THE DENTIST
I. Why Ruth Was Afraid

“Oh, dear!” sobbed Ruth. “O—h, dear!” She was sitting in her little rocking-chair in the living-room.

“Why, what’s the matter?” asked Wallace, coming in to look for his books. “Are you hurt?”

“No;” Ruth shook her head.

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“Well, then, what is it?”

“Oh, Wallace, I am so afraid I’m going to be hurt. Mother says there is a dark spot on one of my teeth. She is getting ready to take me to Doctor Harrison’s. I have never had a tooth filled.”

“Well, of all the silly things I ever heard of,” exclaimed Wallace, “that’s the silliest! What makes you think the dentist will hurt you?”

Ruth looked up in surprise.

“Haven’t you ever heard the boys and girls talk of how they were hurt when they had teeth filled?” she asked.

“Oh, I have heard some boys talk,” Wallace admitted; “but they were boys who never cleaned their teeth—”

“And who did not see a dentist until they had a toothache,” added Mrs. Duwell, overhearing Wallace’s remark as she entered the room.

“What, crying?” she asked, noticing Ruth’s swollen eye-lids. “Why, my dear little girl, the dentist is one of your best friends.”

“I guess some of the girls and boys would like him better if he didn’t hurt them so much, mother,” said Ruth.

“That isn’t the dentist’s fault, children,” said Mrs. Duwell. “If boys and girls had their teeth[189] examined once or twice a year, the dentist would catch the trouble in time and save them much pain.”

“I don’t suppose dentists ever want to hurt anyone,” Ruth said.

“No, indeed. I think they are very kind to be willing to do so in order to save teeth. It is dreadful to have bad teeth. Nothing tastes just right; and worse than that, bad teeth mean bad health. Good teeth are a grist mill to grind our food. Without good teeth we cannot have good health.”

“That is so,” said Wallace. “Even horses aren’t worth much after their teeth are gone.”

“Why can’t they wear false ones?” asked Ruth with such seriousness that Wallace burst out laughing.

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