Chapters 3-4 Summary

Mark Twain reminisces about some of his mischievous boyhood adventures. He remembers the cozy farmhouse and the caves just three miles from Hannibal, where he got bats to bring home and scare his mother. Tom Sawyer's Injun Joe died of starvation in these caves, but in real life, Injun Joe survived on bats.

The health care that people received pre-Civil War was as varied as it is today. The elderly women, who knew all the herbal treatments, handled ordinary illness. The so-called Indian doctor knew a few more secrets. There was also a faith doctorwho lived five miles from Hannibal; Twain saw her cure his mother of toothache on two occasions. The medical doctors were called only in extraordinary cases. The family doctor worked on a retainer of $25 a year to treat the whole family - medications were included.

There was...