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31 February 1st Thursday The day opened with the usual prologue of these spring dys A heavy fog after breakfast, I concluded to visit Olive Grove, & the conclusion was soon acted upon; I curried Tom & set out crossed the Ferry with Wooten; found st the office two letters, one from Callie, in a beautiful envelop, which the country folks have taken to be of "needlework" a sweet & affectionate letter, affectionately prefaced by Father A letter also from Miss Mary, with a P S by Birdie A sweet letter, as all are from that source I speedily devoured these, as I rode along I also recd a large roll of Nos of the Guardian, published at Columbia, & sent me by Betty Cherished things they'll be to me Rosier also gave me, obligingly, a paper, the "Saturday Gleaner" I brot Picayunes &c for Rusk also; The whole, a rare intel lectual treat, for these sequestered woods I went thro' a bit of professorial experience this afternoon Mrs R came in, soon after dinner & had a long talk with me about her ailings, of which, from, her silence, I hoped she was relieved, but she is not, this is a beginning of treatment with her I had scarcely finished talking with her, when old Huldy came in, brot in a waggon from Wood's, by Sampson; the poor thing, had a desperately sick turn in my office, rolled over the floor vomited & spewed I prescribed & gave physic to her She went away, grunting in the bottom of the little waggon Since then I've been studying Friday Feb 2nd Heigh ho I am losing, for the time being, my regularity of habit discombarbarated, to use an expression I recollect hearing often from fathers lips, in days gone by My poor journal is neglected my table covered with all sorts of medical books, in glorious confusion & my poor self, in consequence of all this, at times wearied, at times satisfied with my calling Tis [???]
32 Wednesday Feb 7th On Friday, which is only dated on opposite side of the page, I staid in my office read fixed up my lark's skeleton On Saturday Feb 3rd I examined Mrs Rusk's case more thor oughly than heretofore diagnoses anteversion of uterus, after examination, I felt as if a talk with John wd do me good, so I hied over to Marianna after dinner Arrived there at about sunset Found John in the febrile stage of an intermittent & Cousin Alice poorly All the rest were bright & smiling the brightest of the bright, little Bright Eyes, toddling about across the room & so supremely happy in the possession of her new accomplishment Shes the sweetest little "dunpsey darling", that ever I did see We spent a pleasant eve ning Made some hoar hound candy Julia John & I Thaddy & Pres helping to eat it On Sunday morning, I left pretty early, carrying with me some more borrowed books "St Louis Med &c Journ" "[Yonatt] on the Horse" "Diseases of Uterus} &c & a box of cupping glasses given me by John, with an exhausting pump attached a present for which I am deeply grateful to the donor, he, (John), rode out with me we went to the plantation I saw the new overseer (Kyle) there, Like his looks much better than Brickhouse John rode with me, past Mr Ming's mill, & we parted by Jesse Robinson's plantation Reached my Port before sunset; gave Mrs Rusk some medicine went to bed early was awakened after I had been asleep some hours, to go & see Mrs Skipper found her just recovering from a kind of hysterical convulsion, attendant upon an excruciating headache Gave her some physic staid there all night puzzled about the case, she is a woman full of ailings 'twas raining smartly when I went over; I rose early & happened to find little Tom saddled & ready to come [????], having been sent so I placed him beneath my saddlebags & rode him home as a natural consequence upon last night's professional call, I was bothered & inclined to give up the profession in disgust I made up some medicine for Mrs S & sent it over; Bot a box mustard from Skipper & so forth
33 examined Mrs R again; Succeeded I think, in correcting the uterine displacement Spent much of the afternoon in attending on her Tueday Feb 6th Mrs R better I rode to Mr Owens' this morning to get the things I left there, when attending on Miss Betsy fine beautiful morning; cold tho', I tell you Robert Stell came out today to carry Mrs R over to Chipola, but she [cannot] go a present I strolled with him at sunset to shoot robins cleaned & set in order the cupping instruments [which] John gave me
My poor neglected Diary This is Saturday morning Feb 24th & I have recorded nothing upon thy pages for these many days I have been somewhat busy since scribbling the opposit page to which I attri bute my negligence towards my pen I am owing many letters, which I am now going to pay up, immediately let's see, with regard to professional matters; I have had an obstinate case of invagination &c of the bowels, in little Jimmy Wester, at Skipper's, close by was testing him for 10 days Commenced convalescing last Saturday a week ago I met Dr Yarbrough of [Ochesee] in consultation over him Liked the Dr well, tho' he was uncouth in apparel &c He is an intelligent physician I have been treating Mrs Skipper's case too Her headaches have ceased, permanently, I hope On Sunday night, 2 weeks ago tomorrow, I was called 13 miles, after dark, thro' a drenching rain without a moon, to see a negro who had recd a load of squirrel shot in his left thigh 'twas well peppered I was bothered by a wise acre country ignoramus like an inexperienced fellow too, I suffered him far too much, will learn how to to dispense with such chaps I rode over to Marianna on last Monday Feb 19th came back on Tuesday Saw my little neice who is just a week old born on Sunday morning Feb 11 1849 a wee little bit of a thing Only 5 lbs heavy not so pretty as Ellen but will be a great little gal sweet
34 little Ellen She grows more charming every time I see her I was hoping that this little one wd be a boy I rode over to Marianna with Mc Clellan, who was passing thro' we stopped at Jesse Robinson's & ate some frozen cream which Mrs R & Miss Laura R had there A wonder for Floridians on the Friday preceding the 10th, there was a fall of about an inch & 1/2 of snow Un paralleled severity of weather it was cold, colder, coldest Whilst in Marrianna I hunted with bro Thaddy & Dr Junkins we crossed the Chipola in a batteau I have hunted over the river often here, & shot many squir rels I have just, this morning returned from Mr Ballard's from attending on Robert Crawford, who died there last night at dusk, of delirium tremens An awful death scene I was first called to see him on Wednesday night previous found him crazy talking incoherently, shouting running about & doing every thing that mania a potu cd do A loaded revolver was secreted beneath his bed, whilst he was looking for it; I gave him opiates tre mendously, but with no benefit he had convulsions at about midnight out of which he slowly came I sat up all night dozing only about 1/2 hour at day dawn his mother & brothers & sisters were sent for I went back at about 10 o'clock found him not so low as when I left him found his mother & Mrs Estes there excellent ladies I pity them Mrs C when starting from home had sent for Dr Bruce of Bainbridge he came at about [eight] & left the case with him till morning we agreeing well about it I endeavored to reach there next morning ere he had left but was a little too late I stayed there all day physicking & attending Crawford; he lay in a half somnolent, wandering state, till about dusk He arose violently from bed, with several terrified cries, & rushed out, notwithstanding all efforts of bystanders to
35 the country he struggled violently, & gradually sunk to the floor in convulsions, in which he died, rolling his eyes fearfully gritting his teeth gasping & convulsed he died in about 10 minutes, his poor mother & sisters alas[!] for them I remained till morning Rode at about 4 found some more relations arrived Hardy C & Mr Lewis Heath was making the coffin, out doors, in [frost] I found that Tom had transgressed the imperfect boundary of Mr Ballard's fence, so I had to borrow the horse of Mr Richerson (bro. in law of Crawfoed came yesterday with his wife & child) & ride over Mr R rode with me to get my paper of tacks, to nail on the coffin covering I've eaten breakfast sent a note to John by Robert Stell who was going to Marianna (Robert & Randolph & Martha Stell, have come here to go to school to Thornton they came last Monday & so I've posted up my diary may I keep it better in future I must write several letters to home to Betty Mrs P, Miss Mary & Dr Drake Saturday Feb 24 th I wrote the above this morning; I have just finished a letter to Dr Drake I put on a clean shirt &c this morning saw Anderson & [Kilbec] of Marianna, at the Port Anderson visited me after dinner, he's on his way to Washington city will be there at old Zack's inauguration would that I were there too then I hunted a little over the river twice today with Anderson before dinner & Rusk near dusk no game either time Made Mrs Skipper some pills of Iod Quinine today made my first cash receipt today sold pink root to Wm Owens, for 15 cents & this evening just before supper, sewed up a large gash on the right cheek of young Isaac Owens; put in 3 interrupted sutures & 3 adhesive strips charged a dollar rec 2 bitts cash from Mr Daniel several others paying the balance in partner ship