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Show 137 Having tried for several weeks to gather the courage for a tooth extraction, Ellis sees her opportunity in the last Dentistry lecture of the season and volunteers to have her tooth removed as the class members look on. Fortunately, with today's excellent dental skills, the present generation does not need the "will and determination" which Ellis was forced to call upon in that situation. Through her description of the ordeal and its aftermath, one gets the strong impression that it predated dental anesthesia. ...this was my last chance and I knew it [the tooth] must come out so I spoke to Dr. Pierce, took my seat and endured the excruciating operation. What nerve and force of will it required to bear such pain without giving utterance to any expression. However, the reaction came afterward in a way I could not control. I felt almost sick all night and my head ached intensely but I have demonstrated one fact, that our pains are in a great degree under the control of the will. I hope that I may become stronger in this respect. My nervous system has been so shattered the last years that I have not borne suffering of any kind as I hope to be able to hereafter.3 It is difficult to summarize the seven years of experience detailed in Ellis's diary. In trying to do so, one is afraid of cheating the reader, for Ellis has written so vividly and well. She sees Sister Pratt off to Boston and is sure she will miss her acutely. Returning home to her dark and empty room and being too tired to go for matches, she completes her "nightly devotions" and attempts, unsuccessfully, to sleep, for a "troubled tide of thought" has "swept across [her] soul." Five days later, awakening at her usual hour for four o'clock on the sabbath day feeling "languid and weak," Ellis thinks of other such occasions when she has sought relief by staying in bed. The |