A FEW PRACTICAL HINTS. 
293 
chances are, in the embarrassment of the moment, they will 
pay you without a word. If they do “kick,” show your 
amazement at their doing so, and explain the justice of the 
charge. Might say, “ My dear sir, I feel very sorry you think 
yourself imposed upon, and I very much wish you had in¬ 
quired my terms in the start,” etc. Do not be taken un¬ 
awares by some one suddenly asking what their bill is, and 
through your embarrassment name entirely too low a fig¬ 
ure, thus doing yourself a provoking injustice. Take your 
fees whenever tendered, even on Sunday. Never say, “Oh, 
any time will do,” etc.; you will find it expensive modesty. 
Get cash from strangers, and tell them that is your rule. A 
good way to introduce the cash question, is to ask right in 
the start, “ Well, is this to be a cash case or an account?” 
We should always, unless poverty forbids, demand and 
secure a fair and honorable recompense for our services. 
Business is business, and we should let no false delicacy or 
politeness interfere with our business rules. No one in fact 
earns his means of living more fairly and often more dearly 
than a veterinary surgeon. We must live by our avocation 
as others live by theirs, and upon system depends both our 
professional and .financial success. No man is at his best 
when saddled by poverty ; when his mind is depressed and 
distracted, health lowered and temper vexed by the debts he 
owes, annoyed and dunned at every corner, and his discon¬ 
tented stomach uncertain where the next meal is to come 
from. These, and other cares that poverty entails, dwarf a 
man’s mind and body and cripple his work. Popularity and 
humanitarianism will not lift us above the necessity of pay¬ 
ing rent, buying horse feed, or the demands of the book¬ 
seller, or the instrument maker, or the butcher or baker. The 
nearer we get to the cash system, the better for all concerned. 
We should present our bills when they are small and our 
services vividly remembered ; also, for another reason, if we 
are neglectful or shamefaced and do not send our bills 
promptly, it will create a belief that we are not dependent 
upon our practice for a living, have no wants and do not need 
money, or that we do not hold this or that person to our 
