o steal his theory and start a shabby grafting sanitarium of their
own. He knew them.

One noon we were at lunch. Occasionally before seating himself at his
small central table he would walk or glance about and, having good eyes,
would spy some little defect or delinquency somewhere and of course
immediately act upon it. One of the rules of the repair shop was that
you were to eat what was put before you, especially when it differed
from what your table companion received. Thus a fat man at a table with
a lean one might receive a small portion of lean meat, no potatoes and
no bread or one little roll, whereas his lean acquaintance opposite
would be receiving a large portion of fat meat, a baked or boiled
potato, plenty of bread and butter, and possibly a side dish of some
kind. Now it might well be, as indeed was often the case, that each
would be dissatisfied with his apportionment and would attempt to change
plates.

But this was the one thing that Culhane would not endure. So upon one
occasion, passing near the table at which sat myself and the
above-mentioned doctor, table-mates for the time being, he noticed that
he was not eating his carrots, a dish which had been especially prepared
for him, I imagine--for if one unconsciously ignored certain things the
first day or two of his stay, those very things would be all but rammed
down his throat during the remainder of his stay; a thing concerning
which one guest and another occasionally cautioned newcomers. However
this may have been in this particular case, he noticed the uneaten
carrots and, pausing a moment, observed:

"What's the matter? Aren't you eating your carrots?" We had almost
finished eating.

"Who, me?" replied the medic, looking up. "Oh, no, I never eat carrots,
you know. I don't like them."

"Oh, don't you?" said Culhane sweetly. "You don't like them, and so you
don't eat them! Well, suppose you eat them here. They may do you a
little good just as a change."

"But I never eat carrots," retorted the medic tersely and with a slight
show of resentment or opposition, scenting perhaps a new order.

"No, not outside perhaps, but here you do. You eat carrots here, see?"

"Yes, but why should I eat them if I don't like them? They don't agree
with me. Must I eat something that doesn't agree with me just because
it's a rule or to please you?"

"To please me, or the carrots, or any damned thing you please--but eat
'em."

The doctor subsided. For a day