Family Doctor

A laughing, whooping crowd of plain people craned necks at a sleepy horse in Mulvane, Kans. last week. It was "Annual Old Settlers Day," and old Dr. Solomon Thomas Shelly was giving a special show. The week before he had sent out a blanket invitation to more than 4,000 persons who got "their start in life" with his help. Some 10,000 people from Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and farther States came to Mulvane (pop. 1,200) to see the fun.

Dr. Shelly, 76, swung on to his horse, fixed a shiny oldtime stovepipe hat on his head, put a perky cigar in his mouth, and posed for a moment. Except for frock coat and saddle medicine bags, that was the way he rode into Mulvane 52 years ago, a year after its founding. Laughed he last week: "I had 45-c- in my pocket then." Now he has a big house in Mulvane, a wife and four children (the son is Dr. Hargus Gerard Shelly, 51, of Wichita), and a practice which still requires night calls.

"Come on," waved mounted Dr. Shelly, and the crowd paraded after him through all Mulvane, right into his big front yard. There was a "birth register" for the proper people to sign. Albert Norden, 52, nearby farmer, went up and signed his name. He was Dr. Shelly's second baby. The first was a girl whose family moved away years ago. Dr. Shelly cannot recall her name.

Mrs. Earl Maple, 51, went up; and her son Otis, 27; and Otis' son who is seven months. Herbert Butterfield came from Jacksonville, Fla. Youngest visitors were Mr. & Mrs. Bert Roby's twins, a boy and a girl, born three weeks before. More than 500 of Dr. Shelly's babies appeared. Marveled he: "Think of it! More than 4,000 in 52 years, and more than one-tenth of them here today. There'll be more before I quit practicing."

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