Life — January 8, 1903 — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

While there is Life there's Hop XU JAN. 8, 1608. 19 West Tmikty-Frest St. vou. No. 1054 New Yous. Published 1 $00 a year in ad ries in the Postal Vo contribution accompanied by will be returned untess Stamped and addressed The illustrations in Live are copyrighted, and are not to be reproduced. Prompt notification should be sent by sub- scribers of any change of address. M425 TWAIN a is writing in a contemporary magazine about Christian Science. He does not in- dorse it ; quite the contrary ; but he thinks it works surpassingly well, and he seems to think it has very, very prosperous times ahead of it. He is fairly well satisfied with it as a s of making people feel as well are, and does not worry be- cause it sometimes kills a patient who is truly ill. He believes, or affects to believe, that its adherents are going to be the strongest religious body in this country except the Roman Catholics, and he foresecs, or affects to foresee, that in the end its votaries will deify and worship Mother Eddy. Preposter- ous as this last suggestion seems, he cites some interesting facts in support of it. Our Brother Mark's expectations conflict. It is possible that Christian Scientists may presently worship Mother Eddy. It is also possible that the Christian Scientists may presently form a very strong and numerous re- ligious body. Either one of these things may happen, but not both, The advertising columns of every news- per attest the credulity of the Amer- “an people in the matter of cure-all Charlatans, nostrum - vendors and bogus healers of every description gull them by the million every day. ‘LIFE Bat setting up a new divinity is a dif- ferent matter. American training is not favorable to that. ‘THe North American Review has ~ begun serial publication of a new story by Mr. Henry James. The Review is in its eighty-eighth year, but it never printed a work of fiction be- fore. If it is to change the habits of a lifetime it does well to begin with a story by Mr. Jam People read. the Review not so much for entertainment as for edification. To the same end they read Mr. James's stories, and they get what they are after, for Mr. James is undoubtedly edifying to read- ers who have the leisure and the req- uisite mental qualifications to dally with him, Neither the North Amer can nor its r him because he does not introduce de- tectives or broadsword exercise into his tales, nor use rope-ladders for the facilitation of matrimony. He has come to his own, and his own has taken him in. 2 ES, [7 bas deen generally appreciated that the purpose of the labors of Doctor Lorenz in this country was not to make money but to advance medical science. Nevertheless, there have been exaggerated reports of great fees that he received, and rumors that he had earned a great sum of money caught his eye. He took the trouble to dis- close that Mr. Armour paid him thirty thousand dollars, and that his other fees for private operations were barely sufficient to pay his expenses. He was none the richer for his visit, he said, for his private practice in Vienna would have brought him in quite as much as he received here in the same space of time. What pleased him here was his reception by his col- leagues and by the people, and the facilities afforded him to make his ex- perience profitable to physicians and their patients in America, Agreat physician or a great surgeon, if he practices in a big city, commonly gets rich. There is a market for all Jers will find fault with — his skill, and though he commonly gives away a generous share of it, the market price for what he sells is high, and his pecuniary reward is ample. That is asitshould be. Unusual talent and skill should have their due pecan- iary reward in every profession. But whereas money-making is the chief end of business, it is, or should be, an incident of the labor of professional men, and especially of doctors. The success of a business man is measured by his profits. The reputation of a doctor or lawyer is merely reflected in his fees, They are not the measure of it. It is the business side of him that makes money, but his professional side that wins fame. It is a misfortune when a doctor lacks business sense and does not get his just dues out of people who can pay, but we do not like doc- tors in whom the business faculty is too prominently developed. Their own professional brethren don’t like them either, When a great doctor is a pig, as occasionally happens, the other doc- tors know it and criticise him. But it does not often happen so. The big doctors are pretty big men, and Doctor Lorenz is a fine example of them. jt is matter for congratulation that President Roosevelt has been able to avoid the undesirable labor of arbi- trating the matters in dispute between Venezuela and Europe. There was no doubt that he preferred not to undertake the work, and the readiness and the fitness of The Hague Tribunal for such duties has made it feasible for him to decline. It is his busy time. He is already working full hours on work- ing days, and though at a pinch hecan turn his hand to arbitration, the pinch must be urgent to warrant him in bringing personal relief. War in Vene- zuela is merely war, and on a small scale at that. It is not a critical exigency like the coal strike, and if it were, it is not certain that the President would care to meddle, for the cure of the coal strike is still much discussed by publicists who think it a dangerous precedent; and the hope is earnest and pretty general that it may be the only case of its kind. comicbooks.com