After breakfast next morning we went out on the lake, cut holes in
the ice, set our lines, and before dinner we had taken several fine
trout and pickerel, the largest and finest of which we put into a
box with ice, and sent as a present to President Pierce, in
Washington. We had agreed, the night before, to fish for him the
first day, and to send him the best specimens we could from his
native state. After dinner my friends started to go out on the ice
again, and I told them "I guess'd I wouldn't go with them, I had
fished enough for that day." They insisted I should go, but I told
them I preferred to take a walk and explore the country. So they
went to the lake and I walked up to Lake Village.
I soon found Mr. Blaisdell's house, and as the servant who came to
the door informed me that Mr. Blaisdell was not at home, I asked to
see Mrs. Blaisdell, And was shown in to that lady. She was not quite
the "hogshead" the landlord declared her to be, but she was one of
the worst cases of dropsy I had ever seen. I introduced myself to
her, told her my profession, and that I had called upon her in the
hope of being able to afford her some relief; that I wanted nothing
for my services unless I could really benefit her.
"O, Doctor," said she, "you can do nothing for me; in the past
twelve years I have had at least forty different doctors, and none
of them have helped me."
"But there can be no harm in trying the forty-first;" and as I said
it I took from my vest pocket and held out in the palm of my hand
some pills:
"Here, madame, are some pills made from a simple blossom, which
cannot possibly harm you, and which, I am sure, will do you a great
deal of good.
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