the old-school vet, 1924

From the foreword to "Dr. Little's Dog Book" by George Watson Little D.V.M.

...the day of the fat, good-natured, collarless, tobacco-chewing "vet" has almost passed away.  In country districts he used to drive up in a ramshackle buggy hitched to a horse which he had been asked to board. His clothes were more than reminiscent of stable and kennel odors, while his talk was a mixture of hearsay, superstition and guess. His methods were so antiquated and clumsy that the phrase became current, "If you've got a sick animal, let it die in peace, for a vet only kills it, anyhow..."

...In old days a man seldom selected his profession as a veterinary—the job was rather wished upon him because he hadn't much to do or had failed at a number of other things and the neighbors commercialized his willingness. It relieved a farmer's conscience to have somebody sit up with a sick horse while he slept, and it was an office that could be repaid with some potatoes, perhaps. Now a man assumes the practise of canine medicine because he loves it. At least, I did...

from  Little, George Watson. Dr. Little's Dog Book. New York: R.M. McBride & Company, 1924. v-vi.