Bessie Brown, M.D.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2018, 13 June 1885, Page 6 (Supplement)

Bessie Brown, M.D.

'Twas April when she cr.tne to town ; Tho birds had come, tue bees were swarming. Her name, she said, was Doctor Brown t I saw at once that she was charming. Sho took a cottage tinted green, Where dewy roaea love to mingle ; And on the door, next day, was seen A dainty little shingle. Her hair was like an amber wreath ; Her hat was darker, to enhance it. The violet eyes that glowed beneath Wore brighter than her keenest lancet. The beauties of her glove and gown The sweetest rhyme would fail to utter. Ere she had been n. day in town The town was in a flutter. The gallants viewed her feet and hands, And sworo they never saw such wee things ; The gossip 3 met in purring bands And tore her picuemeal o'er the tea-things. The former drank the Doctor's health With clinking cups, the gay oarousers ; The latter watched her door by stealth, Just like so many mousers. But Doctor Besaio went her way Unmindful of tho spiteful cronies, And drove her buggy every day Behind a dashing pair of ponies. Her flower-like face so bright she boro, 1 hoped that time might never wilt her. The way she tripped across the floor Was better than a philter. Her patients thronged the village street ; Her snowy slate was always quite full. Somo said her bitter 3 tasted sweet ; And some pronounced her pills delightful. 'Twas strange— l know not what it meant — She seemed a nymph from Eldorado ; Where'er she came, where'er ehe went, Grief lost its gloomy shadow. Like all the rest, I too grew ill ; My aching heart there was no quelling. I tremble at my doctor's bill — And lo 1 the items still are swelling. The drugs I've drunk you'd weep to hear ! They've quite enriched the fair concooter, And I'm a ruined man, I fear, Unless— l wed the Doctor 1 — Samuel ilintuin Feck.