The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-07-08
TALES OF THE BORDERS
T He BEREA AV ED.
BN ALEX. LEIGHTON

BY looking over the memorial Of nv
professional life, and writing out the extend.
ed details Of my experience, [ am, in effect
living my life over agair. Most of the
scenes | witnessed left such an impression
upon my mind, that it requires only the
touch Of the cGduceuS Of the witcbing
power Of memory, to call them all
up again with a vividness scarcely less than
that by which they were formerly present.
ed 10 me- There is only this difference,
that my remembered experiences. now in
vested with a species Of borrowed light,
seem like scenery which one has seen in
the glance Of midday sun, presented
again to the dreamy "evenng sense" IN
der the soft blue ettulgence Of the waning
harvest-moon the trees with tie sere
leaf rustlng under the fluttering wing OF
the night bird and the dead silence, winch
j. not broken BY the internal voice speak
ing tie words that have been spoken by
those WHO lie under the yew tr-e. In an
early leaf Of my journal, | 6nd some
broken details Of a visit paid to Mr..
j., rich manufacturer IN the town
where | began NY practice; but which |
left when | had more confidence in those
humble powers Of minlsterlng TO tue affl Ct
I'd, which lave raised NE to an honorable
aud supplied me with the means Of
passing my OLD age in afil .ence. This in
dviduAl has lost his wite-a very amiabe
woman, with whom be lived q period Of
twenty five years-and took on grief so
heavily, that he was unfit to at end thr fu-
neral He lay in bed, and would not be
comtorted. Having attended his wife,
continued my attentions to the husband.
Three DAYS had passed since bis wife had
been buried, and, during all that time, be
bad eaten nothing; and, what augured
gloomlly for bis fate, be had never been
hea TO speak, or sigh, or even to give
vent to bis suderings in a single groan.
There seemed to have fallen over Tim a
heavy load, which, pressing vi b deadly
force upon the issues of life, defed those
reacting energies Of nature, which usually
struggle, by sghs and groans, to throw off
the incubus Of extraordinary griefs.
! have met with many wiseacre sceptics
who laugh at the idea OF what is VulgarIy
called broken heart, = as direct conse-
quence either of Gnrequiied love OF extra
ordinary grief-admitung, however, in their
liberality, that death MAJ ensue from great
griefs operating merely as an inductive
original cause, which, destroying gradually
the foundations Of health, bring on train
of other ailments, that may, in the end
prove mortal. The admission goes for
nothing, as a matter Of every day expert
ence; and the original proposition to which
it Is objected as qualification, remains as
a truth which may humble the pride Of
man, and speak to the sceptic through the
crushed heart Of fatal experience.
have seen many instances Of The fatal ef-
fects of grief as a diIe~t mortal agent, kill
ing, by its own unaided energies, as Ger
tainly, though not in so short time, as =
blow or a wound in the vital organs Of the
human Lody. The common Dosologie:
contain no lame for the disease, because
in truth, it cannot properly be called dis
ease, any more than stab with a sword
can deserve that name; and this, combined
with the fact that it is only in a very few
instances that the comp works by itself
without the aid of some ailment generated
by Il, that young practitioners often homol
ogate the vulgar notions that prevail uPOr
this important subject.
Among al the many causes Of grief t
which mankind are daily exposed, | knoV
not that there il one that rlkes SO dee j
i into the secret recesses Of the vital princi
pie as The los Of dearly beloved wife, whC
mas lived with a man for heightened pc
rod, through early adversity ami late pros
4 perity-borne hun a family which hav,
bound closer the tie that was knitted b.
early affection, aud WHO has left him t,
tread the last weary stages Of existence
alone, and without that support which al
men derive from woman. The effects ar,
often supposed to be proportioned to til,
affection yet doubt if this solves th'
curious problem Of the diversity Of conse
quences resulting frCm this great prlva
ton There are many men Of strong
powers of mind, who are so constituted
that they cannot but press heavily on tn
support Of another. Tbey seem almost I,
live through the thoughts and feelings 0
their helpmates; and the energies they tax,
credit for in the busy affairs of the world
have their source-unknown often 4
tbemse ves-in the bosom Of welded affec
tion.. 1t is in proportion to the strength Q
the habit Of this leaning, combined, doubt
less, with tile co-existent affection, that th
effects of the loss of a bel pmate, in th
later period Of life, work with such varie
influence on the survivor. 1t may ais
seem a curious fact, and | have no dout
of the truth of it, that a man when ad
vanced in years is much more apt to brea
suddenly down under this visitation than
woman while, again, the consequenc
wou d seem to be reversed if the calam:t
has overtaken them in the more early stage
Of the connection. These are grounds fc
speculation. At present | have only
do with facts.
The individual whose case has suggeste
these observations, presented, when sa
him first after the funeral of bis wife, Il
symPtom-present in all cases Of an ute
ly crushed spirlt-of wish TO die.
was the FIRST to whom be had uttered a sy