All Creatures Great and Small - April CC Book Club Selection

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Many of the farmers seem to be straddling the line between believing that they know the best remedies and recognizing that they had better call the vet if they want to give their animal a fighting chance.

I think James Herriot would be quick to say that it’s not a debate, i.e., not knowledge VS. experience – but a marriage of knowledge AND experience that leads to the greatest success.

One of the problems with “Uncle” and those like him is that it isn’t really experience they are promoting, it’s superstition. In chapter 32, where James deals with Mr. Handshaw’s many inane suggestions (shout into the cow’s lungs, cut off its tail, make it look at a strange dog, etc.), he writes, “It seemed to me that all the forces of black magic had broken through and were engulfing me and that my slender resources of science had no chance of shoring up the dyke.”

Interestingly though, science doesn’t win in that particular case — at least not “textbook” science. James is confident the cow has a broken pelvis and determines that there is no hope. But the cow is fine the next morning, which Mr. Handshaw attributes to one of his own home remedies: putting a fresh-killed sheep skin on the cow’s back.

A flummoxed James consults Siegfried, who says:

“The old sheep skin, eh? Funny thing – you’ve been in the Dales over a year now and never come across that one. Suppose it must be going out of fashion a bit now but you know it has a grain of sense behind it like a lot of these old remedies. You can imagine there’s a lot of heat generated under a fresh sheep skin and it acts like a great hot poultice on the back–really tickles them up after a while, and if a cow is lying there out of sheer cussedness she’ll often get up just to get rid of it” (p. 196).

As for the supposed broken pelvis, Siegfried says:

“Well, James, you’re not the first to have been caught that way. Sometimes the pelvic ligaments don’t tighten up for a few days after calving and you get this effect.”

So James comes up short on both knowledge and experience, but he takes the lesson to heart and the long-lived cow is a constant reminder to him that, as Siegfried put it, “There’s a very fine dividing line between looking a real smart vet on the one hand and an immortal fool on the other.”

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62

I enjoyed rereading the book that I loved reading almost 50 years ago. What I had remembered the most about the book was Mrs. Pumphrey and Tricki- Woo. I had forgotten about Nugent the pig. It made me laugh. I laughed a lot while reading the book. Human nature can definitely make the best comedy. There was such a warmth and sincerity about the stories that they could not have been fiction.

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I adopted a strategy similar to Mrs Pumphrey (on a smaller scale) so my nationally renown lung doc would remember me. I sent him 2 cases of GS cookies from HI and always bought and mailed him care packages from HI. When his secretary was in Honolulu visiting, I treated her and her husband like royalty and served as their driver and tour guide. I got excellent care for 16 years, and then he referred me to a great colleague in SF for my continued care after he retired.

I gift my new SF MD care packages too but not as effusively.

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We need to get on @HImom’s good side! :smile:

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I agree! I often listen to audio while eating lunch, and I had to keep turning the volume off for this one. :slight_smile:

This book was not one of my favorites, heartwarming though it was. It picked up at the end, though the arrival of Helen didn’t contribute much to that. Yes she was nice and hardworking, but mostly she was described in terms of her lovely appearance.

I’m just glad to learn I’m not the only one who wasn’t a fan of the book. I did enjoy the descriptions of the landscape, though not enough to make me want to live there.

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A flummoxed James consults Siegfried, who says:

“The old sheep skin, eh? Funny thing – you’ve been in the Dales over a year now and never come across that one. Suppose it must be going out of fashion a bit now but you know it has a grain of sense behind it like a lot of these old remedies. You can imagine there’s a lot of heat generated under a fresh sheep skin and it acts like a great hot poultice on the back–really tickles them up after a while, and if a cow is lying there out of sheer cussedness she’ll often get up just to get rid of it” (p. 196).

Much like an apple a day keeps the doctor away or chicken soup for a cold. Both have that grain of common sense behind them and have gotten an overall thumbs up as good advice. Maybe not a cure (as in chicken soup for a cold) but definitely worthy.

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67

Here’s an interview with James Herriot from 1978: http://archive.macleans.ca/article/1978/5/29/interview

It was a good reminder for me that Herriot was a vet first, writer second. I think I view his books with a less critical/analytical eye, because he intended them to be exactly what they are – a collection of simple stories detailing his veterinary career in Yorkshire.

Maclean’s: Are you a vet who just happens to write, or a writer who dabbles in veterinary medicine?

Herriot: I’m 99 per cent veterinarian. It would be very nice if I could devote more hours to my writing, but then, my animals would be neglected and that wouldn’t be right. You either pack your practice in altogether, or do your animal doctoring work properly. I’m at this animal business almost seven days a week. In the first 30 years of my practice I was on call all the time, but now I take every second weekend off. I’m a cow doctor really. Actually in a country practice like ours—I’m in business with several old friends and my son—we deal in all sorts of animals, but I do cows mostly.

and

When I first started writing I tried to create beautiful, balanced sentences like something out of Macaulay’s Essays. But I soon realized that was no good. So I got rid of most of my adjectives and high-blown prose and thought how I would tell the story if I were in a country pub.

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True, but I think we do get a few glimpses of Helen’s more important qualities. When she brings in her dog with the dislocated hip, for example, James says, “I’ll just give Tristan a shout. This is a two man job.” She makes it clear to him that she is perfectly capable and not at all squeamish, and then goes on to do her part quite efficiently.

And of course she’s a trooper (and obviously a good match for James) when she happily agrees to spend her honeymoon assisting with tuberculin testing. Moreover, she eschews acceptable “women’s wear” and does it in pants. Purple pants. :smile:

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Yes, I was quite amused by her pants. I quite imagined her as a young Katherine Hepburn. Nothing wrong with pants!

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For a vet’s wife, pants sounds eminently sensible. Helen and James were an excellent match. Both have a lot of grit and are willing to work hard for what they want. The love the neighbors and animals.

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I loved the book when I was young and still do. The animal work is so realistic. I worked for a vet in the 80’s and I remember the vet telling me that many of the older vets didn’t wear gloves. They thought that was for sissies. I also have many friends with farm animals. Those late winter night with birthing sheep convinced me that I didn’t want any animals besides dogs and cats! Farm animal vetting is not for the weak. The vet I worked for (small animal practice) told me that he knew several vets that had been disabled by horses.

I do think Mary13 is correct. He was a vet first and writer second.

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I do think anyone who is seriously considering being a vet - especially for farm animals, might want to read this book! I’d be terrified of working with large animals when they are in pain.

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My D’s friend’s younger sister wants to be a vet and was nearly killed by being gored by a pig she was treating. Fortunately she was able to get sewed up in time and made a full recovery. Her plans to be a vet have continued unabated. She is a model gorgeous young woman, close to ideal body weight and about 5’7”. She loves animals and I believe she intends to work with all animals.

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I agree. I was a better teacher with a few years experience than I was right out of college. I like that education programs now have their students spend much more time in the classroom than when I graduated.

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James also greatly admired Helen’s ability to cook fabulous food with whatever she had at hand.

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I had it in my head that James and Helen would live at her farm. But then I realized logistically it would have been difficult to be part of the shared vet practice.

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You must have to love the work SO much to deal with those situations. Makes me think of the chapter when James gave the injection to the restless horse:

The kick was so explosively quick that at first I felt only surprise that such a huge animal could move so swiftly. It was a lightning outward slash that I never even saw and the hoof struck the inside of my right thigh, spinning me round helplessly. When I hit the ground I lay still, feeling only a curious numbness. Then I tried to move and a stab of pain went through my leg (p. 153).

I’m feeling grateful that a bad day at work for me just involves the internet going down or my printer running out of ink.

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Here’s an article about the autobiographical nature (or not) of All Creatures Great and Small: “The British author and veterinarian didn’t always let the facts get in the way of a good story.” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/19/arts/television/all-creatures-james-herriot.html

I’m going to guess that’s true of a whole lot of autobiographies and memoirs. I definitely felt it when we read Educated and Reading Lolita in Tehran.

Fun fact:

Scanning the want ads one day, Alf Wight discovered Donald Sinclair’s veterinary practice in Thirsk, in North Yorkshire, England. In the already gruff Siegfried, some of Sinclair’s rougher edges have been sanded down — Sinclair’s real-life behavior was much more eccentric. (He once discharged a shotgun during a dinner party to let his guests know it was time to leave.)

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Yes, I read in Jim Wight’s biography of his dad that Sigfried was indeed extremely eccentric but it appears very kind-hearted. Practicing as a large animal vet is not for the faint of heart, certainly. Even unintentionally they can harm a puny human greatly, even mortally.

Sigfried was very offended by how eccentrically he was portrayed in the films and books and even threatened to sue Alf Wight (James’ real name). Alf was shocked and sad as he had never meant to hurt any one’s feelings. In the later books, he focused more on others, not so much on Sigfried and toned down the quirks even more.

The biography said many of the folks imagined they were some of the characters, even though sone were composites. Only Sigfried was offended of all the folks depicted. He never did sue Alf and they made up, but it was somewhat tense for awhile.

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Borrowed this book that has lovely photos of the areas described in the stories. It looks idyllic and so different from my world.

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