The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-03-31

not adjustable are almost worthless.
In the dining room Mrs. Pitkins found one
of her daily visitors talking to Mr.. Pitkins.
| She had come in to borrow fruit-dish, and
| while Mrs. Pitkins went to the closet to bring
it, this consoling angel remarked in stage
whisper to the husband:
"Dear mel how gloomy your wife has
grown with that ooughl Her lungs must be
/ entirely gone; melancholy is sure sign-she
| ought to have the best of care while she does
| i've"
/ Mr.. Pitkirs house was a pleasant place to
| visit. Mr.. PiIkins was in the habit of saying
that they held levees on Sunday afternoons.
| 1t so happened on this particular Sunday
| the number of callers was unusually large.
Mrs. Pitkins. between her paroxysms of
coughing was quite gay. Yet, as often as
| she thought of her children, and the proba-
bility of their being deprived of kindness
and loving care, there came an undercurrent
| of sadness to her gaity that was quite per-
| ceptible to her friends. Ever since she could
| read she had practiced reading aloud and it
was one of the delights of her happy house
| hold for her to read aloud, for the children,
something a little beyond what they read for
| themselves; but which her excellent articu-
lation and occasional pauses to explain and
and simplify, made a genuine feast. On
| this Sunday evening the children should
have their reading even if she was feeling
miserably. She read and talked
to them till their eyes grew heavy
and her voice was nothing but a
husky whisper. Then the little ones were
| tucked away in their beds, and their mother
sat for an hour toasting her feet at the crate,
and for wonder, not coughing She was
sure she was getting better. The clock struck
| 10. She went to her own bed room, tired,
sleepy hoarse but the cough was gone.
81 hope you will rest tonight" said Mr..
PitkIns, your cough seems to have left you"
Eyes, Pm mach better only very tired"
but what sort oftantalzing demon had taken
| that cough for a vehicle of expression and
| action? No sooner had Mrs. Pitkins touched
| her pillow than was commenced that tiresome
scratching in her throat-that persisted,
hanging on, reaching up and down, further
| and futher each way. of a elaw-it was like
nothing else. 1t fastened its fangs first in
| one spot. then in another, tearing and pulling
and wrenching as if determined to turn the
| throat wrong side out and upside down.
| Then picked out fine threads and ibers that
reached into the depths of the shoulders and
chest How strong they werel if they'd only
/ break what relief it would bel 1t was of
/ no use to swallow an extra dose of each one
1 of the infallible remedies her friends had
| prepared. 1t was of no nse to change her
| position from one side to the other. 1t was
| of no use to sit wrapped in shawls, and sup
/ ported BY pillows. That memorable clan
| still held the citadel and that frantic cough
| still rioted all over the house, and out into
| the night. The clock struck IL. 1t was not
| only painful, it was exasperatlng. Mrs. Pit
/ kins heard window opened across the street,
| she knew who was listening and she knew
how she would be looked at in the morning.
| The window was softly closed, and the wo-
man in the hands of the cough demon knew
how that listener over the way was shaking
her head and signing, and no doubt casting
| about in her mind as to what deviceln flowers
| she would contribute to the funeral how
much she could afford to pay, and what she
would say to the children about their dead
mother.
Gradually all sounds died in the streets
| but the patrolman's whistle or horn, the
screeching, of the railroad engines commence
| ing Mondays work and the clock in the tower
| that grew noisy in the stiffness of night. If
| Mrs. Pitkins could see her thoughts and fam
| cies of that night in words on some bright
day when she is in sound health, she would
| be likely to deny all knowledge of them, and
| think any woman capable Of thinking such
| a chaotic mass, or incapable of preventing
/ herself thinking it a fit subject for treatment
in an insane hospital. At first her only
thought was of applying the internal
and external remedies, quite
that the claw would be vanguished within Is
or 20 minutes; but when 80 minutes passed,
then another 80, then 60 more and the noisy
clock struck II, she wonderered why Lucifer
| had not tried Job with claw in his throat.
| She was sure as Jobs children were beyond
| the possibility of a stepmother, he would have
cursed God and went out and hanged himself,
| instead of making an example OF himself to
| be thrown into poor tortured bodies faces for
thousands of years. Then came the weari
ness the utter exhaustion, when the sense
| of pain is half lost and the worst feeling is
| irritation at the monotony. She dozed and
| dreamed and coughed; dreamed she was
being tortured for righteousness sake, and
her faith was giving way; that she held out
her hands and called to her tormentors as
| Colonel Ingersoll says he would have done
| with the thumbscrews:
"HereI take away this lions paw from my
throat. Pm SO tiredl tell me what to believe
and I'll believe It'll I'm so tired"
But the torture was only varied. She
| climbed hills and had to make her cough
keep time to her steps and last till she reached
the top. She fell from awful heights and was
only saved from being dashed to
pieces by that savage claw fasten-
| ing in her throat and bringing her to
sitting posture in bed. She had the care of
| hundreds of sick babies that screamed in con-
cert every time she coughed. She studied
the puzzle of Is, moving the blocks in time
| with that demoniac claw. Then she reused
herself, rubbed her throat and chest, took
a dose of each one of the infallible remedies,
told Mr. Pitkins she was getting better and
laid down again, to find herself pursued by
thousands of tiny fame-colored imps. They
swarmed over her head and shoulders, flashed
before her eyes, Kissed in her ears, darting
like lightning here, there, everywhere, and
at last settling in a swarm over her chest.
Each one proceeded to adjust a weapon he
carried; what they were she could not dis