Examination Table

***

It had taken him rather long to familiarize himself with the intricacies of undergarments, but the leading ladies had the time.

The Town Fathers approved of the new doctor as well, though for a different reason. Give the young man chance to establish himself and they'd have another gentleman of their standards.

Dr. Jacob Stratton considered himself now an expert in hysterical paroxysm, the more protracted the induced emotion, the more effective the relaxation, being his significant finding.

Mrs. Witherspoon had been in a separate category, however. A widow operating a boarding house could hardly afford regular office visits, but for his landlady, he could do house calls at no charge, visiting her bedchamber, medical bag in hand.

Mrs. Witherspoon was a strong woman and her bed was larger than his table, and more often than not, her hysterical paroxysms were so severe that she ended up above him, but as best he could tell, the efficacy was the same. As there was no patient following, she frequently required a second paroxysm.

Mrs. Witherspoon's daughter sometimes required three.

He'd even drafted a brief article, "Interior Massage for Hysterical Crisis," but was unsure how to describe the insertion without identifying it as such. Nor was he clear why patients insisted on holding his shoulders as he prepped them, but hypothesized it to be because as mothers, they'd been suckled by their young. Mrs. Witherspoon's daughter, though, wasn't in this category, and she required a full paroxysm orally before one according to biological process.

As he could re-supply his vulcanized sheathes from the medical house in Chicago, there was really no need for him to rinse them, but he'd always been economical.

***

When Dr. Stratton wed Mrs. Witherspoon, the leading women of Capton Springs were most displeased.

"They say she had her dalliance with the traveling gentleman," said Mrs. van Vleet, wife of Tony van Vleet of Standard Grocery, "but that was before the doctor's arrival."

"She took Latin lessons from that other border and hardly knows a word," noted Geneva Blackmon, wife of Randall Blackmon of Blackmon Hardware.

The leading ladies knew, however, that Alice Witherspoon would spend most of her new husband's income, the larger part derived from their own purses. As long as the new Mrs. Stratton didn't travel too often to Chicago, at least the funds would circulate locally.

The earlier hasty emigration of Dr. Polk had been such a disappointment. All had gone splendidly until the Christian Endeavor picnic when Margaret Ziegler, wife of the Presbyterian minister, was struck with a crisis of hysteria while she and Dr. Polk were behind the azaleas. Unfortunately, Dr. Polk had no sheath when administering resuscitation, and when she missed her monthly, the doctor left on the next train.

It was a false alarm, but if there'd been an unfortunate consequence, Dr. Polk was at least not that dissimilar in appearance to Margaret's husband. "The child would be a good bit more intelligent, in fact," Mrs. Jobson, wife of Judge Jobson, told Mrs. Hendrix, wife of the president of Caption Springs Charter Bank.

He should have waited for two misses, however, the ladies had lamented, but that was long ago.

As for the untimely pregnancy of Stephanie Mullins, the leading ladies were pleased by the addition to the Mullin household, a bright and bouncy little Amos Charles, dutifully delivered by Dr. Stratton. Mr. Mullin bought cigars for all of his acquaintances, Dr. Stratton, included.

What Mrs. Mullins later revealed to her closer friends was that she'd always taken a pin to her appointments.