Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
Aug.  1, 1873.  / 
The  Night  Bell 
345 
that  everybody  else,  like  themselves,  should  rise  with  the  lark.  Now 
I  have  very  little  patience  with,  and  no  sympathy  for,  such  people, 
and  in  such  cases  I  usually  administer  to  the  guilty  party,  ih  a.  calm 
but  emphatic  manner,  without  any  outward  manifestation  of  anger, 
a  suitable  rebuke.  I  generally  say  to  them  :  "I  am  surprised  that 
you  should  call  me  up  at  such  an  unseasonable  hour  in  the  morning 
for  so  trifling  an  article,  that  you  could  so  easily  have  done  without 
until  I  had  opened  my  store."  I  say  furthermore  to  them :  "I  am 
always  willing,  and  will  at  any  time,  with  pleasure,  get  up  at  any 
hour  of  the  night  to  furnish  you  with  any  article  of  medicine  or 
medical  appliance  that  I  have  and  that  you  might  require  in  any  case 
of  emergency  in  sickness  occuring  at  night,  but  I  will  not  permit 
myself  to  be  thus  disturbed  of  my  rest  at  so  early  an  hour  in  the 
morning  on  so  trifling  a  pretext."  A  little  calm  and  plain  talk  of 
this  kind  does  not  always  offend,  and  yet  serves  as  a  good  and  whole- 
some lesson  to  the  individual,  and  prevents  the  repetition  of  the  of- 
fence. 
The  calls  that  we  have  made  upon  us  after  business  hours,  which 
may  be  classed  in  the  category  of  unwarranted  and  unnecessary,  usu- 
ally occur  either  in  the  early  part  of  the  night,  before  half  past  twelve 
o'clock,  or  in  the  early  morning,  between  five  o'clock  and  our  usual 
hour  for  opening. 
These  calls  are  usually  made  by  careless,  thoughtless,  inconsider- 
ate, and  often  ignorant  people,  who  may,  in  summer,  be  seen  sitting 
around  on  their  door  steps  until  midnight,  chatting,  neglectful  of 
their  little  wants  in  the  way  of  medicine  they  desire  to  take  before 
retiring  or  when  they  arise  in  the  morning,  hence,  are  obliged  to  call 
the  pharmacist  up  after  he  has  retired  to  rest,  or  before  his  usual 
opening  hour  in  the  morning.  It  is  to  this  class  of  untimely  visitors 
that  a  few  well-timed  words  of  chastisement  and  rebuke  should  be 
courteously  administered. 
Some  pharmacists  make  it  a  rule  to  charge  more  for  their  services 
at  night,  and  after  mature  consideration,  I  don't  know  but  that  this 
is  perfectly  right,  for  we  should  be  paid  for  our  labor  in  proportion 
to  its  magnitude  and  the  personal  sacrifices  connected  with  its  per- 
formance. The  physician  usually,  I  believe,  charges  more  for  his 
visits  by  night  than  for  those  which  he  makes  by  day,  and  I,  there- 
fore, cannot  see  any  reason  why  the  pharmacist  is  not  justifiable  in 
following  the  same  rule.    Of  course,  in  adjusting  our  charges,  we 
