YOUR LIFE IS NOT WORTH A STRAW."

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXVII, Issue 2748, 15 June 1894, Page 4

YOUR LIFE IS NOT WORTH A STRAW."

Not worth a straw, eh? Then it was worth just nothing— nothing st all. Who has not used that comparison a thousand times to express absolute worthlessness ? A straw ? The wind blows it away, fire burns it up, cattle tread it in he mud, it rots by the roadside. What of it ? Who cares for a straw?

Yet this is exactly what a doctor said to one of bis patients, "Tour life is not; worth a straw." How much is a dootor worth who will speak so to one that trusts him, and has no hope but in his still ? For my part, if he were np for sale at auction, I would bid one straw for him— no more. Even if what he said was true, he had no right to say it. Suoh a dootor 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. "In the summer of 1878," she says, "I found myself feeling tired, languid, lowl spirited, and weak. I felt as if some eviwere about to happen. -My appetite was poor, and after eating I had excruciating Sains at my loins and sides. There was a orrible gnawing pain. at the pit of my stomaoh, and arising in the throat as if I should o'joke, My head felt as though I had a ton weight on it. Gradually I got worse, and, for months could take only liquid food. Af night I lay awake for hours together. , ♦ Later on I suffered greatly from nervous {rostration. My legs trembled and shook so feared- to- fall. If a knock came to the door 'l. 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 would pasa off," leaving me weak aniprostrate. I ot so emaoiated and thin that I waß only a bag of bones, and so 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 inoreased 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, 'Your life is not worth a Straw.' , "In despair I gave up taking physio, as I felt that nothing would save me. In May, 1882, ten years ago, a lady (Mrs Biohardson) called at my house, told me of Mother Beigel's Ouratjye Syrup, and Btrongly advised me to try it. I did so, 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 the attacks, and am so strong I oan do any kind of work. But for Seigel's Syrup I should have been in my grave long ago. I wish others to know this, and will answer any who call or write." (Signed) Emma Wickendek (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 tbankß to the doctors. Her complicated symptoms puzzled and alarmed them, to be sure, but why, ? Is it not the doctor's duty to understand Buoh 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 Bvraptoms, they were blind to tbe cause. We may well wonder if there are many suoh dootors in England. Gases like this show that the clear sight belonged to. Mother Seigel ; and to hia remedy 'hosts of people in this country ay indebted for physical salvation when, i ver truth, their lives seemed as straws. Eemember this was tenveors ago, and the malady has not returned, Showing that the cure was a. permanent one.