LVIII.

DENTISTRY AT THE OLD PLANTATION HOME.

The incident which we relate occurred some forty years ago at one of those beautiful plantations in the swamp-region of Georgia, where the magnolia grandiflora and the live-oak mingled their noble shadows,--where the cultivation of rice and sea-island cotton engaged the attention of the agriculturalist,--where generous hospitality and a patriarchal civilization abode,--and where, at a remove from city, all operations were conducted within the limits of the liberal domain, and through the intervention of means and servants appurtenant to the long-established and abundant home.

Prominent among the domestics on this plantation was Daddy Jack. A favorite servant, intelligent, obedient, courteous, and with the manners of the old school, he was now verging upon sixty. Among other duties devolved upon him was the general supervision of the plantation infirmary where the sick were carefully nursed and supplied with medicine and suitable food. Acquiring considerable knowledge in the treatment of ordinary diseases incident to climate and exposure, he had become, in the estimation of his fellow-servants, a famous leech; and was at all times prepared, with entire self-possession and dignity, to indulge in blood-letting, to administer purgatives, prescribe hot baths, and recommend tonics. A pint of blood to reduce the pulse, then ten grains of calomel, followed in the morning by half a teacup of castor-oil containing three or four drops of turpentine to impart additional potency to the dose, and finally snake-root tea to brace up the halting system, constituted the practice in vogue in cases of ordinary fever. If this vigorous treatment failed of the desired effect, a repetition was generally resolved upon; and so the patient, sometimes enfeebled to such a degree that he no longer afforded attractive food for disease, slowly recovered in spite of this San Grado regimen. As a supplement to his professional labors as a physician, Daddy Jack indulged, in a rude way, in the art of dentistry. He understood how to cut around an aching tooth with the same lancet which he employed in blood-letting from the arm. He knew how to annihilate an exposed and throbbing nerve with a ten-penny nail heated red-hot. With the use of an old-fashioned extractor, with which to pry out an offending molar tooth, sometimes even at the expense of a fractured jaw, he was familiar. In the absence of a suitable instrument, a strong twine string, well waxed, sufficed to pull out an incisor.

On one occasion a strolling Yankee dentist visited the neighborhood. For the first time Jack beheld sundry appliances which modern ingenuity had devised for the facile extraction of teeth. In his old methods he at once lost confidence. Application was made to his master for the immediate purchase of certain designated lancets, and for pairs of forceps, both straight and curved. His wish was gratified, and the plantation was notified that he now possessed instruments with which teeth might be extracted readily and with the least amount of pain. An era of increased practice and of enlarged professional emolument quickly dawned. It really appeared as if there was scarcely a negro upon the plantation who did not have at least one tooth which “hot um,” and which “eh wan Buh Jack fuh pull out fuh um.” The old man’s services were frequently called into requisition, and his reputation so increased that numbers from adjacent plantations sought and obtained relief at his hands.

One bright spring morning, a stalwart young carpenter, John by name, who had been suffering from a decayed jaw-tooth of huge proportions, presented himself with swollen face and most lugubrious countenance. The customary fee of a quarter of a dollar was paid in advance, and Daddy Jack made ready for the operation. Seating John in a wooden chair in the yard, and with his face turned to the sun so that the old man could “git er fair sight at de teet,” Jack proceeded with his lancet to separate the tooth, as far as practicable, from the engorged and circumjacent gum. John squirmed and indulged in heart-rending groans. As the cutting proceeded and the blood trickled from the corners of John’s mouth, Jack encouraged his demoralized patient with the injunction: “Tan ter um luk er man, me son. Eh yen gwine hot you much. Eh yen gwine tek long. Me mose done. Me soon git um out.”

This preliminary operation concluded, Jack produced his forceps. John, already appalled at the suffering which he had endured, gazed upon the instrument with eyes as big as saucers, and resolutely closed his mouth. To Jack’s command that he open it, he responded: “De teet yent duh hot me no mo. I gwine.” After much persuasion Jack prevailed upon him to open his mouth and let him “tek de ting out.” At length the old man firmly grasped the tooth with the forceps, and began to haul away at it. As he pulled, John commenced to rise from his seat. Jack endeavored, with the left hand, to keep him down, while he tugged lustily at the tooth with his right. All to no purpose. John was quickly upon his feet, and then upon tiptoe, so that Jack could no longer operate to any advantage. It seemed as if for once the sable dentist was to be baffled in his aim. Nothing daunted, however, and muttering imprecations upon his unfortunate victim, he slowly backed across the yard, drawing John after him,--who meanwhile was giving utterance to the most miserable and unearthly sounds from his bloody jaws, and attempting, with uplifted hands, to arrest the traction of the resolute old man, who refused for an instant to relax his hold,--until he reached a flight of steps which led up to the main room of the smoke-house. Here he hoped to acquire the advantage which he so much desired. Ascending backward three of the steps, and quickly placing his right foot upon John’s shoulder, so as to keep him below and thus obtain an additional purchase, with one supreme effort he succeeded in compassing his purpose. The tooth came out so suddenly that the old man, losing his balance, fell heavily against the door of the smoke-house, while John tumbled in the opposite direction, yelling with pain, and protesting that “Uncle Jack done broke eh jaw.”

Recovering himself in a trice, and holding aloft the forceps, which still infolded in its remorseless fangs the gory molar, with an indescribable air of commingled dignity, scorn, and triumph addressing the discomfited victim of his professional skill, old Jack exclaimed: “Haw, Boy! when I graff my han on er teet, eh bown fuh come, er de jaw pop,--one er tarruh.”

In after years the old man often recurred with manifest pride and satisfaction to this incident, and frequently cited this exploit in confirmation of his boast “dat no nigger teet ebber yet did git de better er me.”