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By Frank R. Stockton
Originally published in 1896
There is a rather peculiar story told of this school
in its early days. It had been established about
two months, when the
schoolmaster happened
to be walking in
the direction of
the school quite
late in the evening, and to his
amazement he
saw that the
little room was brilliantly
lighted. Now, as he and
his scholar had left it
in the afternoon, and he
had locked the door, he
could not understand the
state of affairs. Hurrying to the house, he looked
in at the window, and saw that the room was nearly
filled with well-dressed men, who were standing and
sitting around a table on which were spread cards
and money. He saw that they were a company of
gamblers; but how they came there, and why they came,
he could not imagine. Of course, he could not drive
hem out; but, after watching them for a little while,
he boldly opened the door and went in among them,
They were so occupied with their game, however,
that they paid little attention to him; and, after standing
with them for a time, he remarked to one of
them that he hoped that when they had finished
their game, and were ready to go away, they would
leave everything behind them in as good order as
they had found it, and then he himself departed and
went home. But the next morning, when he and his
scholar came to the schoolhouse, he found everything
as they had left it on the afternoon before; and
this schoolmaster might have been excused if he had
imagined that he had dreamed that he saw the curious
sight of a company of gamblers in his schoolhouse.
But he found out afterwards that it was no dream.
There was a set of men gathered together from the
neighboring country, who regularly spent certain evenings
in gambling for high stakes. They had discovered that there was no better place for their
meetings than the little schoolhouse, which was tenanted
by two persons in the daytime and by nobody
at night; and, as it was so far away from the other
houses, it was a very convenient place for their
secret meetings, and they had been in the habit of
assembling there almost from the very time that it
was cleaned out and arranged for a schoolhouse.
When the schoolmaster found that he had devoted
his energies to the establishment of a very flourishing
gambling saloon, when he supposed that he had
founded nothing but a weak little school, he took
measures to prevent any further visits from the gentlemen
with the cards and the money. After that,
the exercises in addition, subtraction, and multiplication,
were figured out with a pencil or chalk instead
of being done by means of spades or diamonds.
In those early days the doctor was almost as slow
in coming to the front as was the schoolmaster.
In fact, it is said that the first doctors in New
Jersey were women, and that the people placed such
faith in their abilities, that unless a case were very
serious indeed, so that a physician had to be sent
for from the city, they were perfectly satisfied with
the services of the women doctors. It is also stated,
that in those days the people of New Jersey were
very healthy. These two statements can be put together
in different ways: some may say, that, where
people were so seldom sick, doctors of great ability
were not needed; while, on the other hand, those
who have a higher opinion of womankind might well
believe, that, because women made such good doctors,
the people were seldom sick.
It must be remembered, however, that the mothers,
wives, sisters, and daughters of the people of this
State, were formerly looked upon as of more impor-
tance than they are now; and among the rights
which they possessed in those early days, but of
which they have since been deprived, was the right
of voting. An early writer, speaking of this privilege,
says, "The New Jersey women, however, showed
themselves worthy of the respect of their countrymen
by generally declining to avail themselves of this
preposterous proof of it." It is very pleasant for us
to remember that New Jersey was among the first of our States in which free and equal rights were given
to all citizens, male or female, if they chose to avail
themselves of them.
But when the population of New Jersey so increased
that it became plain that the women could
not be physicians, and attend at the same time to
their domestic duties, the care of their children, and
the demands of society, the citizens of New Jersey
gave as earnest and thorough attention to their needs
in the way of medicine and surgery as they had
given to their needs in the way of college education;
and the first State Medical Society in this country
was founded in New Jersey in the year 1766.
It is said that some of the early doctors of New
Jersey possessed great ability, and, although there
could not have been many of them at first, they
arranged for a suitable increase in their society, and
nearly every one of them had one or more students.
A medical student in those days did not occupy
the same position that he holds now. In fact, he
was nothing more nor less than an apprentice to his
master. He was bound to the doctor by a regular
indenture. He lived in his family, and, when he was
not engaged in his studies, he was expected to make
himself useful in various domestic ways, often learning
the use of the saw in the wood yard.
A very natural consequence of this domestic fashion
of pursuing their studies was, that, when the young
doctor started out to establish a practice for himself,
he not only had a certificate or diploma from his
master. but was also provided with a wife, for marriages of medical students with the daughters of their
preceptors were very common.
This Web version, edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
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