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Yes, responded Pollyanna. But I dont see it that way at all. I dont think you have to learn how to live. I didnt, anyhow. The doctor drew a long sigh. After all, Im afraid some of usdo have to, little girl, he said. Then, for a time he was silent. Pollyanna, stealing a glance at his face, felt vaguely sorry for him. He looked so sad. She wished, uneasily, that she could do something. It was this, perhaps, that caused her to say in a timid voice: Dr. Chilton, I should think being a doctor would, be the very gladdest kind of a business there was. The doctor turned in surprise. Gladdest!when I see so much suffering always, everywhere I go? he cried. She nodded. I know; but youre helping itdont you see?and of course youre glad to help it! And so that makes you the gladdest of any of us, all the time. The doctors eyes filled with sudden hot tears. The doctors life was a singularly lonely one. He had no wife and no home save his two-room office in a boarding house. His profession was very dear to him. Looking now into Pollyannas shining eyes, he felt as if a loving hand had been suddenly laid on his head in blessing. He knew, too, that never again would a long days work or a long nights weariness be quite without that new-found exaltation that had come to him through Pollyannas eyes. God bless you, little girl, he said unsteadily. Then, with the bright smile his patients knew and loved so well, he added: And Im thinking, after all, that it was the doctor, quite as much as his patients, that needed a draft of that tonic! All of which puzzled Pollyanna very muchuntil a chipmunk, running across the road, drove the whole matter from her mind. The doctor left Pollyanna at her own door, smiled at Nancy, who was sweeping off the front porch, then drove rapidly away. Ive had a perfectly beautiful ride with the doctor, announced Pollyanna, bounding up the steps. Hes lovely, Nancy! Is he? Yes. And I told him I should think his business would be the very gladdest one there was. What!goin ter see sick folksan folks what aint sick but thinks they is, which is worse? Nancys face showed open skepticism. Pollyanna laughed gleefully. Yes. Thats most what he said, too; but there is a way to be glad, even then. Guess! Nancy frowned in meditation. Nancy was getting so she could play this game of being glad quite successfully, she thought. She rather enjoyed studying out Pollyannas posers, too, as she called some of the little girls questions. Oh, I know, she chuckled. Its just the opposite from what you told Mis Snow. Opposite? repeated Pollyanna, obviously puzzled. Yes. You told her she could be glad because other folks wasnt like herall sick, you know. |
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