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accepted part of living. Every home had a jar of "Toothache Gum", -~.a thick paste which was packed into a hollow molar and which usually brought temporary relief. Another, and a more drastic pain-stopper was a bit of cotton batting soaked in carbolic acid. There were other remedies, such as oil of clove, but they, too, were only stop-gap measures; the only sure cure was extraction, and, since few sufferers took their troubles to the city dentists, either Dr. Alex. or Dr. John was called upon to wield the forceps.

When I was about nine, my dental problems reached a point at which gun, carbolic acid, or clove oil had no effect. One evening after the chores had been completed, my father drove me to Dr. John's office in Bonshaw, where I was placed in a chair while the doctor selected the proper pincers for the job. This was long before the advent of novocaine or any other local anesthetics. Examination showed that two teeth needed removal: a lower cuspid and a lower first molar. The cuspid came out with little difficulty, but the molar was a difrerent matter. The doctor tugged and twisted; twice, the forceps slipped off the tooth; all the while, I was bellowing loudly enough to be heard all the way back to New Haven Corner. Finally, the tooth yielded.and I scrambled out of the chair, mentally vowing that henceforth I would endure toothache rather than face another extraction. My only satisfaction, apart from the relief, was the possession of the cuspid and molar which I carried about for months and proudly displayed to everyone who would look at thems The memory of my ordeal was a lasting one, and it was many a year before I even began to overcome my dread at the thought of a dentist's chair.

Many of the older menbers of the community scorned the services of both doctors and city dentists. When they could no longer stand the aching, they went to an itinerant veterinarian of sorts who performed the operation for twenty-five cents and a drink of whiskey. Truly, a rece of

fron men!