The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1849-04-04

but he spoko smilIip pgl II, and putting his
hand in his pocket book, lie took out d
note sof i've hundred dollars and put Sit
in his child IS hand. Take this-@if ii
IS not enough you must have another,
Iisuppose. But don't trouble me about
it any more. 2
Tho next morning broke clear, but
the snow was q foot deep, and here Bnd
there lay in the huge drifts, blocking
up the door ways. AT ten q clock the
rich merchant was on his way to his
conntingroom. He turned down the.
same street up which he had come the
proceeding evening. A crowd had gath
cred around the open cellar door of a
ruined tenement. The merchant paused
to enquire what was the matter.
ga woman, sir, has been found dead
below there,o said one Of the specta-
tors; "she starved to death, it is said,
and they have sent for the coroner
Her daughter has just come back, after
being out all night. I believe she was
begging. That's her moaning.',
"Ah!" said the mercant, and pang
went through his heart like an ice-bolt
for he remembered having denied pc
titioner the night before. He pushed
through the crowd, and descended the
cellar steps. A girl coverd over an
emaciatcd corpse that lay on heap of
straw in one corner Of the damp apart
ment. Itwas the same girl he had fear
ed it would prove. The merchant was
horror struck.
"My poor child!' he cried, laying
his hand on her shoulder. ssmust be car
ed for-God forgive me for denying
you last night. Here--take this"-
and he put bill into her hand.
The girl looked up and gazed vacant
ly at him. Then she put back the prof.
fered money.
'sIt will do no good now," she said,
''mother is dead" and she burst into
hysteric tears.
The merchant, at that moment, would
have given half his fortune to have re-
called her to life.
This lesson thus learned the never
forgot. The merchant personally saw
that o decent burial was provided for
the mother, and afterwards took tho
daughter into his house, educated her
for a high station in life, and, OH her
marriage, presented her with proper
dowry. He lived to hear her children
lisp their gratitude.
STATISTICS OF HUMAN LIFE. The
distinguished surgeon, Alexander II.
Stevens, of New York city, recently
delivered an address before the New
York State Medical Society, in yindi-
cation ofhis profession, in which he sub
rnitted the following interesting statis-
tics. He stated that throughout the
civilized world the duration of human
life has increased, and is steadily in
creasing with the Advancement and diff.
fusion Of medical sciene:
''In the city of Geneva, in the 10th
century, one individual in 25 died an
nually. For the 18th century, one in
"a; at the present time, one in 10
With us the mortality is greater. l
estimate it at one in 40, the proportion
of childhood being larger, and childhood
being the period of greatest mortality.
In the British navy, among adults,
none of whom are very aged, tho NOR
tality is only about one in 100. Sew
enty years ago the mortality in the Brit
ish navy was one in every ten. In
1903, one III thirty; 1886, Is $40.
among 1000; diminution to less than a
seventh of the rate in 1770. Tn the
American army, with corps of medi-
cal officers not cxcelled by that of any
other country, the mortality is little
over one in 800 per annum. In Lon
don the mortality in tho middle of the
last century was one in 32. In the
year 1888, the mortality was one in SO.
| quote from the annual report of the
Register General. Within the last
twenty years the mortality Of Russia
has been one in 27; Prussia, one in SO;
France, one in 30,O7; Holland, one in
~; Belgium, one in 43.01; England
one in So or; Sicily, one SO; Greece
one in 30; Philadelphia, one in 1908;
Boston, one in As; New York, one in
37.o3 The immigrats have made our
mortality greater than that of our sis
ter cities; in other respects it has dimin-
lshcd with the advance of medical
sceince. These statistical statements
might be multiplied at great length,
but enough have been given to show
conclusively the prodigious extent to
which human life has been heightened,
with the advance and diffusion of med;.