, 1884-02-27
BATTLE FOR LIFE
Tbs Story of Thomas II Benton's
Successful Fight Against
Consumption



once said to Mrs. Fremont that It was
fortunate she was the possessor Of such prime
health, as it had enabled her to be of so much
help first to her father, then to her husband
mo, you mistake me,H she replied. @Un-
fortunately / have no secure health. / be-
long to a consumptive family and inherit
strong pulmonary tendencies. In fact, I
have bled at the lungs myself and saved my
life only by a fight Of years."
AsI expressed much surprise, she said;
Eyes; my father was a man OF tremendous
energy and resolution. and people generally
suppose him to nave been robust He never
was BE belonged to a family of sight chill
dren, Of whom five died Of consumption be-
fore they were 81"
asked her how Col Benton got out of 1tho
line OF promotion"
When he was 8 years old his father died
Of consumption, and when his brothers fol-
lowed, one after another, It set my father to
thinking. he was studying law in Tennessee,
practising, perhaps. by that time. The doc
tor told him that he had consumption of a
fatal variety, and must die. He rebelled
against this destiny, and said he never would
perish in that ignoble manner; he would die
on the battlefield. so he raised a company
Ut was IN the war OF 1879 and started with a
detachment for New Orleans to join Jack
son. In the march from Memphis to New
Orleans he walked most Of the way, lending
bis horse to others He marched in the
rain He wnded streams. He lay down In
his wet clothes and slept and marched on.
he ate like a bear. He gained in strength.
His hemorrhages diminished In number and
finally ceased altogether. He always at
tributed his escnpe 70 outdoor air and e1-
posure.
swell, after I was married. my life was
AA.-AtW- - A. 1-N-
that my time had come. / quit civilized
life at once and went and Joined the general
on tho plains That kept me aliye undoubt-
edly.
80 II was with our youngest boy, Frank.
He went into law, and had much ambition In
It's study, but suddenly the old symptoms
came upon him, and the doctor told him he
must quilt the law Office II he would live.
Reluctantly he took the hint, and went int
the army. where he can live out of doors as
much as he likes"
! said that Col. Benton was such an inces-
SAINT and profound scholar along certain lines
that 1 had supposed that his life must have
been mostly sedentary. especially during the
years when he was editor Of The Missouri
Inquirer.
II always kept up the habit OF free ex-
ercise in the air" said Mrs. Fremont, -but It
male him comparatively strong, 50 that he
could pursue long studies remember read
Ing through to him in French, the si1tesn
volumes Of the Causes Celebres OF France,
while he made an abstract OF the cases"
reflected that, perchance, the multitude
nous duels that AOld Bullion" felt compelled
to fight in those good old days, when it was
considered the proper thing for any man to
kill an editor. must have given him a good
deal OF exercise. and may have had some in
duencs in keeping him alive l asked Gen.
Fremont the other day IL John Bigelow's al
fusion TO his duels in the Campaign Life of
$50" repealed the Quakers from him. and he
said: mot at all, l am sure. The Quakers are
sansible people. When / gathered that fne
army Of 6O,UOo around me in Missouri, several
Of the foremost young Quakers of Pennsyl-
wanna Joined me, and put on tho uniform and
took up the sword at the risk of expulsion
from their church. Probably some Of them
actually were expelled"
u remember" l said. "when we thought 1t
was rather hard for you 20 be relieved Of
YOU command in Missouri for taking the
very same attitude OF hostility to slavery
that Lincoln himself was compelled shortly
to take"
II don't allow myself to talk much about
my old disappointments," said the general