The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-09-13

me Story u . Terrible DsnAage snA
CeaPlese. DesivsFanee.ao3
A correspondent Of the Detroit JFib.
me gives the following thrilling state-
nent of his experience in the bondage
# habit, and remarkable deliverance:
HE jests who never felt . wound" SO ~
some viii read this with passing inter
sit touches not them; others with !
! thrill in the soul which will express |
onging, hope, doubt-eyery word is
heirs e
In the winter of 1916, after having
received at different times in the previ-
ous. two years, opium as medicine from
regular physicians, I was on desolate
voyage, homeward bound. Coming
from the tropics, all sun, and flowers,
and smiles, I found myself ice-bound
on the Father Of waters. A dreary voy-
age overland for long distance was be-
fore myself and fellow passengers. One
of these was a prominent physician. I
was telling him how pleasing and won
derful the effect of morphia was upon
me. "Ah, then your system is adapted
to its use." Unfortunate words; cest
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 I swallowed grain of
opium. No pen or tongue can begin to
describe the delicious and marvellous
effect; every nerve was put to delight
full repose; every sense was lulled into
luxury. The brain was quickened to
an extraordinary capacity; eloquence,
argument, poetry was unlocked from its
embrace, and reveled in their new fedg-
ed powers; the imagination suddenly
unfolded angelic wings and scared to
Paradise. Was it sleep or dream
Neither. The body all of sudden
needed no rest; it was Tapped in lux
ury of new life. 1.-The winter'of my
discomfort had given place to a glorious
summer" a.-ae III a.is
After about "a hours from that first
experience, there was a back swing of
the pendulum, complete letting down
and Infringing of the system which in
my greenness 1 could not understand.
On my commenced overland trip the
cold pierced me my nerves were un-
strung, bowels disordered. At length,
in mere wantOnness, I took bit of OPT
nm. Presto! what an entire revolution
WEAKNESS, cold, pain, gave place to their
and from that time for q years I could
no more forego the use of opium than
of food one was inst as regular as the
other. As for the daily amount to whose
use 1 grew, it matters not it was large
enough.
But l desire not to speak further of
the pleasures of opium. My purpose is
more with its pains, and l hasten to
speak of that wretched counterpart
which always and certainly makes re-
prisals on Illicit observation-disclosures
against or beyond the moderation of
nature. rasr5..s.f POGO
One offset was felt from the first. /
carried about secret which 1 instinc-
tively kept covered, and made painfully
burdensome. A voice in the soul cries
out against any wrongs being done it.
Ny secret was tinged with a sense of
guilt. or why hide it?'
l was in the hands of n coming enc
my. At length l began to ask, in some
thing of a terror-what is to be the end?
Am to realize Charles Lambs picture
bound a. kho root ~ 4, k.oa
right hand being nailed to a strong
limb, and then beautiful being, but as
cruel as hell, applying a serpent to my
side? l read De Quincy's terrific ex-
perience, and his superhuman efforts at
deliverance. 1 read Coleridge, and
those SORROWS of hell that got hold upon
him. trembled, but thus far 1 only
trembled. My experience was to come
And come it did.
At first dark cloud began to let
down upon me; pail of desolateness
to settle upon things. The aims of life
became flat and stale; motive was being
hat; life grew mechanical: company
slod no charm change of scene no
freshness. l OWNED the cause of my
condition, and made SO many desper-
ate and fruitless efforts to remove it by
the roots, that finally sank down into
the conviction that no self-eforts are
equal to the difficulty to be met. De
Quincy said, at is chain that is to be
unwound link by link, coil by coil, back
to the beginning" Fitz Hugh Ludlow
tells us one-perhaps himself-who said,
"God helps in every trouble but this
here onemust claw his way through liv-
ing fire." 1asF 7st.f'l - s-f4t-
Opium troubles extend to dreams and
night visions. What an idea that, just
where it gave the most delight, it turns
to rend you and exalt over its ruin. The
nights, as soon as the narcotic begins
long. Time loses its element of compu
tation; minutes become hours /; night
know no ending, but stretch out toward
the crack of doom. @'.s'.-. '.i'
At length came crisis, in 1867. NY
physical manhood was a wreck, shell.
The mind was worse: Memory had be-
come treacherous, and hopelesspess
took possession of the soul. 1 came
across Fitz Hugh Ludlow's book, "the
Opium Habit" and devoured it to see
if could find some way Of escape. 1
opened n correspondence with the au-
thor. Nothing came of il. There was
no return over the long track. The
gates were barred. 1 felt it, knew it.
How long can this go on? Is there no
help? What will be the end?
Sitting in the office one December
evening in 1870, the mail came in, and
[ opened blue covered pamphlet
Great Discovery; Sure Remedy for
Opium."- Barely glancing at its pages,
[ saw the usual number of certificates
g Quack! !" exclaimed. in indignation
miserable comforter and l opened
the stove door, About giving it to the
lanes, my eye caught the name of Fitz
Hugh Ludlow attached to letter from
him. Ali then will at least read it.
Perhaps here is a clew how this happens
10 be directed to me.
I Feed not detail now, but only state
facts and results. The pamphlet circu-,
ar was from DIR. S. B. Collins, of La
porte, Indiana. AS soon as I began to
rad nay attention was fastened as by
For the first time hope
began to dawn that there might b. |
that would "minister to q
mind diseased" aud breathe soul be-
Meath the ribs of death. wrote to DIR. |
Collins, and then followed my letter |
bodily. Tn an exceedingly interesting
interview he stated how he fell npon the |
discovery. A 20 year opium victim, a