St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1867-05-17
4 Singular Domestic History.

Wife Becomes Daughter.
DR.. O. W. Wight of Indiana, the
author and translator, who has lately
figured IN the papers rs getting divorce
from his wife on account Of i'll health,
and marrying another woman while his
first wife otiiciatcd rs bridesmaid. writes
a long defence of himself to the Chicago
Tribune, and gives chapter Of domestic
history more singular than ever before
narrated in fact or fiction We give the
essential parts of the letter. without at
tempting to pass Judgment upon the case.
After stating that he was married in
May, 1851, Immediately after his return
from 4 stay of some years in Europe, TIE
marriage being hastened by the death of
the brides mother. her only relative :;
that the marriage had before been put
vi HUN tIlIic ~ tIiilc oiI dCtount vi tIlc
lady's health, the disease being represent
ed to linn as hysteria, DR. Wight pro-
cecds
Almost Immediately after our marriage
we embarked for Europe. The steamer
duly landed at Liverpool, and we went
directly 10 the famous Lake District"
of England. About month after our
marriage she was one day, at keswick,
stricken Gown at my feet i'll a fit of epi-
lepsv. Attack followed attack, until she
had seventeen in the course of the right.
stood alone by her bedside, amazed.
bcwildcred. bccrushed, turning gray ere
the sun rose. Her fearful disease $50
fearful, rs DIR. Watson SAYS, that "thc
beasts of the field flee III terror at the
characteristic cry of the one seized with
it, had been concealed from me- Yet,
| am publicly accused of having put
away one who was in "good health at
the time Of her marriage simply be-
cause she had become an invalid on my
hands. If her parents had been living, [
should have taken her home to them, and
never should have seen her again in this
world. But she was an orphan and
alone. She had not been to blame. That
terrible night, on bended knees, before
God Almighty, | adopted her as my
child. Never has word of reproach to
her, on account of the concealment, es-
capped my lips. From that hour to this
| have been an attectlonate parent to her
(''father and mother in one" as she has
a thousand times, with gushing tears,
expressed iU, and during many of the
intervening years | have been the sole
nurse to her, patiently, uncomplainingly,
tenderly performing for her offices that
no money could procure. | wandered
over Europe nearly four years, taking
my patient and ward TO many eminent
physicians, hoping against hope, that
percllance her disease might be cured. Ii
had existed from infancy. Every physi-
cian-and to you, my brethren of the
regular profession, appeal as witnesses
Of the truth Of my assertion in regard tt
the diseasc-knows how incurable q
long-standing case of epilepsy is, how il
units for the pursuits and active duties
of life. BESIDES, as every educated physi-
ologist understands, it is very likely to be
transmitted to offspring. With knowl
edge of this fact, none but brute and
goddess wretch would incur the RESPONSE
bility of being the author of those who
may inherit this fearful malady.
Finally, returning from Europe, DR.
Wight sought to establish a home, and tt
conceal the real nature OF his wife's dis
ease from his friends, and for some year
took the chief care of her, more thai
twenty women having been tried a
nurses or housekeepers, not one of whom
would do, At length a lady who ha,
known DIR. Wight from his youth, a lad,
intelligent, educated and refined. came t,
spend the summer with him. She wol
the confidence and sympathy of his pa
tient, and reduced the chaos of his hons
Y to order, and the doctor sought relief il
: literature. This lasted for two years
and then the story goes on:
An efficient friend could not alway
remain with us. My nominal wife, m
cpileptic ward, could not bear to pal
with her "Aunt Kate" as she familiarl
and afectionately called her. A recul
renee to the old method of housekeepin
was an impossibility. Boarding was at
tended with the same difficulties. Tw
persons were necessary for the care Of a
on;lantic who could never ha left safal