"YOUR LIFE IS NOT WORTH A STRAW."

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 2738, 4 June 1894, Page 4

"YOUR LIFE IS NOT WORTH A STRAW."

j7.%v,k Not-vWoiiska-'Btraw, IK?'. Then^t^was -f '" * *3»lih v jiiß|fc?notbing--^nothing aVall. "Who, ( lujft not -tt»?d- that comparison S; thousand ! GWeB to absokite worthlesßnpss ? •I ?*The vrinfl blow-it away, fireburns :;'Wxtp, cattle tread«it in ;llie "mnd, it rota by .. • "< the roadside. What of it? Who cares for a , ■ ;'; ' straw? Yet this is exactly what a dootor said to , „, i one of his patients, " Your life is not worth a Btraw." How muoh is a doctor worth who 1 ■ . will speak so to one that trusts 'him, and 11 ' "' has no hope but in Ms skill ? For my part, 1 : if he were up for sale at auction, I would bid -onestraw for him— -no more. Even if what ' he said was true, he had no right to say it. Such a doctor is more likely to kill with his tongue'tharito cure with his drags. A woman tells the sto:y, and she tells it well. If it doesn't sound Pke the truth, then I don't know what exr does. The dates and the facts are all there, plain and orderly. "In the summer of 1878," she says, #I I found myself feeling tired, laugaid, lowl .: spirited, and weak. I felt as if some eviwere about to happen. My appetite was poor, and after eating I had excruciating > pains at my loins and sides. There was a horrible gnawing pain at the pit of my ■ Btomaoh, and a rising in the throat as if I ' should choke. My head felt as though I had a ton weight on it. Gradually I got worse, and for months could take only liquid food. At night I lay awake for hours together. • Later on I suffered greatly from nervous 1 frostration. My legs trembled and shook so feared to fall. If a knock came to the door I trembled from head to foot. I had , .frequent attacks which began with palpita tion of the heait and sudden stoppage of the breath. At these times I was speechless and helpless. They say I looked like, a corpse, oold and bloodless, my finger-nails and lips having- turned blaok. After a while this would pass off, leaving me weak and prostrate.' I ot so emaciated and thin that I was only a / bag of bones, and 80 weak I had to take hold of the furniture to steady myself as I crossed the room. As time went on the nervousness and forebodings of evil so increased that I . feared I should go out of my mind. The neighbors said it would be a mercy if the Lord would release me from my sufferings. "In this condition I continued for years, during which time I consulted five dootors, but nothing they gave me did me any good. They all said my ailment was heart disease, and one said, , ' Your life is not worth a [ straw.' * A'ln despair I gave np taking physio, as I felt that nothing would save me. In May, 1882, tenycars ago, a lady (Mrs Riohardson) called at "my house, told me of Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup, and strongly advised fr me to try it. I did 50,,, and felt somewhat better after the first bottle; and by the time I had taken three bottles I was completely cured. From that to this. I have had no , ♦■ .. return- of I 'the t attacks",' and am so strong, l , can, do anykhulof work.' But for Seigel's „ Syrup^r, should .have, beenjn my grave long , ago. I wlstir others to know fo this, and will answer any who call or write.!' (Signed) Emii WictaDßff (wife of William Wicken- , den, gardener), Pembroke Yillasi'l23, Moffat road, Thornton Heath, March 17th, 1892. >w . So it turned out that her life was not only ' ; ' worth a straw, but worth a whole golden harvest of health and better days. Yet no thanks to the doctors. Her complicated symptoms puzzled and alarmed them, to be sure, but why ? Is it not the doctor's duty to 'understand such things? Most assuredly. Just as a lawyer should know the law, or a pilot the rocks, tides, and lights of a coast. Had some of these medical men known that Mrs Wiokenden's ,malady was indigestion and dyspepsia, and} not "heart diseace, they might possibly httve relieved her. But, confused by the symptoun, they were blind to the cause. We may well wonder if there are' many such dootors in England. Cases like this show that the dear sight belonged to Mother Seigel ; and to has remedy (hosts of people in this country a y . indebted for physical salvation when, i ver . truth, their lives seemed as straws. * Eemember this was ten vea?a ago, and the 1 'malady has ndt -returned, showing that the oare was a permanent one. > .