Iowa capitol reporter. [volume] (Iowa City, Iowa) 1841-1855, 1849-09-12

I'VE often hearn tell OF the gal
g3s That folks call stthe bootiful Hebe,''
But ri bet you herring my Sail
Is forty times handsomer IN she be!
Eenr!..A Tale Of the Cholera.
A correspondent of Ainsworth's
Magazine relates the following Incl
dent as having fallen under his own
observation.
At the time of former visitation
of the cholera to these shores, our
regiment (the--th) was quartered at
M, one of the places visited
with the utmost severity by the
formidable disease. We had lost
very few men, and not an Off Ger had
been attacked, when one evening
after mess, the conversation turned
upon the nature and dangers of the
pestilence, at the time believed to
be contagious. Our surgeon had
Just returned from an harassing
course of duties, which had detained
him from mess until long after the
hour Of dinner, and he was recoun-
ting to us, during the interval of his
hurried repast, various anecdotes of
the cases he had just quilted.
He had been with one of the resi-
dent physicians into the quarter
chiefly inhabited by the poor weavers
connected with the manufactures Of
NJ. and his accounts of the suffer-
ings of these poor creatures, of the
misery almost keen and doubly ag-
gravated under present circumstan-
ces, was truly heart rending.
"Ah," he said, sswhat is the most
unfortunate is that these poor people
are so terrified, | believe half of them
die of fright. In many instances they
fee from the house containing their
dying friend or relative. They refuse
to assist in bearing the body to the
grave. and literally kill themselves
by the nervous state of agitation to
. "aie ho ttbsx excite thAmsalHAa
CHOW foolish that is" exclaimed
pa,sy, a young officer who had but
lately joi,ed--a fine young fellow,
..a,Id.omeand gallant. ssHow fool
ish that Isl | cannot see what there
IS to fear n the neighborhood of the
disease. Depend upon it, we are
as safe With the cholera raging
around as though it were still shut
up in the marshes of Asia. We may
die of the cholera, it is true, but that
will be because such is our fate, not,
because we happen to be near some
halfdozsn others who die of cholera, y
sit is astonishing, Percy" an
swered the surgeon, chow great is the
influence of mind over body. | be-
lieve could talk any man into con-
viction that he had the cholera, and
probably talk him to death if per-
sisted in agitating him.
Percy laughed aloud.
sMy dear fellow" he said, ssyou
may talk yourself dumb to me +; you
will never persuade me into any COM
plant whatever"
ssYou are too rash, Percy" inter-
posed the Major, stern old veteran
of some fifty years-Barton by name
-ssyou are too rash, Percy you lit
tie know the power of nervous inn
preston, or rather you affect to
despise what you really feel. l can
see you now shrink from close con-
tact with DR.. NJ, because you know
he has been all day with cholera pa
tients.
Percy Redeemed at this accusation,
and springing to his feet, placed
himself close to DR.. M.
ssIndeed, you mistake" he said,
81 have no fear of the kinds
ooh! don't think it necessary to
concealit." continued Barton, laugh
ing as he spoke; solder and wiser,
men than you, Percy-older and
wiser, and as brave-have shaken
in their shoes at the approach of the
cholera
ssButI am not shaking in mine,"
retorted Percy, reddening still more;
"what can make you think so? /
tell you | have no fear of contasion,
none whatever. lido not believe the
disease contagious. l should not
mind,'' he continued, striking the
table as he spoke-"I should not
mind sleeping in a bed wherein a
cholera patient had died within few
hours.o
.Well laughed Barton, with his
low, peculiar laugh, sit = easy to
talk in this way, but you would be
sorrow if we offered to put you to
the proof"
S1Indeed I should not be sorry.-
Put me to the proof, aud | will set