CHAPTER 2THE position of a woman doctor in any small town is anomalous enough, but in a small southern town where there’s still a definite notion that there are some things a lady doesn’t do, her position is still more curious. For years I treated whooping cough, measles, and mumps in the very young. Later I was called in for impoverished adults who couldn’t afford anything better. I had a scattering of the “better” people for colds and indiscretion in eating. Eventually, by the death of two of our older doctors, I succeeded to the practice of respectable diseases (if any disease is respectable). That’s the amusing part of small towns and their doctors. A man, no matter how bad, is better than a woman. A woman doctor who’s been with you twenty years, however, is better than a young male do
