The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1883-07-05
Thereupon the Duvals related to

the efforts they had made to arres
and reduce it.
"a thousand thunders" roareC
DR.. Cordin; sit is not possible tina
you want to make this magniticen
creature any thinner!"
"Well, not exactly that" sale
Duval, smiling rather sadly; "bu
we should very much like to see hel
somewhat less stout"
sHoly bluer' vociferated the re
turned African. "Why in Ji-ji-jow-
jah this splendid ami - young
woman would be worth her weight
in gold-dust. But then on the other
hand" he added, refectively, cat
Jah, jow-ji-ji she would be stoned to
death. And so you seriously wish
to-to-diminish your daughterY'
"Do you mean to say that you
can do that9" cried father and
mother Duval in a breath.
81 can" replied the doctor, quiet
ly; "but mind" he went on en-
phasizing his words with the slow
movement of his right fore-fnger,
"you must remember this: / shall
tell you exactly what to do, and
furnish you with the means, but
there my responsibility ends.''
"What do you mean?" asked Du-
val, rather nervously.
81 mean this" replied the strange
little man, 'that while 1 can guaran-
tee that Jeanne under the treatment
1 shall prescribe shall diminish, 1
will not guarantee where or when
that diminution shall end.''
evil the treatment impair her
health?' asked the anxious mother;
and being answered no, the PROPOSE
ton was laid before Jeanne, who ac-
cepted with tears of joy streaming
down her hemispherical cheeks.
The very next day Dr. Cordin
asked permission to have the use of
the kitchen for the afternoon, and
there, having locked the door,
stewed and sweated over a hot fire,
emerging in the evening with two
bottles, the one small and contain
ing a ruby-colored liquor, the other
large and filed with white, turbid
substance.
"Observe,' growled the doctor to
the assembled family. ''Of the con
tents of this large bottle you will
put a wine glassful in Jeanne's bath,
which she must take daily. The
it holds in partial solu
lion is a preparation of the pith of
,he baobab tree, about one hundred
lines a more powerful astringent
han alum. The smaller bottle con-
aims, on the other hand, a prepare
ion of the physostignsa venoseuna,
known as the Calabar
bean. Mind you, this is subtle
ind peculiar poison, as you may
veil imagine when 1 tell you that it
s used by the natives of certain
African tribes as an ordeal out of
which very, very few bring their
ives as proofs of their innocence.
IN this form, however, there is no
LANCER, and as the secret of it's dis
rests with me and a few
Obiists, I am not afraid
% leave it with you. Its action is
10 contract the tissues in an aston
shing degree. Taken as a dose
his bottle full would shrivel one up
% utter nothingness; taken by the
en- drops every morning, as Jeanne
must take it, the contraction will
,e gradual, painless and efficient.
low efficient 1 can not say, for, as
told you, my bargain does not ex-
end so far as that. And now good
~. When l return from Borneo,"
concluded the doctor with a peculiar
imile, ''Tll call on you and see the
esult of the experiment"
He left on the 18th of last May,
md the very next day Jeanne Du-
ral commenced the treatment re-
The effect was aston
shing, or as DR.. Cordin would have
it, "epouvanta6le." The
,irl began to contract, not gradu-
lily, as she had grown, but rapidly
md visibly. She shrank like an
,arly ear of wheat in a norther, like
he shadows with the approach of
loon, like the honesty of a shoe
maker turned politician. Every
lay she saw the wane of her bulk,
md Rugged her thinner self for joy.
Her spirits grew buoyant as her.
weight grew less, and one Sunday
morning she surprised her parents
~ bounding downstairs three steps
It a leap. Two dressmakers were
Employed all the time 'taking In"
he dresses of the young lady, but
Notwithstanding all their plating
md tucking, her clothes hung on
Ter, as one of them said, "like
hirt on bean-pole," She startled
he whole neighborhood by tripping
long the sidewalks like GONZALES
ent from dropsy, and to all wonder
ne remarks replied only by a smile.
KS the days went on, however, and !
he condensation of their daughter |
howed no signs of coming to stop, |
he Duvals began to grow appre-
lensive, and when Jeanne had ac-
ually become attenuated as a match, |
hey peremptorily ordered her to |
Iesist from taking any further doses.
Like the dutiful girl she had al
Tays been, even at her heaviest, she |
ave up both drops and bath; but,
las, the poison had done its work.
1ast Tuesday evening, at the
'arents' invitation, the writer called |
t 1920 O'Farrell street, and was
shocked at the spectacle.
HE once leviathanic girl was now
s thin as lath, as a wafer, as a
hread-paper-as anything that is
maciated and lank. She seemed
terally a shadow, and in the half
ght of the room glided about like
weakened ghost. Her parents
-atched her Gas well as they could
18th fearful eyes; medical attend
nee was summoned, but Jeanne
dwindled and ebbed until
morning, when the now
cart broken mother, stealing into
cannes room to see if her daughter
lept, uttered a loud shrek and
ank senseless to the floor. Duval
lshed in. lust in time to see an in