HOW DID THE THIEF GET IN?

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIV, Issue 1, 1 May 1896, Page 29

HOW DID THE THIEF GET IN?

You wake up some morning and mica your watch, your purse your best clothes and other valuables. Yet neither you nor any member of your family heard a sound during the night. Neither ia there a sign of how the thief got into the house nor by what road he decamped. You rußh round and tell tbe police, and alao decide to keep a dog and a shot gnn. Yon will let thieves know they muan't oome fooling around your premises after this. A sensible procedure. Meanwhile your watch, your money, etc , are gone. Quite so. Now suppose I shonld tell you that tbe thief who stole your property never entered your house at all; that he was born in it; had lived twenty jears in it; never had been out of it till he went off with your things, albeit not a soul of you had ever seen or beard of him. What would you say to me? You would call me an idiot and threaten to have me sent back to the asylum. But don't be too sure. 11 Later on," says Mr Heaken, " rheumatism struck into my aystem and I had paina all over me. I was confined to my bed for three months with it and could not dress myself. In this general condition I continued for five years. One after another I was treated by fourteen doctor* in that time, but their medicines did me little or no good. At one time I went to the Infirmary at Shrewsbury, where they treated me for heart disease ; but I got worse, and feeling anxious, returned home." How he was finally cured we will mention in a minute. First however, about hia rheumatism. Every intelligent person knows that rheumatism and gout (its twin brother) ib virtually a nniversal ailment. It does its cruel and body-racking work in every country and climate. No other malady causes so vast an aggregate of suffering and disability. Whatever will cure it is worth more money in England than a gold mine in every country. Here is our very good friend Mr Richard Heakin, of Pentervin Salop, who expresses an opinion in this line. Let us have his exact words. He says : " Rheumatism ttruok into my system." Of course we understand that he speaks after the manner of men. You know we talk of being " attacked "' by this, that, and the other complaint as though diseases were like Boldiers or wild beasts. "Doesn't make any odds, " do you say ? Beg pardon, but it does— heavy odds. For it teaelies us to look in the wrong direction for danger. Do you ace now 1 Thirteen years ago, in the spring of 1880, whilst working in the Roman Gravel Lead Mines, Mr Heakin took a bad cold. He got over the cold, but not what followed it, He was feeble, without appetite, and had a deal of pain in the chest and sides.' His eyea and ekin were tinted yellow, and his hands and feet were cold and clammy. Fr.quently be would break out into a cold perspiration, as a man does on receiving a nervous shock caused by something fearful or horrible fle was also troubled with pain at tbe heart and had spells of difficult breathing— what medical men call asthma. But does rheumatism " strike into " the system as a bullet or a knife might Btrike iuto it 1 No. Rheumatism is a thief who steals away our comfort and strength ; but it is a thief, as I aaid, who is born on the premises. In other words, it is one— and only one— of the direct consequences of indigestion and dyspepsia. And this is tbe why and the wherefore : indigestion creates a poison called uric acid ; this acid combines with tbe chloride of sodium to form a salt ■ this salt ia urate < f sodium, which ia deposited in tbe form of sharp crystals in the muscles and joints. Then comes inflammation and agony, otherwise rheumatism. Thus you perceive that it doesn't come from the outside but from the inside— from the stomach. Our friend's cold, Ciught in tbe mine, didn't produce bis rheumatism, it clogged his ekin and ao kept all the poison in hia body instead of letting part of it out. B Mr Heakin adds : " I was cured at last by Mother Ssigel's Onrative Syrup, and without it I believe I should have been dead lon* ago. " * Very likely, very likely ; for this thief, although be may wait long for his opportunity, isn't always satisfied to run away with our comfort and our money : be often takas life too.