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Show Mark Twain's Reason for Not Asking Loan Dr. Clarence C. Rice of New York, who introduced Mark Twain to H. II. Rogers in 1S94, when the fortunes of the writer had failed, and thus got the American humorist back on his feet financially, has told of his experiences with Mark Twain as a patient, says a writer in the Mentor. According to Doctor Rice, Mark Twain was never seriously ill till the . final Illness. Doctor Rice writes: "Mark Twain was never ill just colds. I would take his temperature occasionally, but he generally insisted that is was only a bluff and that the thermometer was put in his mouth to keep him from talking. -He told me that old yarn of the patient who obtained a prescription from his physician phy-sician and, after looking at the paper, asked how much the medicine would cost. When the doctor told him that it would cost about $2 the patient requested re-quested the physician to loan him the $2. The indignant doctor finally said: 'Here are the $2; give me the prescription. pre-scription. I want to make an altera- ! tion. I'm scratching out the nerve tonic; you won't ne"d that.' Mark Twain observed : 'I have always ad- j mired that man. That was a noble j piece of graft. I have thought of try- j ing the game on you, but I've never seen the time when 1 thought you had ; the $2." j |