When The Lord Retires Me
Eva Sigler Bourg

I think most any old time doctor’s life would make an interesting book. Such a one is Dr. M. V. Hargrove, who lives in a little town near here. He is one of the busiest men in Allen Parish. Aside from his medical practice he takes an active part in church as music director and teaches two Bible classes each Sunday. He has always been and still is interested in civic matters, is a member of several different fraternal orders and still has time to help those who call on him with some specific problem. Hargrove seems to have the ability to actually stretch the hours.

This might not be so unusual, since he is a doctor but he is nearing his ninetieth birthday. His tall erect figure, and his manner belies his actual age by several years. He still drives his own car, and seems to have almost perfect vision. He was born November 22, 1880 in Sugartown, grew up there, helped with the farm work and walked to school. He joined the Baptist church when he was sixteen, and was baptized in a nearby creek. He was then asked by the Rev. Dan O’Quinn if he would lead the singing. He said, “I guess so,” and he continued to be a song leader in whatever church he attended and held this position for over forty years.

In 1904 he married Miss Jennie Rigsby. He had asked the Rev. O’Quinn, who was then pastor of the Palestine Baptist Church to marry them. He had to drive from Fairview to Sugartown, which was quite a distance back in the horse and buggy days. It was a cold rainy Sunday, and the young man, who was then a teacher, was afraid the Rev. O’Quinn wouldn’t be able to make it, so he asked his father who was an ordained minister, to marry them. Just as the ceremony was completed, Dan O’Quinn and his wife arrived in a driving rain. He was sorry he hadn’t waited, but he gave the Rev. Dan O’Quinn his last five dollar bill. They celebrated their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary Dec. 4, 1969.

Hargrove was graduated in 1909 from the University of Tennessee. He began his first medical practice in Marionville, La. which was a front, or camp of the old Industrial Lumber Co. This was during the time Elizabeth was being built, later most of these people moved to Elizabeth.
His means of transportation was by saddle horse. Most of the so-called roads were little more than pine needle carpeted trails through the tall virgin pines. Later when he graduated to horse and buggy, he covered a good many miles in visiting his patients and many of the calls were at night. He hung a lantern the horse’s collar, under his neck, and another in front of the buggy. After a late call he leaned back in the buggy and dosed while Prince found his way home. Sometimes on one of these calls he stayed with the patient from 24 to 36 hours, rather than go home, than make another call.
He is also a licensed pharmacist. Like all doctors in those days he carried his medicine with him, measured out doses, rolled pills, and at times acted as doctor, nurse, and druggist.
He came to see Grandma Sigler one time, he said, when she had malaria. The first thing she told him was that she could not take quinine, since it was “against her”. Paying no attention to this bit of information, he continued to measure out the usual dose of quinine as this was the only thing he had to give for malaria. She took the medicine and the other doses he left with her, recovered from her ailment with no adverse effects. She recovered all right, but from what they say about her temper, I doubt if the doctor would have fared so well, had she known what he had prescribed against her wishes.

The doctor bought his first car in 1912, but sometimes he had to bring out the horse and buggy, because his patients lived so far out in the country and the roads were many times impassable with a car. He said that in his more than 60 years practice he had never charged a minister or a widow for a medical call.

He has organized two churches, donating the land for one of them, served two four year terms as state representative from his parish. One form of his practice he dropped two or three years ago, that of delivering babies. At that time he had delivered 6,025 babies. Now these babies are bringing their babies and grand-babies to him. His advice to anyone wanting to live a long useful life is to cut down on his eating. In his opinion most people overeat, they need to cut down the diet to what is needed to sustain life. He eats one meal a day with sometimes a glass of orange juice. He bans all cigarette smoking, declares nicotine to be a deadly poison. He doesn’t drink coffee, but permits it if not to excess. The word retirement does not seem to be in his vocabulary. He smiled and said, “I guess I’ll stop when the Lord retires me.”