"It occurred at Bath. A crowd of pupils, myself one of them, were
following Mr. Abernethy through the crowded wards of the hospital, when
the apparition of a poor Irishman, with the scantiest shirt I ever saw,
jumped from a bed, and literally throwing himself on his knees at the
doctor's feet, presented itself. We were startled for a moment, but the
poor fellow, with all his country's eloquence, poured out such a torrent
of praise, prayers, and blessings, and illustrated it with such ludicrous
pantomimic displays of his leg, all splintered and bandaged, that we were
not long left in doubt.
"'That's the leg, your hon-nor. Glory be to God. Yer honnor's the buy what
saved it. May the heavens be yer bed. Long life to yer honnor. To the
divil with the spalpeens that wanted to cut it off!' etc.
"With some difficulty the patient was replaced in bed, and the doctor
said,--
"'I am glad your leg is doing well, but never kneel again, except to your
Maker.'
"The doctor took the opportunity of giving us a clinical lecture about
diseases and their constitutional treatment. Every sentence Abernethy
uttered, Pat confirmed.
[Illustration: DR. ABERNETHY IN THE HOSPITAL.]
"'Thrue for yer honnor; divil a lie at all, at all. His honnor's the
grathe doctor, entirely,' etc.
"At the slightest allusion to his case, off went the bed-clothes, and up
went the leg, as if taking aim at the ceiling. 'That's it, be gorra! and a
betther leg than the villain's that wanted to slice it off, entirely.'
"The students actually roared with laughter, but Abernethy retained his
usual gravity throughout the whole of the ludicrous scene."
Madam Rothschild, mother of the mighty capitalists, attained the great age
of ninety-eight. Her wits, which were of no common order, were preserved
to the end. During her last illness, when surrounded by her family and
some friends, she turned to her physician, and said, in a suppliant
tone,--
"My dear doctor, I pray you try to do something for me."
"Madam, what can I do? I cannot make you young again."
"No, doctor; nor do I want to be young again. But I want to continue to
grow old."