FOUR HOURS TOO LATE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9455, 10 March 1894, Page 3

FOUR HOURS TOO LATE.

" Oh, God! if I could recall the past three or four hours. See what trouble a man may bring upon himself all in a moment."

Mr. James Curtis and Mr. C. S. Bennett, both of San Francisco, had been intimate friends for years. Last summer they quarrelled for the first time, each accusing the other of wrong. Better thoughts prevailed, and they were reconciled. But you can't undo what is once done. Memory kept the record 011 her slate. They avoided each other as much as possible. Still, living as neighbours, men must meet some time. The-e two met in the street. The quarrel was renewed. Bitter words flew fast and thick; anil Curtis, beside himself pith rage, drew his pistol and shot Bennett,dead on the spot. Later in the day he used the above language —so laden with self-reproach and sorrow. Yet how useless, how hopeless, how vain.

But was Curtis right in saying that_ trouble may come all in a moment? True, it often seems so; but is there not a deeper fact which we don't see? It .matters nothing what the nature of the trouble is.. Therefore let us consider a different case on the same principle.

An intelligent woman says In October, 1890, 1 had an attack of illness from which I never expected to recovcr. I had aching pains all over mo and a couch that nearly shook me to pieces. I obtained 110 good sleep night or day, and had to take to my L was fed with liquid food-from an invalid's cup, for I could not raise myself in bed, My heart fluttered so you could hear it beat on the pillow, and often pains struck through it as though somebody had stabbed me. I lay perfectly helpless, and could scarcely breathe. A doctor attended me over a month, but I grew weaker and weaker. Sometimes at night I was so bad he feared I would not live till morning. He called in a consulting physician, and both agreed that my condition was critical. I was fed with brandy to keep me alive. My husband and daughter stayed with me always constantly. IN one of the medicines administered had any effect. I was almost at death's door. " At this time Mrs. Keeling, of Mutley, near Plymouth, a friend of mine, urged me to try a medicine called Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup. I procured a bottle, and after a few days I was able to take and digest sufficient food to give me some strength, and the worst symptoms were, greatly abated. After having used six bottles of the Syrup my health was completely restored, and I have since felt better than for the previous thirty years. My two daughters have also been cured of indigestion by it. I will gladly answer any inquiries." "• _ .;, , (Signed) Mrs. Louise Jackson, Builders Arms Hotel, Bridge Road, Hammersmith, London, January 11th, 1892. In the letter from which the above is an extract. Mrs. Jackson further says that for over twenty years before the attack of October, 1890, she had suffered from a disordered stomach and liver. She had a bad taste in the mouth, a poor appetite, and what little she ate gave ner pain. She felt dull, languid, and tired, and had a miserable sinking feeling in the stomach, great pain in the chest and sides, palpitation, giddiness, and frequently fell in the street and had .to be assisted home, . < So we perceive that in her case a cause, ! long in operation, at last produced the crisis which came near ending her life. _ It is always thus, whether we recognise the cause or not. The crime committed by Curtis was the sudden passionate act of a man who allowed thoughts of hate and vengeance to take' possession of his mind, and breed the condition which made murder possible. In the very different case of this lady's illness it was an enemy of her body, indigestion and dyspepsia, which at length broke out into violence. _ , , , . The lesson is the same. Watch the beginning of evil, and check it while yet it may be easily controlled.