Zane Grey: His Life, His Adventures, His Women

2. Quest for Direction: 1890-1905

2 Quest for Direction: 1890–1905 I made up my mind today. I didn’t load myself with too much. This is how wise I was. I did not say I shall never look into another woman’s eyes again, or run from any pretty girl, or tease you any more. But I did say I would study and read all that I could . . . [and] write literature, not thoughtless, careless books, but throbbing, red-blooded histories of life. —September 27, 1904, to Lina Roth By the precocious age of fifteen, Pearl was already “very expert in extracting teeth” (5, 8). Rural Ohio was so sufficiently free of regulation that he was able to practice dentistry even before his relocation to Columbus. In Zanesville, Lewis employed cocaine, but this sedative still necessitated a deft removal of the tooth to prevent pain. From his baseball and fishing, Pearl had developed a powerful grip and sure hand that made him a valuable assistant. One Saturday as Pearl was cleaning the office, Lewis enlisted his help with an extraction and was so pleased with the result that he began using him regularly and increased his pay to seventy-five cents (5, 8). Shortly after the 02.26-58_Paul.indd 26 8/10/05 1:49:23 PM Quest for Direction 27 move to Columbus, Pearl sought to convert his limited training into a necessary source of income. The first six months in Columbus were very trying, and Lewis had so little money that he needed help from relatives to rent a house. His new practice fared poorly. Though he hated promotion and considered it unethical, the emptiness of his office forced him to run newspaper ads and to circulate handbills. R. C. started eighth grade, but quit after only three days to drive a delivery wagon. Meanwhile, Pearl worked as an usher in a large theater. During this difficult period, Lewis received a letter from Frazeysburg, a small country town outside Columbus. An elderly woman in pain from bad teeth requested that he come to treat her and assured him additional business. Reluctant to pursue this long-shot opportunity but also unwilling to lose it, Lewis sent his son, even though the boy had so far done only extractions. When he arrived, Pearl learned that the woman wanted all her teeth removed , and every one of them was decayed or broken off to the gums. With open mouth and no questions, she had absolute confidence in his competence . He, on the other hand, quaked at the challenge before him. After administering a stout dose of cocaine that turned her gums white, he groped with his forceps for a promising nub. With a silent prayer, he pulled hard. When the first tooth came out cleanly and his patient felt nothing, he proceeded to extract the remaining twenty-six “without breaking one” (7, 6). This success impressed the locals, and they invited Pearl back to Frazeysburg . He quickly initiated once-a-week visits and was soon traveling to other towns nearby. These trips yielded several memorable experiences. On a visit to Warsaw, Grey’s first customer requested that he extract his only tooth, which was enormous and felt “like a solid nail in hard oak.” When he gave it a powerful twist and vigorous pull, “there came a sound like a pistol shot, the forceps were knocked out of my hand, and the big tooth flew across the room like a bullet and cracked the window pane” (8, 6). This experience was undoubtedly on his mind when a village blacksmith with a massive square jaw insisted that he remove a perfectly sound tooth and would not be dissuaded. After a futile struggle that broke his largest instrument, Grey sheepishly admitted defeat and learned that he was the fourth tooth-puller to fail (8, 6). Another time he disregarded his father’s warning against the use of cocaine on frail people because his elderly patient appeared to be in good health. When he administered the sedative, the old man suddenly went limp, slid to the floor from his seat, and appeared dead. When he determined that the man’s heart was still beating, Grey sent for a doctor and hastily left town (8, 6). 02.26-58_Paul.indd 27 8/10/05 1:49:23 PM zane grey 28 Over the course of these experiences, Grey learned that dentistry without...