The Handfal of Things we Know.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5191, 25 February 1895, Page 1

The Handf al of Things we Know.

Several years ago an Americau humorist . and poet published some verses called "Little Breeches." This was an odd name given to a very email boy who was caught out in a tremendous snowstorm, and finally found in some hay quite a distance from the house. How ever the boy got there bothered everybody to explain. It wa3 cortain he never could have walked. So his father said the angels must have done it; "they just Btooped down and toted him to where ifc was safe and -warm," he said. The poetry about it (supposed to have been written by the youngstei's father) starts off in this way : — I don't go much, on religion, I never ain't had no show ; But I've a middling tight grip, sir, On the handful of things I know. That's itj the handful of things we Jcnow. There aren't many of 'em, but tbere are a few. And one of them is this : That for a hundred results there is only one cause. Nature dev*lop3 and makes d fference9 5 never- a new force. Here, for example, ia an incident which shows our meaDing. About Christmas, 1389, Mr E. B. Wright had an attack of influenza. Previous to this he had always been strong and hearty. Well, he got over tha influenzij still, it bad giveu him (as he says) "a shake." After this he got aloDg fairly well, until February cf thi? year (1892) when the influenza attacked him again. This time the malady " meant business." Nearly every bone and muscle in hia body ached like sore teeth. His skin was hot and dry, and to bed he was obliged to go. For sixteen dnys ho was under a doctor. At the end of that time he found himaelf alive and that waß about all you could say for him. In his letter he goea on to tell what happened nest. " I had a foul taste in the mouih," he says, " and my teeth and tongue were covered with a thick slimy phlegm. My wife says my tongue was like an oyster shell, and I'm sure it was rough as a nutmeg grater. What I ate, which wasn't much, gave me paia in the chest and sidep. After a mouthful or two I felt full and blown out, and I used tc swell to a great size. By-and-by a.hacking cough satin and my breathing got Bhorb and quick. At eight I lay for hours gasping for breath, and often coughed so I was afraid I should burat a blood vessel. I got weaker and weaker and ivas like: a broken-winded horse. The doctor said it was asthma, but he wasn't ablo to relieve it. Although I live only two minuteb' walk from the factory where I work, I had toJHtop and rest on my way many a time. "Thus matters went with me until June, 1892. Then one day I took up the Esses Newsman, and read of a man living at Earaham, near Bungay, having been cured by Mother Seigel'a Curative Symp. I got some of this iimlicine from the International Tea Company, Braintree. After' a few desee my breathing grew easier, and by keeping on with the Syrup my food Boon digested, tho cough ltfo m% and I gained strength. lam now aa strong as ever, can eat anything, and walk for miles. I am a bruohmaker, and work at the factory of Messrs John West and Sons, High Street, Braintree, and have lived in thia town over forty years. (Signed) E. B. Wbight, Sandpit Road, Braintree, Essex, AugUßt 23rd, 1892." Now let us see how this illustrates the proposition we started out with. For almost three years Mr Wright was ill with what seemed like a series of different diseases. He had the influenza twice, the asthma once, and another disease which he gives no name to— even if he recognised it. Look for a moment at the varioly and incongruity of the pains and troubles he mentions, and ho doesnt describe them fill, either. You would fancy he had half-a-dozen ailments at least. Yet he had but (mo—indigestion and dyspepsia— of which all his bodily disturbances (influenza included— a blooa diaeaee) were symptoms. AH came out ol the stomach, and when Seigels Syrup sot ihat right the others quietly dtPa Whab, then, ia one thing of " the handfulo£ things we know V Anawer : That nearly all sort-, oE diseases are really svuiDtoms ol indigestion and dyspepsia, aldthaTMothSsfigel's Curative Syrur CU Do 9 übie that fact up in your fiat anc hold on to it tight.