"YOUR LIFE IS NOT WORTH A STRAW."

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 2740, 6 June 1894, Page 4

"YOUR LIFE IS NOT WORTH A STRAW."

Not worth a straw, eh? Then it was worth jasfc nothing—nothifll all. Who has"' not "used that 'comparison 'a thousand times to I , express .absolute wortMessneas ?' A straw;?: The wind blows it away, fire'Jmrns it up, cattle tread it in he mud,- it rota by the roadside. What ofit? Who cares fora Btraw? Yet this is exaotly what a doctor said to • one of his patients, "Tour life is not worth a Btraw." How much is a doctor worth who will speak so to one that trusts him, and has no hope but in his skill ? For my part, if he were up for sale at auction, I would bid one straw for him— no more. Even if what ho said was true, he had no right to say it. Such a doctor is more likely to kill with his tongue than to cure with his drugs. A woman tells the story, and she tells it well,< If it doesn't sound like the truth, then I don't know what ever does. The dates and the facts are all there, plain and orderly. '"'"ln the summer of 1878," she says, "I found myself feeling tired, langaid, 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 pajn at the pit of my stomach, and a rising in the throat as if I shonld ohoke, My head felt as though I had a ton weight on it. Gradaally.X got worse, and for months could take only liquid foodAt night I lay awake for hours together. • Later on I suffered greatly from nervous prostration. My legs trembled and shook so I 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 heart and sudden stoppage of the breath. At these times I was speechless and helpless. They say I looked like a corpse, cold and bloodless, my finger-nails and lips having turned black. After a while this ffonld pass off, leaving me weak and prostrate. I ot so emaciated and thin that I was only a bag of bones, and so weak I had to take hold of the furniture to steady mysell as Icrossed 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 meroy if the Lord would release me from my sufferings. "In this condition I continued for years, during which time I consulted five doctors, but nothing they gave me did me any good. They all said my ailment was heart disease, and one said, 'Tour life is not worth a straw.' ,1 i£ln despair I gave up taking physio, as I felt that nothing would save me. In May, 1882, ten years ago, a lady (Mrs Eiohardson) called at my house, told me of Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup, and strongly advised me to try it. I did bo, 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 ttie attacks, and am so strong I can do any ; kind oi work. But for Seigel's Byrup I should have been in my grave long ago. I wish othera to know this, and will answer any who -call or write." (Signed) EmitA Wickenpbn (wife of William Wickenden, gardener), Pembroke Villas, 123, Moffat road; Thornton Heath, March 17th, 1892. 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 dnty to understand suoh 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 disease, they might possibly have relieved her. But, confused by the symptoms, they were blind to the cause. We may well wonder if there are many suoh doctors in England. Cases like, this show that the dear sight belonged to 'Mother Seigel ; and to hie remedy (hosts of people in this, country a y indebted for physical salvation when, i ver truth, their lives seemed as straws. Semember this was ten years ago, and the malady has not returned, showing that the cure was a permanent one.