A Boyhood in Scotland 



less wretches to sleep on benches or the floor for 

 a penny or so a night, and, when kind Death 

 came to their relief, sold the bodies for dissec- 

 tion to Dr. Hare of the medical school. None 

 of us children ever heard anjrthing like the 

 original story. The servant girls told us that 

 "Dandy Doctors," clad in long black cloaks 

 and supplied with a store of sticking-plaster of 

 wondrous adhesiveness, prowled at night about 

 the country lanes and even the town streets, 

 watching for children to choke and sell. The 

 Dandy Doctor's business method, as the serv- 

 ants explained it, was with lightning quick- 

 ness to clap a sticking-plaster on the face of a 

 scholar, covering mouth and nose, preventing 

 breathing or crying for help, then pop us under 

 his long black cloak and carry us to Edinburgh 

 to be sold and sliced into small pieces for folk 

 to learn how we were made. We always men- 

 tioned the name "Dandy Doctor" in a fearful 

 whisper, and never dared venture out of doors 

 after dark. In the short winter days it got dark 

 before school closed, and in cloudy weather we 

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