The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1875-07-30
a Letter from Miss owen, IA ReRaFa
4, *':s : - Her Fathers lllnoa1.

To the Editors of the Evening POST:
l feel that owe, both TO- the public
and to my father, statement concerning
his recent misfortune and the cause of It.
Some three years ago my father began
to write his autobiography; engaging to
furnish an article for each humber Of The
Atlantic Monthly. This task, with other
literary pursuits, forced him to, give six
or eight hours to intense work daily, and
his leisure moments, if: one may reason.
ably call them so, were filled with read.
ing or conversation on; some abstruse
subject. At the end of few months his
health, which up to this time had been
almost perfect, began to fall; but he still
persisted in his labor. He tried MANY
remedies without avail, and at last he
went, four months ago, a confirmed nerv-
GUS dyspeptic, to DR.. Jackson's Hygienic
Institute, in Dansville, N. Y. During the
fret weeks ofhis stay there he wrote sew
eral articles for newspapers and maya.
zines, and delivered lecture in Roches-
ter. In short, he kept his brain con.
stantly at work. The result Was a low,
nervous fever. He was very i'll for many
days, but passed the crisis safely. With
returning strength his old, restless activ.
ity came back, and, in spite of the warn
ing of the physicians and Of my earnest
entreaties. he insisted upon resuming his
writing, or rather dictation, for he was too
feeble to sit up or to hold pen. He was
engaged upon work to be called ssThe
Unity Of God.'' His mind was at this
time clear and logical, his style peculiarly
concise and forcible, and his dyspeptie
symptoms had entirely disappeared; but
an irritable excitability began to show it.
self, which soon became alarming. He
slept but little at night, and could not
rest during the day. Both his mind and
his body were constantly at work.
His thoughts from this time forward
ran in new channel-the buying of land,
horses, etc. Four weeks ago the first
symptoms Of actual arrangement ap-
peared. From that time to this he has
been growing more and more incoherent.
/ have watched my father through
these changes with great care and anxie-
ty, and see no foundation for the asser.
tion which has been made in various
newspapers that the Katie King affair is
the cause Of his insanity. That it was
both notifying and vexing to him is un-
doubtedly true, and for week or two it
did throw cloud over his buoyant, hope
full temperament. But this was all. The
deception Of two persons has not
shaken my fathers faith one whit. 1t
would be poor faith indeed if it had. He
has not mentioned Katie King for the last
six weeks. and since his insanity he sell
dom speaks Of any matter corrected with
Spiritualism. His mind seems to have
run back thirty or forty years, to time
when he passed many of his leisure days
on his stock farms. He carries about
constantly historical drama which he
wrote at that time, and this and the first
part of ''Threading My Way" are the
only books which he now seems to care
about.
The cause Of the calamity which has
befallen us is simple -an ovcrworke ed
brain. My father believed that his strong
Scotch constitution could. even in his old
age, endure all things; but richly endow-
ed though he was with physical and men.
tai vigor, he could not break Gods laws
Of health with impunlty, and We, his
children, cannot, with all our love and
care, shield him from the effects Of his er-
ror. May my father fate be lesson to
the undisciplined brain dyspeptics Gf
may use such term) who are so numer-
Gus throug hout this morbidly active land.
RosAMoND DALE OWEN
New Harmony, Ind, July II, 1875.