CHAPTER V
PRACTICAL WORK IN AMERICA
The first seven years of New York life were years
of very difficult, though steady, uphill work. It
was carried on without cessation and without
change from town, either summer or winter. I took
good rooms in University Place, but patients came
very slowly to consult me. I had no medical
companionship, the profession stood aloof, and
society was distrustful of the innovation. Insolent
letters occasionally came by post, and my pecuniary
position was a source of constant anxiety.
Soon after settling down I made an application to be received as one of the physicians in the women's department of a large City dispensary; but the application was refused, and I was advised to form my own dispensary.
My keenest pleasure in those early days came from the encouraging letters received from the many valued English friends who extended across the ocean the warm sympathy they had shown in London. They strengthened that feeling of kinship to my native land which finally drew me back to it.
