o COLUMBIA UBRARIE8 OFFSTTE Hf Ai iH scif ^(r:f s "^.TANDAfn) HX64094235 R154.F27 D65 Docior George I ^ v.;;'.;*! RECAP Columbia ^nitiem'tp tntljfCitpofllfttJtork College of ^ljps;ician£( anh ^urgeong 2)octor (5eorge jf aulkner of S^amaica Iplain 5ul^ 14, I8t9 Huau8t 27. 1911 1?/5V. fi- Dr. GEORGE FAULKNER OF JAMAICA PLAIN Digitized by tine Internet Arcinive in 2010 with funding from Open Knowledge Commons http://www.archive.org/details/doctorgeorgefaulOObost Dr. GEORGE FAULKNER George Faulkner was born in Billerica, Massachusetts, July 14, 1819, and died at his home, 29 Greenough Avenue, Jamaica Plain, on August 27, 1911. He was the youngest of twelve children of Francis Faulkner, a woolen cloth manufacturer of North Billerica, and his paternal grandfather was Colonel Francis Faulkner of Acton, who, it is said, commanded the Middle- sex Regiment of Militia at the Battle of Lexing- ton. Francis Faulkner, son of the Colonel, and father of Dr. Faulkner, was then a lad of six- teen years and appears to have been also on the battlefield after the British had begun to retire having followed his father with a supply of food prepared by his mother and other women of Acton after the minute men had hurriedly gone forward to defend Concord and Lexington. Dr. Faulkner had also distinguished connections in other branches of the family, two uncles having become Congressmen^ and two cousins, viz., Benjamin R. Curtis, Judge of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, and Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, or- ganizer and first President of Robert College, Constantinople, bearing well-known names. The boy George attended the public schools and Westford Academy, and in 1835 went to work in a store in Boston intending to become a merchant, but after three years returned home, finding mercantile life distasteful. Securing from his father permission to go to college, he was prepared at Leicester Academy and finally at Phillips Academy, Exeter, an institution to which he ever after referred with pleasure and gratitude. Entering Harvard in 1840 he was graduated in the class of 1844, having in the meantime taught school in the winter vacations. On leaving college he began to study medicine in the office of Dr. Twitchell, a famous physician of Keene, N. H., and in 1847 obtained the degree of Doctor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School where he had spent two years. He had a valuable hospital experience to which, during his later years, he often referred, in one of the city institutions on Rainsford Island, where he saw a great variety of cases, including small pox, often of the worst type, and the now rare disease, ''ship" or ''jail" fever (typhus). Here he was so impressed with certain reme- diable abuses of administration that he wrote to one of the leading newspapers an anonymous letter drawing public attention to the need of reform, wihereupon he soon had the amusement as well as the satisfaction of witnessing the mystification and discomfiture of his superiors at the revelations which he himself had made. This may well have been his first effective ex- pression of that indignation towards civic wrong-doing, that eagerness for the improve- ment of the world, that sympathy with the poor and the unfortunate which were some of the chief characteristics of his riper years. We next find him associated with a much older physician, Dr. Luther M. Harris of the old town of West Roxbury, residing in that part of it now known as Jamaica Plain, and when, not long after. Dr. Harris died, Dr. Faulkner succeeded to his practice. For thirty-two con- secutive years he practised medicine in Jamaica Plain, and in his later years he was often heard to say, "No man ever had finer people to care for. Most of them were so intelligent that if I told them I didn't know what ailed them they didn't dismiss me; and even if I told them they didn't need any medicine they still wanted me to keep coming. And most of them paid their bills." Sayings like this — of which there are many — ^may possibly give to those who did not know him, some faint idea of the manner of man Dr. Faulkner was. Of medium height, sparely built, erect in form, inquisitive, eager and earnest in gaze, quick of apprehension and of speech, hearty in laughter, yet often v/himsical and always inde- pendent and original, Dr. Faulkner went his way in and out among his people, alert and sympathetic and a little aloof, not always under- stood, but always respected and always beloved. He was a life-long admirer of his first profes- sional teacher. Dr. Twitchell, and an ardent disciple — almost a worshipper — of Dr. Jacob Bigelow, whose famous essay on ''Self Limited Diseases," published in 1835, was the corner stone upon which Dr. Faulkner built the whole edifice of his own theory and practice. An inevitable corollary of Dr. Bigelow's great essay was the comparative uselessness of drugs (especially in such diseases as the fevers) and Dr. Faulkner — who never hesitated, as so many do, to accept the consequences of his theories — ^became from the outset of his practice a physician who "drugged" but little, thereby dififering widely from many of his contemporaries. In his old age nothing gave him greater satisfaction than the general recognition and acceptance by the profession of the same point of view which he had adopted years before as a young man and in the face of much hostile criticism. His own simple theory of medical practice reduced to its lowest terms and often reiterated by him' in con- versation was, "Comfort, support and cheer your patient." And yet he was no nihilist in medicine. He always spoke gratefully of drugs — "about a half a dozen or so." It was simply that he believed on the one hand with all his heart in the great Hippocratic doctrine of the healing power of nature, and on the other in his own theory quoted above which involved the control of pain and the reinforcement of the weak or struggling body and soul. But above all, along with his professional advice and into his every prescription went some of his own cheerful patience and courage, some of his own fortifying common sense, which left the patient, not as sometimes happens when the doctor goes, sadder if no wiser, but "comforted, supported and cheered" by his manly courage and trans- parent honesty. Sensible of his honorable ancestry and grate- ful for it. Dr. Faulkner was yet, both in theory and practice, a thoroughgoing democrat. The poor, the unfortunate, the weary, and the heavy laden, never failed to enlist his sympathy or aid. He was theoretically opposed to power and privi- lege of every sort, but only if unjustly obtained or held or exercised. For he was no an- archist or socialist. He knew too well that physical and physiological features differentiate, and must forever separate, individuals and races. But all the more he held, for that very reason, that the strong must help to bear the burdens of the weak, and it was because of this among other things that a hospital appealed to him and to his wife and daughter as one of the finest forms of philanthropy. In politics. Dr. Faulkner was an old line Democrat, although in his later years he some- times refrained from voting for a candidate he could not approve, and more rarely voted as an independent. As illustrating his interest in the community in which he lived for so many years and his eager desire for its civic, social, and philanthropic betterment, it may be said that he was one of the founders of the Jamaica Plain Friendly Society, of the local Dispensary, of the Eliot Club, and of the Fraternal Council of Churches. Dr. Faulkner was twice married, first in 1847 to Mary Ann Spaulding of Billerica, and again in 1870 to Abby Adams of Boston. Only one child, of the first marriage, Mary, reached adult life and she died in 1896 at the age of 37. Mary Faulkner inherited her father's ability, honesty and good sense, as well as his profound svm- 9 pathy with the poor and the unfortunate. She was a devoted churchwoman and a constant worker in charitable and philanthropic organizations, Her influence, especially upon boys and young men, was very great, and she will long be re- membered in Jamaic'a Plain for her good works and her sweet reasonaibleness. To Mary Faulkner, Abby Adams Faulkner, having no children of her own, gave without reserve al- most the same affection which she would have bestowed upon her own daughter. Mrs. Faulk- ner and Mary Faulkner were very unlike in many respects, and a greater mutual attraction of opposite natures is seldom seen. Mrs. Faulk- ner was not practical and she lived largely in the realm of the spirit and of the imagination, — in music, in poetry and in the fine arts; and yet she also was tenderly sympathetic, and full of pity for the poor and the sick and the afflicted. Father, mother and daughter thus came to- gether and became wonderfully united upon the elemental basis of a common humanitarianism. Hence, too, it was natural that when their only daughter died, Dr. and Mrs. Faulkner should have determined to devote all their resources to lier memory in the establishment of a general hospital for the benefit "of the people of the old town of West Roxbury." For this purpose 10 they themselves chose as a site the beautiful lot of land, adjoining and overlooking the Arnold Arboretum, upon which the Hospital now stands. After Airs. Faulkner's death on January 5, 1900 Dr. Faulkner made over to the hospital most of his own property, and it thereupon be- came possible to organize the corporation and begin construction. At Dr. Faulkner's death the trust established by Mrs. Faulkner's will was turned over to the Hospital, the sums thus given to the Hospital amounting to $237,817.89 from Mrs. Faulkner's estate and $248,021.30 from Dr. Faulkner's. It is worthy of note that during the years that intervened between Mrs. Faulkner's death and his own. Dr. Faulkner never interfered in the smallest degree with the work of the Trus- tees, and never, by either word or deed, sought to influence their action. He never entered the building during the period of construction, and only too seldom visited the Hospital after it went into operation. This was not from any lack of interest, but rather because he was so much interested that he feared 'he might meddle and make trouble. When speaking with any of the Trustees or the Staff he invariably referred to the Hospital as "your Hospital." And yet. 11 when stopped on the street as he often was by some one who had been a patient there, or who had had a friend there, and told how much the hospital had done for some one, he was frankly delighted and fond of repeating the conversa- tion. Dr. Faulkner had during his long life his full share of trouble, pain and sorrow, but few, very few, achieve maturity and old age so full of vigor and energy and fortitude as did he. He was forty years of age before he had accumu- lated as much as one thousand dollars of capital, and in early life — at about thirty — he was deemed almost an invalid. Perhaps, as has so often happened with others, his struggles and his poor health made him careful and thus pro- longed and conserved his age. Certain it is that in his last years he seemed to possess unusual vigor and endurance, both mental and physical. To some who knew him best it was little short of marvellous to discover afresh from time to time the breadth of his reading and thinking and the soundness of his mental assimilation. Often it seemed as if he were an omnivorous reader, and as if his reading kept his body, as well as his mind, active and alert. At other times, to one observing his habit of taking long walks in the open air, it seemed as if the freshened physical 12 basis almost created the keen and vigorous mental superstructure. Walking was for years his invariable daily custom, and not until the muscles refused to do their work did he abandon it. Those who saw him trudging about day after day, doubtless thought walking his pastime. But it was not so. More often it was only a stern sense of duty that urged him forth, at- tended until the later years by two small dogs, and afterward by one, — Scotch terriers belong- ing to his wife and daughter. A young friend after making him a call three or four years before his death and finding him particularly alert and breezy, wrote : — ''It is his keen interest in life, in every side of life, that appeals to me. His odd, terse way of expressing himself gives me the same kind of pleasure I get from a bright novel, — only infinitely better, — he is so teeming with humanity." No sketch of Dr. Faulkner's life would be complete without reference to his simple, yet profound, religious faith. Brought up in a Unitarian family he was connected at different times more or less closely with the Congrega- tional, Baptist and Episcopalian Churches. Dis- tinctions of sect or creed, however, meant little to him and one of his most valued friends was his neighbor, the Rev. C. F. Dole, now and for 13 many years the Unitarian minister of Jamaica Plain, who has finely written of him: — "He faced the world like a true, brave and patient man; he was independent in speech and action, never afraid to be in the minority; he bore old age with genial grace, 'and faced the coming of death as one who goes to meet a friend ; he kept to the last his wide interest in all things that touch the welfare of man, and while seeing the evil and the mischief, held an almost youthful confidence in the victory of the good. . . He was an invincible democrat, with Abraham Lincoln's conviction that the people can and must be trusted. His broad sympathies impressed themselves also upon his religious opinions, and he could scarcely abide sectarian divisions." While Mrs. Faulkner and Mary were living the three occasionally attended at the same time three different churches — yet always with perfect tolerance each of the other's opinions. Dr. Faulkner never discussed or intruded his beliefs, but those who knew him well saw that each day he read his Bible and knew that he spent some time in prayer. Only very rarely, even to his nearest friends, did he ever speak of his religious opinions, and then, though with perfect confidence, in absolute humility. He sometimes quoted, as expressing his own views. 14 the following passages from Principal Caird of the University of Glasgow: "Then I answer, finally, that to whatever world death introduces you the best conceivable preparation for it is to labor for the highest good of the world in which you live. "Be the change which death brings what it may, he who has spent his life in trying to make this world better can never be unprepared for another." At the age of 90 Dr. Faulkner seemed hale and vigorous, and at 91 hardly less so. But as 92 drew on he became gradually weaker, looking patiently, but rather wearily and a little wist- fully, for the end. This came at last not, as he had hoped, by apoplexy but as a flame, when fuel fails, burns low and flickers and goes out. MINUTE ADOPTED BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE FAULKNER HOSPITAL ON OCTOBER 19. 1911 "The Trustees of the Faulkner Hospital desire to place on record their sense of personal loss in the death of the surviving Founder, Dr. George Faulkner. They desire also to bear witness to his steadfast and unquestioning devotion to the Hospital and all con- nected with it ; to his firm conviction of the necessity and the obligation of the care of the unfortunate by the more fortunate, — especially in the direction of medical charities ; and to his abiding belief in democ- racy, coupled with a profound sympathy for the poor. "For more than thirty years Dr. Faulkner was a practising physician in the old town of West Rox- bury, and was thus enabled to see and to study all sorts and conditions of men. It was no surprise, therefore, to those who knew him and Mrs. Faulkner when it appeared that they had determined to bestow their property upon a general hospital, to be located in Jamaica Plain, in memory of their daughter Mary, whose labors and interests had been much among the lowly, and whose sympathies were essentially identi- cal with their own. It was the constant desire of the founders to leave behind them something of per- manent benefit to the citizens, and especially the less fortunate citizens of the old town of West Roxbury, and the beautiful grounds upon which the hospital stands were selected and purchased for it by them 16 personally. The site and the hospital, as well as the endowment, thus stand to-day, and we trust will forever stand, an abiding testimonial to their regard for their town and for their fellow-citizens, — a noble monument of civic and philanthropic affection. "We rejoice that Dr. Faulkner lived to see the Hospital in full operation and that its plans and its conduct had from the beginning his approval. We shall miss his sound and wise and cheerful support, his broad humanitarianism, his strong conviction of the reality of human progress. "Above all, those of us who have had the privilege of his personal friendship will miss Dr. Faulkner's eager welcome, his keen interest in affairs, his vdde and courageous and charitable outlook, his infectious optimism, his simple and childlike religious faith, his fortitude, and his sagacious judgments on men and manners and institutions. May his memory long remain as a benediction and an integral part of the endowment of the Hospital which bears his family name." Jamaica Printing Company, Jamaica Plain, Boston, Mass. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as provided by the rules of the Library or by special arrange- ; ment with the Librarian in charge. i DATE BORROWED DATE DUE DATE BORROWED DATE DUE ! [ C28(n4l)M100 hl54.F27 D65