Life, 1910-07-14 · page 15 of 40
Life — July 14, 1910 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**"The Bedside Manner"** is a satirical essay mocking doctors who rely on charm rather than competence. It argues that a reassuring "bedside manner" can be more financially valuable to physicians than actual medical knowledge. The piece sarcastically suggests young doctors study Christian Science to learn how to comfort dying patients while concealing doubt about their survival—the ultimate con. The specific anecdote ridicules a doctor who tells a patient he'll be named after them at autopsy, suggesting such tactlessness disqualifies one from medicine. **"Smith"** is a humorous poem about a man cursed with the common surname Smith, struggling to achieve distinction before ultimately committing suicide—joining "one million Smiths" who've tried the same desperate act. It's dark comedy about anonymity and social aspiration. **The street scene photograph** shows an elderly woman confused about city directions, with a diplomatic policeman redirecting her—illustrating how urban change has disoriented longtime residents. The page satirizes professional pretense, common names as social handicap, and urban transformation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Bedside Manner HE economic relationship of manners to civilization has not always been fully understood. That manners have a financial value is known in commercial circles, but even there the attempt to place them on a commercial basis has only been recent, namely, in the correspondence schools in salesmanship. Generally speaking, however, manners have been regarded as something fairly desirable but of doubtful importance except as a luxury. The bedside manner, however, has long been recognized as having a large bearing on the income of the doctor. Some doctors are born with a natural bed- side manner. In this case no other knowledge is necessary. To make a patient feel at ease in the presence of a probable operation is of much more consequence than the ability to tell whether an operation is necessary or not. One must have tact. The doctor who, in response to the patient's inquiry as to whether he would recover or not, replied that it was doubtful, as they didn't know the nature of the disease, but that the patient would be proud to know that, when it had been duly determined at the autopsy, it would be named after him—this doctor was unfitted for his profession. He ought to have been a motorman. sree The proper bedside manner is one that carries conviction with it. It should inspire perfect confidence. For this pur- pose it is recommended that every young doctor take a course — in Christian Science merely 10 improve his bedside manners He will then, while practically acknowledging that the patient AvamON NOTE cannot possibly get well, be able to conceal it effectively under a gay demeanor. “ Many is the time,” said the young clergy- man at his first funeral, “have I dangled this corpse on my "' This is the kind of speech every doctor should avoid. It doesn't pay MR. SPINDLE, THK WELL-KNOWN AVIATOR, MADE A SHORT BUT SUCCESSFUL FLIGHT AT THE POLO GROUNDS YESTERDAY knee. Smith IS name was Smith, A common fate It seemed to bar Him from the great. Most Smiths have felt The same of late. He struggled, though, Till he became, In civil law, A famous name And found one hundred Smiths the same He felt he was By name accursed, For though, in crime, He did his worst. One thousand Smiths Had been there first. So then he prac- tised suicide, And careful He went and died— The way one million niths have tried He dangled in A sulphur stew, And there he cussed Till Hell was blue— Old Lady (who has lost her bearings): wut, peax we! t's ceeTaiy THAT THE LAST TIME 1 WAS HERE 1 WENT THAT WAY TO HaRLes, One billion Smiths Diplomatic Policeman: 11'S RIGHT IN THE Pe Were in there, too. TE DIRECTION, Now, MuUat. E SURPRISED AT THE CHANGES THAT’S BEEN MADE. “LIFE: 63 comicbooks.com