Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 6.djvu/291

 THE BARTLETT MANSION.

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��looking out at us from stiff and tremen- dous horse-hair wigs. Dr. Bartlett, disdainful as he was of show and artifi- ciality, did not choose to defy the dic- tum of society in this respect. He wore his wig and his queue with all the dignity of a Chesterfield or a George Third. Still, elegance, save in a few isolated instances, was impossible in any modern sense. There was wealth enough for the general comfort ; pau- perism was practically unknown, but life was frugal, limited, and to our mod- ern apprehension inconceivably slow. The daily newspaper was undreamed of, and there were yet a few years to elapse before the Boston Gazette made its weekly pilgrimages into the country, holding all the news demanded by the colonists, on about the size of a sheet of Congress paper. Carpets, save in one or two of the more stately houses, were an undesired luxury, fresh sand being considered more healthful. Spin- ning and weaving were still genteel household occupations, and Dr. Bart- lett, at a later time, rejoiced in being clothed from head to foot in cloth woven and made up by his energetic wife. " Society" then, as now, was made up of a very small number, a sin- gle set that, even long after the Revo- lution, consisted only of the justice of the peace, the colonel or the major, and two or three other official persons, a great lawyer or two, a doctor or two, the minister, two or three families retired from business, half a dozen merchants, and a few other persons who had leisure to cultivate the elegant enjoyments of life.

At this time Bartlett was about twen- ty-one years old, and, although well known as an industrious and enterpris- ing young man, he could not have been an important citizen. He lived hum- bly enough. He ate his bread and milk with a pewter spoon out of a por- ringer. Whenever he made his rounds to call upon his patients he rode an old gray horse, with his saddle-bags behind him. At a later time he used to drive about in a yellow gig ; and when he had completed his rounds went home

��eagerly to his books. He was a great reader at this early period, but he was no theorist in the practice of his pro- fession. He followed the just princi- ples of nature and experience rather than the rules of arbitrary system. In a few years he became a skillful and distinguished practitioner. It is sad that he was the first to prescribe the application of Peruvian bark in cases of canker, which before was consid- ered an inflammatory, instead of a pii- trid, disease, and, as such, had been un- successfully treated.

In 1S35 this disease, by the name of the throat distemper, visited Kingston. Its ravages were exceedingly fatal, es- pecially to children under ten years of age. Like the plague, it swept its vic- tims to the grave, almost without warn- ing, and some are said to have expired while sitting at play, handling their toys. Every method of treatment proved ineffectual. Medical skill was baffled. Its ravages ceased only when victims were no longer to be found. Again in 1 754, five years after Dr. Bart- lett's removal to town, Kingston was visited by this fell disease. A young child of the doctor's was one of those afflicted with the distemper. Bartlett administered Peruvian bark, and with such success that from this time the use of it became general, as a remedy in diseases of the same character.

A man of Dr. Bartlett's decision and powers of mind would not remain long unnoticed in times which tried men's souls. In fifteen years of time he gained the popular favor, and was re- garded not only as a prosperous man, but as one capable of performing pub- lic duties with ability and fidelity. The first office bestowed upon him by his fellow-citizens was that of delegate from Kingston to the provincial assembly of New Hampshire, in 1765. The con- troversy between Great Britain and her colonies was now beginning to assume a .serious aspect. Dr. Bartlett, in this emergency, was found on the popular side. In his legislative capacity he in- variably opposed the mercenary views of the royal governor. He could not,

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