The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-09-06
The story OF a Terrible Bondage and
n Complete DeIIveranee.

The story OF a Terrible Bondage and
Complete DeIiveraRce.
A correspondent of the Detroit JrfB.
inc gives the following thrilling state
ment of his experience in the bondage
of habit, and remarkable deliverance
HE jests who never felta wound.''
Some will read this with passing inter
est-it touches not them; others with
a thrill IN the soul which will express
longing, hope, Doubt every word is
In the winter Of 1916, after having
received at different times in the previ-
Gus two years, opium as medicine from
regular physicians, I was on a desolate
voyage, homeward bound. Coming
from the tropics, all sun, and flowers,
and smiles, 1 found myself ice-bound
on the Father of waters. A dreary voy-
age overland for a long distance was be-
fore myself and fellow passengers. One
of these was prominent physician. /
was telling him how pleasing and Won
delful the effect of mOrphia was upon
me. g All, then your system is adapted
to its use" Unfortunate words; cost
ing million times more than their
worth afterwards. I would willingly
have cut off my right hand, or plucked
out my right eye not to have heard his
words, or needed their hint.
That night swallowed a grain of
opium. No pen or tongue can begin to
describe the delicious and marvellous
effect; every nerve was put to delight
full Fepose every sense was lulled into
luxury. The brain was quickened to
an extraordinary capacity eIoquenee.
argument, poetry was unlocked from its
embrace. and reyeled in their new fiedc-
ed powers; the imagination suddenly
Tnfolded angelic wings and scared to
Paradise. Was it sleep or dream
Neither. The body all of a sudden
needed no rest; it was Tapped In lux
ury of new life. The winter of my
discomfort had given place to q glorious
summer"
After about 81 hours from that first
experience, there was q back swing of
the pendulum, a complete letting down
and Infringing OF the system which In
my greenness / could not understand.
On my commenced overland trip, the
cold pierced me my nerves were I'M
strung, bowels disOrdered. At length,
IN mere wantonness, ] took a bit of OPT
UNI. Presto what an entire revolution
WEAKNESS, cold, pain, gave place to their
oppOsites. The whole secret was mine,
and from that time for a years I could
no more foreGo the use of opium than
of food; one was Just as regular as the
other. As for the daily amount to whose
use 1 grew, it matters not; it was large
enough.
But desire not to speak further of
the pleasures OF opium. My purpose Is
more with its pains, and 1 hasten to
! speak of that wretched counterpart
which always and certainly makes re
/ prisals on illicit pleasure pleasure
against or beyond the moderation of
nature.
One offset was felt from the first. I
/ carried about secret which | instinc-
! lively kept covered, and made painfully
! burdensome. 4 voice in the soul cries
/ out against any wrongs being done it.
! My secret was tinged with sense OF
guilt, or why hide 1t?
was In the hands of q coming enc
my. At length l began to ask, in some
thing of n teTrOr-What is to bethe end3
Am to.realize Charles Lambs picture
bound fast at the root of a ttee, my
| right hand being nailed to q strong
limb, and then beautiful being, but as
cruel as hell, applying serpent to my
side? 1 read De Quincy's terrific ex
perience, and his superhuman efforts al
deliverance. read Coleridge, and
those sorrows of hell that got hold upon
him. trembled, but thus far l only
trembled. My experience was TO come
And come it did.
At first q dark cloud began to le+
down upon me; pail of desolatenes'
to settle uDon things The aims of lie
became fiat and stale; motive was being
lost; life grew mechanical: company
had 10 charm change of scene az
freshness. I OWNED the cause of M
condition, and made so many desper
ate and fruitlesS efforts to remove it by
the roots, that I finally sank down int,
the conviction that no self-effOrts ar
equal to the difficulty to be met. d
Quincy said, 1T Is chain that is to b.
unwound link by link, coil by COIL bacl
to the beginning" Fitz Hugh Ludloy
tells us One-perhaps himseIf-who said
God helps in every trouble but this
here onemust claw his way through liv
ing fire."
Opium troubles extend to. dreams ant
night visions What an idea that, Jus
where it gave the most delight, it turn
to rend you and exalb over its ruin. Th'
nights. as soon as the narcotic begin
to lose its virtue, become terrible anC
long. Time loses its clement of compu
tation; minutes become hours night
know no ending, but stretch out TOWARD
! the crack of doom.
At length came a crisis, in 1867. Nj
| physical manhood was a wreck, shell
The mind was worse: Memory had be
come treacherous, and hopelessDes
took possession of the soul I cam
across Fitz Hugh Ludlow S book, {" til
Opium Habit" and devOured it to sc
if 1 could find some way Of escape.
opened n correspondence with the au
thor. Nothing came of it. There wa
no return over the long track. Tn
gates were barred. I felt it, knew II
How long can this go on? Is there n
help? What will be the end?
Sitting in the Office one Decembe
evening in 1870, the mail came in, an
J 1 opened n blue covered pamphlet
''Great Discovery; q Sure Remedy TO
Opium" Barely glancing at its pages
1 saw the usual number of certificate
''Quack :" 1 exclaimed, in indignation
3 miserable comforter! - and / opene
+ the stove door About giving it to tn
flames, my eye caught the name of Fit
/ | Hugh Ludlow attached to letter froI
him. All then [ viii at least read j
Perhaps here is q clew how this happen
to be directed to me.
need not detail now, but only stat
} facts and results. The pamphlet clrcT
t lar was from DR.. S. j.. Collins, of Ii
porte, Indiana. As soon as i began t
. + ad my attention was fastened as b
: fascination. For the first time hop
began to dawn that there might b
something that would minister to
o mind diseased, . and breathe a soul b'
meath the ribs of death. I wrote to ID
D Collins. and then followed my lettC
Y bodily. IN an exceedingly interestin
interview he stated how he fell upon I'll
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