Chap. XII. THE "MEDICINE PARADE." 249 



to my " dispensary " to be dosed all round. I had 

 fixed days for the different medicines : one day was 

 castor-oil day, another was blue-pill or calomel day, 

 a third was the " feast of Epsom salts." They all 

 had to come up in single file, and, one after the other, 

 were ordered to swallow their dose. Now and then 

 one or two of them tried to escape the medicine 

 parade ; and, when I called them up, each had some 

 ready excuse for his non-attendance, but in vain. 

 This was generally on castor-oil day, for they said 

 that they did not mind the other medicines, but that 

 this was " so bad ; " and many were the wry faces 

 that were made before the dose was swallowed by 

 the entire company. However, I found that my 

 plan had very good results, as my men had much 

 better health than they had before I adopted it. 



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