he sets
out in the gyarden-walk,
And got that wild bird trained so tame,
he'll loose him, and he'll fly
Clean to the woods!--Doc calls his name--
and he'll come, by-and-by!

[Illustration]

XIV

Some says no money down ud buy
that bird o' Doc.--Ner no
Inducement to the _bird_, says I,
'at _he'd_ let _Sifers_ go!
And Doc _he_ say 'at _he's_ content--
long as a bird o' prey
Kin 'bide _him_, it's a _compliment_,
and takes it thataway.

XV

But, gittin' back to _docterin'_--all
the sick and in distress,
And old and pore, and weak and small,
and lone and motherless,--
I jes tell _you_ I 'preciate
the man 'at 's got the love
To "go ye forth and ministrate!"
as Scriptur' tells us of.

XVI

_Dull_ times, Doc jes _mi_anders round,
in that old rig o' his:
And hain't no tellin' where he's bound
ner guessin' where he is;
He'll drive, they tell, jes thataway
fer maybe six er eight
Days at a stretch; and neighbers say
he's bin clean round the State.

XVII

He picked a' old tramp up, one trip,
'bout eighty mile'd from here,
And fetched him home and k-yored his
hip, and kep' him 'bout a year;
And feller said--in all _his_ ja'nts
round this terreschul ball
'At no man wuz a _circumstance_
to _Doc_!--he topped 'em all!--

[Illustration]

XVIII

Said, bark o' trees 's a' open book
to Doc, and vines and moss
He read like writin'--with a look
knowed ever' dot and cross:
Said, stars at night wuz jes as good
's a compass: said, he s'pose
You couldn't lose Doc in the woods
the darkest night that blows!

XIX

Said, Doc'll tell you, purty clos't,
by underbresh and plants,
How fur off _warter_ is,--and 'most
perdict the sort o' chance
You'll have o' findin' _fish_; and how
they're liable to _bite_,
And whether they're a-bitin' now,
er only after night.

XX

And, whilse we're talkin' _fish_,--I mind
they formed a fishin'-crowd
(When folks _could_ fish 'thout gittin' _fined_,
and seinin' wuz allowed!)
O' leadin' citizens, you know,
to go and seine "Old Blue"--
But hadn't no big seine, and so--
w'y, what wuz they to do?...

XXI