of blood, made some efforts
to staunch it with her apron.

I had already gained an ill-deserved reputation for surgery,
principally on account of the possession of a medicine chest and an
"Ambulance" certificate, and my services were speedily requisitioned by
the fleet-footed son of the next door neighbour, who bade me come at
once, as "Smiddles' lad" was "bleeding to death on t' hearthstone."

After I had prevented the realisation of this fatality by means of a
tight bandage, and made the patient as comfortable as a sling permits,
I despatched the mercuric youth to summon Dr. Trempest, as I was afraid
some stitches would be necessary, and went out to find the street
buzzing with excitement, and my humble self regarded as only slightly
less than super-human.

No sooner had this sensation died down than the village thermometer
rose, two days later, to fever heat on the report that little Willie
Jones had ventured to test the ice upon the huge water-butt which
occupied a slightly elevated position at the end of his father's house
and was "drownded dead for sure."

Not a soul in the village knew what course to pursue under the
circumstances, and every eager helper might have avowed with truth and
sincerity that he had done the things he ought not to have done, and
left undone the things he ought to have done; and it was fortunate for
poor little Willie that my First Aid lessons had qualified me for
dealing with an emergency of this kind.

Farmer Goodenough and I worked hard for an hour, and my arms ached with
the effort, but at length the reluctant engine began to move, throbbing
fitfully but with increasing strength; and hot flannels and heated
bricks, with judicious but energetic rubbing, completed the treatment
and brought life and colour back again, so that when the doctor arrived
there was little left to be done.

I believe I was excited myself when it was all over, and if my head had
not been fixed very solidly upon my shoulders it would certainly have
been turned that day by the ridiculous and extravagant eulogies of my
neighbours.

Then followed the great blizzard. I suppose our cousins across the
water would have small respect for such an unpretentious specimen as we
experienced, but to me it was a revelation of what old Mother Nature
can do when she clenches her teeth and puts her hand to it.

A bright but grey sky overhung the earth when I set out soon after
dinner for a brisk constitutional, and I ne