.30 REMINISCENCES OF 



from this plan : from time to time the ringing of the 

 surgery bell whilst I was enjoying my supper and 

 rest announced that some small box of pills, or 

 packet of powders, promised by the governor to a 

 patient had not arrived. It had probably lurked, over- 

 looked, at the bottom of one of my many capacious 

 pockets. Occasionally the omitted delivery was not 

 -discovered until the governor made his professional 

 visit the succeeding day. On his return to the sur- 

 gery, a frowning brow indicated thunder in the air, 

 and the explosion usually took the shape of " H'm ! 

 At At your old trade of basket-making, sir ? " I 

 heard the phrase too often not at once to feel my 

 various pockets in search of the missing powder or 

 bolus. 



The middle of November brought fresh work. On 

 St. Martin's Day domestic and farm servants in the 

 east of Yorkshire not unfrequently changed their 

 situations ; and as we had a considerable number of 

 patients in this class, we were obliged to be careful 

 their "bills" were delivered before they left their 

 temporary home and were lost sight of by us for 

 ever. 



This November bill-work was, however, but the 

 pilot-balloon of what had to be undertaken during 

 December. In those days the length of a doctor's 

 bill was proverbial. Nowadays the patient receives 

 from his doctor a polite note intimating " the amount 

 due for professional attendance," and as the greater 

 part even of this brief communication is elegantly 



