20 LIFE OF TEGETMEIER 



I have not seen employed elsewhere. This was to 

 encase each separate apple or pear in a gauze bag, 

 to protect it from the attack of birds. These little 

 covers were annually made by Mrs. Tegetmeier, 

 and every autumn the old man would thus care- 

 fully protect the more choice specimens of his 

 favourite varieties, such as Louise Bonne or 

 Doyenne du Cornice. 



Exactly how long he stayed at Brackley I 

 have not been able to ascertain, but from indirect 

 evidence I gather it was about two years. At 

 any rate, it was long enough to sicken him of the 

 drudgery of the daily medical round which offered 

 neither variety nor the prospect of professional 

 advancement. The work to which he was 

 required to devote himself was unquestionably 

 uncongenial, and he rebelled against the calls 

 which forced him to turn out at all hours of the 

 day or night — to drudge through the rain or 

 snow of a winter night to attend patients whose 

 cases might or might not be so urgent as had 

 been represented. Anyhow, he resolved to give 

 up doctoring and seek some other calling. 



The only other attempt to obtain medical work 

 — it was not successful, I believe — is evidenced by 

 a letter he wrote in the year 1845, applying for 

 the charge of a patient. This letter is both so 

 characteristic and informative that I print it 

 almost verbatim. It will prove of the greater 

 interest to my readers as probably so few of them 



