94 THE ITINERANT HORSE PHYSICIAN 



wrath burst out. My partner called the infirm- 

 ary the infirmatory ; he, my partner I mean, had 

 not had a very generous education, either gen- 

 eral or veterinary; so please be easy on his "tech- 

 nical terms." 



When Dr. Asa was doing "heavy" surgery 

 which was his term for major surgery, he would 

 insult his best friend if he so much as ventured a 

 suggestion of any sort. If no one made any sort 

 of suggestions bearing on the operation he would 

 invariably vent his spleen on the first party to 

 intrude on the field of maneuvering. If it hap- 

 pened to be a long horn farmer, or a "hill-billie," 

 as Dr. Asa called them, he would continue his 

 first outburst with a running talk somewhat as 

 follows : 



"Gosh darned funny some people can't learn 

 nothin'; seems to me everybody ought to know 

 that by their gosh darned movin' around they stir 

 up enough micromes to put the tetanic disease in 

 a surgery case. Especially these gosh darned 

 rubes with their heavy walkin'; they jar the 

 buildin' enough so as to kill any surgery case 

 with the shock. And then the darn fool has a 

 notion to drag a mule in yit; never see no such 

 gosh darned fools as growed up around here." 

 And so he kept on until something else switched 

 his wrath onto some other object or person. 



To me these wrathful broadsides of the old 

 quack were worth a circus; I was only a few 

 years out of college at the time and I could 

 always get a good "inside" laugh on these occa- 

 sions. 



