€l)o^t Snttistig. 12' 



it is our business, and you must recollect that when 

 we once get a firm grip on the tooth ' the game ' is 

 in our own hands." The "game," mark you ; and 

 didn't his wontedly solemn visage light up with 

 apparently malicious glee as the last sentence slipped 

 glibly from his lips ! 



Well, at length all is over. You have had the 

 old offender out, or have been otherwise bullied in 

 probably little less degree, and take your departure, 

 in nine cases out of ten, a very much happier man 

 when you descend those well-scoured steps than 

 when you mounted them an hour or less previously. 



By the bye, do dentists themselves ever have tooth- 

 ache ? And if so, who operates upon them ? Dear me, 

 what a lot of revengeful amateurs would volunteer 

 if some of the greater of the professional bunglers 

 advertised for executioners, if I may use the term ! 

 But that is in parenthesis, for undoubtedly the 

 majority of us have, at divers periods of our eventful 

 lives, been very greatly indebted to some skilled and 

 careful operator. So I will hasten to close my book, 

 lest I should be tempted, by enlarging upon the 

 subject farther, to defeat the object I had in view 

 when I commenced my letter ; only, before folding 

 it up, reminding you that the glimpse through the 

 partially-closed waiting-room door as you don 3^our 

 hat and coat in the hall previous to departure is. 



