my own acquirements,
and the celebrity of my preceptor. My
fir&longs;t &longs;top was at a new town&longs;hip, though
tolerably well &longs;tocked with a hardy laborious
&longs;et of inhabitants. Five physicians
of eminence had, within a few years,
attempted a &longs;ettlement in this place.
The fir&longs;t fell a &longs;acrifice to &longs;trong liquor;
the &longs;econd put his tru&longs;t in hor&longs;es, and was
ruined, by the lo&longs;s of a valuable fire; the
third quarrelled with the midwife, and
was obliged to remove; the fourth having
pre&longs;cribed, rather unluckily, for a
young woman of his acquaintance, grievously
afflicted with a tympany, went to the
Ohio; and the la&longs;t, being a prudent man,
who &longs;old his books and in&longs;truments for
wild land, and rai&longs;ed his own crop of
medicine, was actually in the way of

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making a great fortune; as, in only ten
years practice, he left, at his decea&longs;e, an
e&longs;tate, both real and per&longs;onal, which was
apprai&longs;ed at one hundred pounds, lawful
money. This account was not likely
to engage the attention of a young man,
upon who&longs;e education twice the &longs;um had
been expended.

In the next town, I was a&longs;&longs;ured I might
do well, as a phy&longs;ician, if I would keep a
grog &longs;hop, or let my&longs;elf, as a labourer, in
the hay &longs;ea&longs;on, and keep a &longs;chool in the
winter. The fir&longs;t part of the proposition,
I heard with patience; but, at the
bare mention of a &longs;chool, I fled the town
abruptly. In the neighbouring town,
they did not want a phy&longs;ician, as an experienced
itinerant doctor vi&longs;ited the
place, every March, when the people had
mo&longs;t lei&longs;ure to be &longs;ick and take phy&longs;ic.
He practi&longs;ed with great &longs;ucce&longs;s, e&longs;pecially
in &longs;low con&longs;umptions, charged very low,
and took his pay in any thing and every

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thing. Be&longs;ides, he carried a mould with
him, to run pewter &longs;poons, and was equally
good at mending a kettle and a
con&longs;titution.

p407-139

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