DANGEROUS SOUVENIRS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 568, 4 December 1915, Page 7

DANGEROUS SOUVENIRS.

DISEASE IN A SCARF. The writer of the woman's letter in Melbourne "Table Talk" is responsible for the following:— "I have just heard of such a heartrending tragedy arising out x>f this dreadful war that I feel' I must tell.it to you as a warning. A young Australian soldier husband, anxious to send a souvenir of the East to his womenfolk, secured two handsome-Egyptian scarves and sent word they were coming. . His young wife was living witii his mother and sister, and as • he' had said no word as to who waß to have them there was quite a little controversy over the matter; but his sister felt that they should be for his wife and his mother. Unlike so many parcels, this arrived safely—unfortunately, as it proved; and in order to wear and show the beautiful wraps, the trio went to the theatre one night. Almost immediately Afterwards the young wife, who had worn a decolette frock, was troubled by an intense irritation of her shoulder, which became so unbearable that she 1 was advised to consult _a medical man. This she did, to learn the dreadful fact that she had contracted one of the leprous forms of skin diseases. She was at once ordered into quarantine, and is now eating her heart out there. She is under observation, and has not been sent to an isolated place, for, mercifully now, some forms of this dreadful disease are curable if treated in time. What adds to the tragedy is the fact that her soldier husband is oh his way back to Australia wounded. This is not one of the wild canards that have been circulated from time to. time, but, unfortunately, a fact. Such lovely wraps from the mysterious East, especially if they are embroidered or are antiques, should be regarded with suspicion and handled cautiously unless they have been disinfected. This can be done by experts without harming the fabrics."