NEIGHBOUR WOLFF AND OTHERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2370, 3 August 1899, Page 59

NEIGHBOUR WOLFF AND OTHERS.

Almost every afternoon in pleasant weather I see my neighbour Wolff sitting in an easychair in the shade in front of his own door". Sometimes he kills time by reading the paper, but oftener he does, nothing but watch the people and the vehicles that pass. I frequently' stop and talk with him' a few minutes, and ho appears to be grateful for the trifling attention. He is a, man of about 50, strongly and sturdily built, and to look afc him you see no reason why he should not be up and about as actively as the best of us. He is intelligent and well-informed, has travelled considerably, and is a man in every way worth knowing. His ideas, on finance, and business seem to bo clear and practical, and it strike* a stranger as odd he does not grapple with his opportunities and pile up. a big fortune. Yet he never makes a motion in that direction. He lets the chances all slip by, and just sits there as though tha world were no more to him than the Klondyke goldfields are to the resident population of a cemetery. Yet my neighbour Wolff knows what money is, and appreciates what can be done with it. Then why doesn't ha " get .a move on," as the Yankees say, and make hay whilo the sun shines? Take a peep at him about 9 o'clock at night, when he takes bis customary exercise on the pavement — the way being mostly clear of pedestrians by then— and you will no verbal answer to the question. Stocky and strong as he appears when in his chair, he makes a poor show on his. legs. Slowly, heavily, leaning hard on hia thick stick, ho goes to and fro a few times between the corner and his house — a distance of 200 ft may be — and then with a sigh sinks again into his chaii like a man who realises he is out of the race. A paralytic stroke two years ago, and the constant fear of another — that explains it. He is one of the multitude who are iD the world and not of it — aa this woman was a while since: — "From my girlhood," she says, "I was always oppressed and hindered by weakness, ' I was habitually tired, weary, and ' languid. . Like all sued), persons, I lived , a -kind of life to myself. All pleasures 6'r pursuits which called for energy and vitality were closed to me. I had a feeble and fitful appetite, and what 1 ate gave me great pain at the chest and hack, and a sense of coldness, deadness* and weight at the stomach. At times there would be also a gnawing, sinking feeling. "As I grew older I was much troubled with palpitation of the heart and loss of sleepi Year after year I dragged along in this miserable way, and, being too weak to walk, wat drawn from place to place in a Bath chair, Every effort was made to obtain a cure. 1 consulted doctor after doctor, and took manj kinds of medicine and treatment, but got na more than temporary relief. One doctor said my heart was diseased. " My sister urged me to try Mother SeigelV Syrup. Without any great hopes of its effect in my case. I nevertheless procured a. bottle from the stores in High street and began to take it as directed. The result waa decidedly improved appetite, and I relished and digested what I ate without any pain ordistress following. As I continued to use this medicine the heart trouble was leas frequent, and finally ceased altogether. My nerves soon became stronger, and I could sleep well. In a few weeks more I was better and STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE/ IN MT LIFE, and have enjoyed good health ever since. My friends were almost as much surprised andpleased as I was at this lemarkable result of taking Mother's Seigel's Syrup, and you may make my statement public if you think it will do good." — (Signed) (Mrs) Mary Ann Welch, 1 Constitution Hill, Luton, Chatham, February 6. 1895. ■ My neighbour Wolff may or may not recover from liis paralysis, but all cases like Mrs Welch's — indigestion, with consequent weakness and nervous debility — should be curable by the remedy which cured her. It ' opens and renows the digestion, which is the fountain of life, and puts a wholly new aspect on the world around us. From having been laid aside as cumberers of the ground, w« become once more workers with others and sharers of their pleasures. There are now IX2 names on the roll. J&Victoria .OplleK*.

,-Iu India there are 5,846,758 girls beU-een Jive and nine years of age who are wives, .and over 170,000 who are widows. — Electricity is now being employed by antlers. The line of the up-to-date fisherman Consists of a fine wire, and the moment a fish touches the hook it is electrocuted. An angler in America is reported to have caught in this way over 3001b of fish in three hours. — One of the most extraordinary instances Qi a fortune found in the sea concerned the .Wreok of the Spanish treasure ship Alfonso JXII, which was sunk off Point Gando, Grand .Canary. A single diver recovered Spanish gold ooin of the estimated value of £20,000. •The depth from which this specie was recovered was 26 and two-thirds fathoms., or 160 ft.

I M I —In some art galleries air syringes are used to dubt the pictures. — Vesuvius was covered by a heavy snowfall recently while the cratei was in eruption. i The Neapolitans watched the unusual spec- ' tacle of three streams of red-hot lava working their way down through the white snow. I — To modern minds "honey-dew"' is a j brand of tobacco and little elsej but to our i forefathers it was the sweet sticky substance • found on the leaves and stems of trees, and ' was associated in their minds with manna. ' Pliny thought that honey-dew was " either the sweat of the heaven, or the slaver or spittle of the stars / or the moisture of the air purging itself." From this lo Kingsley in " Two Years Ago "is a transition — " I say, how do you sell honey-dew?"— Acftdejaay.