GREAT ACCESS OF PATIENTS 
77 
to say anything to her, because she has not yet been 
paid for.” 
As Joseph does not understand how to save any 
better than the other natives, I have bestowed on him 
a money-box in which to save up for the purchase of a 
wife. Into this goes aU his extra pay for sitting up 
at night or other special services, and all the tips he 
gets from white patients. How extravagant the “ first 
assistant of the doctor in Lambarene ” (as he calls 
himself) can be, I experienced about this time. He 
was with me at a store, and while I was buying some 
nails and screws his eye was caught by a pair of patent 
leather shoes which, from standing a long time in a 
Paris shop window, had got sun-dried and rotten, and 
had then, like many other odds and ends, found their 
way to Africa. Although they cost nearly as much as 
the amount of his monthly wages, he meant to buy 
them, and warning looks from me were useless, as were 
also a couple of digs in the ribs which I gave him 
quietly while we were standing at the counter among a 
crowd of staring negroes. I could not venture openly 
to dissuade him, as it would have offended the dealer, 
who was thankful to get rid of the shoes. So at last I 
pinched him unperceived as hard as I could just above 
the back of his thigh till he could stand the pain no 
longer, and the transaction was broken off. In the 
canoe I gave him a long lecture on his childish taste 
for extravagance, with the result that the very next 
day he went to the store again on the quiet and bought 
the shoes ! Quite half of what he earns from me he 
spends in clothes, shoes, ties, and sugar. He dresses 
much more elegantly than I do. 
All through the last few months the work has been 
