McCormick messenger. (McCormick, S.C.) 1902-current, May 23, 1940, Image 6
McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, S. C.. THURSDAY, MAY 23, 1940
Celebration of Its Centennial by
Illinois Medical Society Recalls the
Heroic Service of Pioneer Doctors
The pioneer doctor's horse waits patiently in the storm while his
master is busy on his errand of mercy.
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
fReleased by Western Newspaper Union.)
T HE 100th anniversary
celebration of the Illi
nois State Medical so
ciety, which is being held in
Peoria May 21 to 23, has more
than a local significance. Not
only does it pay tribute to the
founders of one of the first
state medical associations in
this country but it also serves
to recall the heroic services
of the pioneer physicians and
surgeons during the frontier
era of American history.
For whether that frontier
V
was along the Atlantic sea
board, in the Ohio and Missis
sippi valleys, on the Great
Plains of the trans-Missouri
West or in Rocky mountains,
one of the most important fig
ures in the pioneer commu
nity was the “man with the
little black bag.” It was he,
who, undaunted by the perils
of attack by savage Indians
or wild animals, heedless of
the danger from floods and
prairie or forest fires, and
indifferent to the discomforts
of blazing summer heat or
raging blizzards in winter,
cheerfully climbed into his
saddle, or into a “one-hoss
shay,” and set forth to allevi
ate human suffering.
And this heroic preserver of
health and life had precious few
aids in his work. Mostly he de
pended upon his unaided senses
to diagnose the case and decide
upon the treatment. He was with
out the help of a thermometer,
which did not come into general
use until about 1870 and then was
ten inches long and required five
minutes to register temperature!
He had no stethoscope, no instru
ment for measuring blood pres
sure, no blood count or blood
chemistry determinations, no
X-ray—no way, in fact, of exam
ining the interior of any organ.
In the light of modem medical
practice, the miracle is that he
saved as many lives as he did.
It was such men as these who
mounted their horses one morn
ing in the early part of June and
rode over the uncharted prairie
and forest trails toward Spring-
field, the struggling little village
on the banks of .the Sangamon
river. History has preserved the
names of a few of them—Eastern
ers who had “come West to grow
up with the country,” such men
as M. Helm, a graduate of the
Baltimore Medical college; Wil
liam S. Wallace of the Jefferson
Medical college; and John Todd,
who had been graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania in
1810.
Associated With Lincoln.
The latter had another distinc
tion, for he was the uncle of Mary
Todd who had recently become
engaged to a rising young law
yer in Springfield^ named Abra
ham Lincoln. Evidently Todd
was a leader among the fellow-
physicians for when, on June 8,
1840, these doctors launched the
Illinois State Medical society,
they chose him as their first pres
ident.
The name of William S. Wal
lace, previously mentioned, is
also associated with the name of
Abraham Lincoln. He had come
to Springfield in 1836 and three
years later married Mary Todd’s
sister, Frances. So in the course
of time he became Lincoln’s
brother-in-law and in 1861 when
Lincoln spoke his famous words
of farewell to his fellow citizens
of Springfield from the rear of a
railroad train, Doctor Wallace
stood beside him. More than that
he accompanied the Presidential
party to Washington to accept an
appointment as paymaster in the
Union army. Exposure in mili
tary service caused his death in
1867.
Dr. Charles F. Hughes, who
acted as secretary of the organi
zation meeting of the Illinois so
ciety, had a prior history as stir
ring as the times in which he
lived. Born in Maryland in 1807,
he was graduated from St. Mary’s
eollege in Emmettsburg, Md.,
and later from the Maryland
Medical college in Baltimore.
Because his health was impaired
he took a sea voyage to Latin
America.
When the ship on which he was
a passenger arrived in Guate
mala, the negro natives, who had
started an insurrection, captured
the ship and killed all of the offi
cers, crew and passengers except
Doctor Hughes and another physi
cian. These two were spared by
the superstitious natives because
they were “medicine men.”
Hughes practiced his profession
among them for seven years be
fore he had an opportunity to
escape. One day, seeing an
American vessel nearing the
shore, he secreted himself among
some barrels, reached the ship
safely and returned to America.
He arrived in Sangamon county
in 1836 and was practicing in the
little village of Rochester, near
Springfield, when the organiza
tion meeting was held.
Almost as adventurous a career
as Doctor Hughes’ was that of
Dr. Charles H. Webb of Living
ston county. In 1822, with his
brother, he took passage at Pitts
burgh on a flatboat bound for St.
Louis. At that time a grotto,
called Cave-in-Rock, situated on
the banks of the Ohio river near
Shawneetown was a rendezvous
for a band of river pirates who
enticed river boats to stop and
passengers to disembark with an
attractive sign, “Liquor Vault
and House for Entertainment.”
Captured by Outlaws.
When the flatboat on which
Doctor Webb was a passenger
reached Cave-in-Rock, the cap
tain and three of the passengers,
one of whom was the doctor’s
brother, were decoyed into land
ing at that place. When they
failed to return. Doctor Webb
went ashore to find them. He was
promptly seized by three of the
outlaws, blindfolded, his hands
tied behind him and placed in a
skiff which was rowed out into
the river and then set adrift.
In the middle of the night Webb
succeeded in freeing his hands
and with his
shoes began
bailing out the
water that was
threatening to
swamp the frail
craft. At day
break he man
aged to reach
a small inhabit
ed island where
he was provid
ed with a pad
dle and advised
to proceed to
Smithland, Ky.
Anxious to learn the fate of his
brother, Doctor Webb set out afoot
but sprained his ankle and was
barely able to hobble along. He
was discovered by a girl mounted
on a horse.*She told him that her
name was Cassandra Ford and
persuaded him to mount her horse
and accompany her to her home.
When he arrived there he found
that the girl’s father, James
Ford, had the flute with which
the doctor had entertained the
other passengers on the flatboat
and which had been taken from
him when he was overpowered by
the outlaws.
Despite this evidence that Ford
was one of the outlaw gang, Doc
tor Webb proceeded to fall in love
with Cassandra. Eventually he
returned to that vicinity, mar
ried her and with his bride set
tled in Livingston county to prac
tice his profession. In the mean
time his brother had been re
leased by the outlaws and made
his way safely to St. Louis.
Still another pioneer doctor who
had an adventurous career was
Dr. Charles Chandler, whose
name is perpetuated in the town
of Chandlerville, 111. A native
of Rhode Island, he was prac
ticing in that state when the spirit
of adventure influenced him to
migrate to the western country.
Chandler arrived in Illinois at
the time of the Black Hawk war
and started up the Illinois river
with the intention of settling at
Fort Clark (Peoria). But when
the captain of the boat on which
N hg was traveling declined to go
farther because of fear of the In
dians, Chandler disembarked at
Beardstown. He was so impressed
with the beauty of the country
around what is now Chandlerville
that he entered 160 acres at the
land office and built a cabin on his
tract.
A Versatile Doctor.
Chandler soon built up a big
practice in the new country and
often traveled 100 miles in 24
hours over a territory which now
includes seven counties in Illinois.
He was also active in many other
ways. He erected stores and
small shops so that farmers
might obtain their necessary sup
plies without traveling to distant
Beardstown over the worst kind
of roads. With his brother he
established a general store,
slaughtered and packed for mar
ket as .many as 3,000 hogs in a
year. He acted as postmaster in
1849 and donated sites for parks
and cemeteries.
Nor was Chandler the only one
of these pioneer doctors who en
gaged in activities outside of their
profession. They helped lay out
townsites; start industries and
businesses; install systems of
education; provide churches;
print newspapers; serve in public
offices and, when need be, they
went to war and fought shoulder
to shoulder with their fellow pio
neers.
Typical of these public-spirited
physicians was Dr. Benjamin
Kirtland Hart of Alton, one of the
founders of the Illinois State Med
ical society, who had served as
president of his town board and
who, three years later, fathered
a movement which resulted in
the purchase of a site, later the
erection of a building, for Alton’s
first schoolhouse. At the rear of
the Peoria home of Dr. Rudolphus
Rouse was a fine opera hall which
Rouse had caused to be built. The
result was that pioneer Peoria
witnessed .some of the finest
drama of the day, since Peoria
became a stopping point for road
companies traveling from one
large city to another.
Like many of the pioneer physi
cians, Dr. Edward Reynolds Roe
turned from medicine to devote
his natural talents to the less
strenuous pursuits of writing and
became so much in demand as a
writer while practicing medicine
in Shawneetown in 1850 that the
Illinois Journal at Springfield em
ployed him as a regular corre
spondent. Then he turned his hand
to fiction and produced “Virginia
Rose; a Tale of Illinois in Early
Days” (which had for its back
ground the lawlessness centering
around Cave-in-Rock); which ran
as a prize serial in the Alton
Courier in 1852; “The Gray and
the Blue”; “Brought to Bay”;
“From the Beaten Path”; “G. A.
R.; or. She Married His Double”;
“Dr. Caldwell; or, The Trail of
the Serpent”; and “Prairie Land
and Other Poems.” Later he be
came editor of the Jacksonville
Journal, then the Constitution
alist.
At the outbreak of the Civil war
Roe, who was then the first pro
fessor of natural science at Illi
nois State Normal university near
Bloomiqgton, raised three com
panies, composed mainly of his
students, for service in the Union
army. He was captain, major,
and then lieutenant-colonel of the
Thirty-third Illinois regiment and
was dangerously wounded at
Vicksburg in 1863. Later he be
came editor of the Bloomington
Pantagraph, was appointed mar
shal of the Southern district of
Illinois, and served in the state
legislature. His varied career
ended in 1893 when he died in Chi
cago at the age of eighty.
Another literary doctor was
Benjamin Franklin Allen, a na
tive of Watertown, N. Y., who be
gan practicing medicine in Kane
county, 111., in 1844. In 1860 he
settled in Joliet, 111., and began
to devote his time to writing.
Among his writings were “The
Uncle’s Legacy,” which ran as a
serial in the Will County Courier
for six months; “Irene; or, The
Life and Fortunes of a Yankee
Girl”; and a series of humorous
sketches under the title of “Ex
periences, Advice, Comments and
Suggestions of Barney O’Toole,”
who seems to have been an
earlier “Mr. Dooley.”
Dr. John Todd
........ |MPROVED j
UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL
S UNDAY I
chool Lesson
By HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST. D. D.
Dean of The Moody Bible Institute
of Chicago.
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
Lesson for May 26
Lesson subjects and Scripture texts se
lected and copyrighted by International
Council of Religious Education; used by
permission.
JEREMIAH ANNOUNCES THE
NEW COVENANT
LESSON TEXT—Jeremiah 31:31-37.
GOLDEN TEXT—I will put my law in
their inward parts, and write it in their
hearts: and will be their God, and they shall
be my people.—Jeremiah 31:33.
God’s law written in the hearts of
all men—surely that is the ultimate
goal of all of our efforts, and therein
we will find the solution of all of our
problems. Jeremiah the prophet,
in the midst of a despairing people
with only captivity and sorrow be
fore them because of their sinful
rebellion against God, gives a
prophetic foregleam of the day
when all Israel and Judah should
know God. Sin was to be forgiven,
fellowship restored, and men over
all the earth were to know God.
Obviously, that prophecy is still
future for Israel, but in the mean
time God has permitted us to enter
into the enjoyment of our covenant
of grace.
I. The Old Covenant (w. 31, 32).
The promise of a new covenant
at once raises the question, “What
was the old covenant?” We do not
have space to make any complete
study of it, but we note that while
God did make a great covenant with
Abraham, founding the nation of
Israel (Gen. 17:1-14), the reference
by Jeremiah is evidently to the cov
enant with Moses (Exod. 20-23).
We observe that it was
1. National (v. 32). The old cov
enant was made with Israel only,
and could bring blessing to the other
nations of the earth only indirectly,
as they might share the peace and
prosperity which would have come
to Israel had they been obedient to
God. God was here dealing with
a chosen nation for whom He had
a specific plan and purpose.
2. Limited (v. 32). The blessing
of the old covenant was limited
not only in the sense that it was
national, but also in that it was con
ditional. God’s promise hinged on
His word in Exodus 19:5: “Now
therefore, if ye will obey my voice
indeed, and keep my covenant, then
ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto
me above all people.” In other
words, the fulfillment of this cov
enant was dependent on the faith
fulness of the people. We know that
they failed.
3. Broken by Israel (v. 32). God
was like “an husband” (v. 32) unto
Israel. He was patient, tender, for
giving, always trying to restore
them to Himself. He used His great
power on their behalf as He “took
them by the hand,” and yet we
read “my covenant they brake” (v.
32). Human failure ip spite of
God’s promise and goodness, that
is the history of man under law.
Now, however, we turn to the new
covenant of grace.
II. The New Covenant (w. 33-37).
Jeremiah looked forward to the
day when there was to be a cov
enant that is
1. Personal (v. 33). The reference-
here is not to a law written in a
book, which may be neglected or
forgotten, or broken because there
is no power in man to keep it. This
new law is to be written in the
hearts of men. It is personal—not
something which he shares as a
member of a great nation.
2. Universal (v. 34). From the
least to the greatest, every man
shall know God. That promise
awaits its future complete fulfill
ment to Israel (and remember that
God has not forgotten His people).
Even now, however, we have the
spiritual fulfillment of the promise
in the Church. It is true now that,
regardless of nationality, education,
wealth, or position, the grace of God
is made manifest in the hearts of
men and women everywhere.
3. Assured by God (w. 35-37).
The old covenant of law failed, for
it hinged upon the faithfulness of
undependable man—“If ye will”
(Exod. 19:5). But the new covenant
of grace rests upon the “I will” of
God (v. 34; see also Heb. 8:10-12).
This is indeed “a better covenant,
which was established upon better
promises” (Heb. 8:6). It is an
“everlasting covenant” (Heb. 13:20).
Be Satisfied
I say to thee, be thou satisfied.
It is recorded of the hares that with
a general consent they went to
drown themselves, out of a fe'eling
of their misery; but when they saw
a company of frogs more fearful
than they were, they began to take
courage and comfort again. Com
pare thine estate with others.—Rob
ert Burton.
Doing Good Secretly
When others do you a favor speak
of it. When you do your neighbor,
a kindness, let him find it out; then
you will find a lot of satisfaction in
the fact that you have been decent.
—Van Amburgh.
Summing It Up
The man who has begun to live
more seriously within, begins to live
more simply without. — Phillips
Brooke.
WHO’S
NEWS
THIS
WEEK
News Hounds in
France Yelp at
Ban on * Digging
By LEMUEL F. PARTON
(Consolidated I eatures—WNU Service.)
XJEW YORK.—There is a bitter
outcry in the press coop as Air
Marshal Arthur S. Barratt tells the
correspondents in France that here-
after they
must feed on
handouts —no
more digging
out their own
stories. British newspaper owners
retaliate by calling home the news
men. It is one of several unfor
tunate instances of ineffective co
operation between British high com
mand and the newspapers.
Foreign correspondents I have
talked to have told me that the
British air service, staffed by
younger men than is the army,
has been far less encumbered
with brass hats and bureauc
racy, and that its higher rank
ing officers understood and co
operated with newspaper men.
Hence the handout order, a
sweeping decree in barring jour
nalists from all news sources,
comes from an unsuspected
quarter.
Marshal Barratt was appointed to
the command of the newly created
unified French-British air force by
Neville Chamberlain January 10 of
this year. He is 49 years old, a lav
ishly decorated flier and air officer
of the World war, in India at inter
vals since 1931, senior air officer for
India during part of that period. He
joined the Royal Flying corps in
1914 and fought through the war.
He has been commandant of the
R. A. F. staff college at Andover.
Many of the most effective leaders
of the British air force have come
from .the Colonies. Marshal Barratt
was born at Clifton, England, and
was educated at Clifton college and
Woolwich.
T N THESE days, someone is always
asking, “Watchman, what of the
night?”
“Not so good,” says Dr. Alfred V.
n i t m o m. Kidder, the
Delver-Into-Past distinguished
Is Pessimistic of archeologist.
Our Social Order addressing
the American
Philosophical society. He thinks the
present social order is on the skids.
As he sees it, “the underlying
cause” of our present afflictions is
the fact that man has made a “cul
tural machine,” that is a new
complex of living technics, which is
out-of-hand, unmanageable and
quite generally haywire. Henry
Adams predicted that at the turn
of the century, when he saw, for the
first time, a flock of dynamos. He
said, in effect, that there would be
power like that. That’s the end of
“The Education of Henry Adams.”
Dr. Kidder, with a Harvard
doctorate, 1914 model, delved as
far into the past as any other
living man before his current
peek into the future In excava
tions in Utah, Arizona, New
Mexico, Egypt and Greece, he
brooded over many a “poor
Yorick” of forgotten ages.
Aside from his gloomy preoccu
pations with destiny, or lack of
it, he’s a happy man, with five
children, and apparently a firm
belief that the coming smash
won’t be the final write-off. He
is highly renowned in his pro
fession and was president of the
Society for American Archeolo
gy in 1937.
Unhappily Charles F. Schwab is
no longer here to assure us that ev
erything is all right. He used to be
helpful in times like this.
D OROTHY STICKNEY, the ac
tress who gets the Barter Thea
ter award for the best performance
of the season in “Life With Father,”
was virtually
blind in her
youth. Reared
on a North
Dakota prai
rie, the* daughter of a country doc
tor, she had studied elocution and
immediately headed for a stage ca
reer when her sight was all but
miraculously restored when she was
20. At St. Paul, she and three
other girls formed a traveling sing
ing and dancing troupe called “The
Southern Belles.” It faded quick
ly and she came along up in Broad
way by the hard road. Her first
bell-ringing role was Molly Malloy,
the street walker, in “The Front
Page.” At Skowhegan, Maine, she
met and married Howard Lindsay,
lo-star in “Life With Father.”
*TpHE London Times scolds A. P.
-*• Herbert, parliamentary gag-man
and ironist, for being too funny at a
serious time, but he is still at it,
this time in a book, “General Car
go,” in which he spoofs much of
the visible and audible England, be
fore and after Munich. It’s all typ
ically British, however, and seems
to stack up with what they’re fight
ing for. Frequently his jokes go
through channels, appearing in
Punch, but sometimes he explodes
them in parliament, frequently with
salutary effect. i
Blind Until 20,
She Reaches Top
By the Hard Way
Mexican Tea Towels
For Colorful Kitchen
'T'LAXCALA, Hidalgo, Oaxaca,
-*■ Sonora—all the romance of
Mexico comes to mind as you em
broider *these new tea towels.
Palm trees, cacti, and the brightly
costumed Pablo and Conchita af
ford opportunity to use every vital
color in your sewing basket. On
NUMO hot iron transfer, Z9174,
15 cents, there are three motifs
each of Pablo and Conchita, one
of them together at the fiesta, and
the sombrero design for a pan
holder.
Add color to your own kitchen
or that of a friend with sets of
these gay Mexican motifs. The
NUMO hot iron transfer will
stamp several times. Send order to:
AUNT MARTHA
Box 166-W Kansas City, Mo.
Enclose 15 cents for each pattern
desired. Pattern No
Name
Address
VN>^\m//4^ flRST TH0UGHT AT to f|RST
— ^4- WARNING OF INORGANIC RAIN
1
OR COLDS DISCOMFORTS.
JOSEPH ASPIRIN
Without Condemnation
No man can justly censure or
condemn another, because indeed
no man truly knows another.—
Browne.
THE AWFUL PRICE YOU MY
BMLnWUUtl
Read These Important Facts!
Quivering nerves can make you old, haggard,
cranky—can make your life a nightmare of
jealousy, seif pity and “the blues.”
Often such nervousness is due to female
functional disorders. So take famous Lydia
E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound to nelp
calm unstrung nerves and lessen functional
“irregularities.” For over 60 years relief-
giving Pinkham’s Compound has helped tens
of thousands of grandmothers, mothers and
daughters “in time of need.” Try Hi
i
Old in Hours
A man that is young in years
may be old in hours, if he have
lost no time.—Bacon.
Esso REPORTER NEWS
A.M.
Noon
P.M.
P.M.
wese
D
7:55
12:00
6:25
11:00,
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1:55
5:55
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7:30
1:15
6:30
11:00
S11:00
7:00
WFBC
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7:55
12:30
6:30
11:00
S
12:30
7:00
WWNCD
7:45
12:15
6:00
11:00
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1:30
6:00
WPTF
D
7:55
12:30
6:30
11:00
S
12:30
7:15
*WDOD D
7:45
12:25
6:30
10:30
(Sat.) 5:30
S
12:30
6:30
♦WNOX D
7:00
12:00
5:15
10:30
S
12:30
9:00
WBT
D
7:55
12:30
5:25
10:30
SI0:45
1:55
* Central Standard Time D-Daily S-Sunday
What You Can
The manly part is to do with
might and main what you can do.
—Emerson.
A Vegetable
Laxative
For Headache,
Biliousness,
and Dizziness
when caused by
Constipation,
doses for
»««Jw only 10 cents.
Dr. Hitchcock’s
LAXATIVE POWDER
* 1940 WORLD’S FAIR
A delightful residential hotel
near Empire State Building and
Fifth Avenue shopping section.
Home-like rooms from $2 up
Hotel LE MARQUES
31st Street at 5th Avenue
New York City
fTrtte for Free World’s Fair Bookht