He told
some comical stories of patients he had had, who could imagine
themselves possessed of a new disease every week.
"Then he spoke of clairvoyants, and mediums, and fortune-tellers of
every kind. 'It is one of the kindest provisions of Providence,' he
added, 'that we are allowed to see only one minute at a time. Suppose
that we could look ahead into the years, and see some terrible
calamity coming upon us, with the deadly certainty that every
nightfall was bringing it one step nearer. What an agony of
apprehension we would be in as the month approached--then the week,
the day, and finally the hour! What man could stand the strain of such
prolonged torture?
"'Or, suppose it were some joy that we looked forward to. When it came
it would be robbed of its bloom by those long years of constant
anticipation. It is the unexpected good fortune, the bits of happiness
that come to us as complete surprises, which give us the keenest
thrills of enjoyment.'
[Illustration: "'ASKED ME TO HUNT UP ALL THE REFERENCES'"]
"Whatever Doctor Phelps says is law and gospel with Elsie Gayland, and
as she never does anything half-way, I was not surprised when she
walked into my room with her book on chiromancy, and put it in the
fire. As she stood, grimly watching it burn, she said: 'I thought I
should go through the floor when Doctor Phelps called me into the
library just now.
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