Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1885-07-03


the doctors. They sounded him, ques-
toned him, and prodded his neck and
chest. They then went aside and coun-
seled with one another. At the end of
it all they said not word.
"Thsy simply looked quiet" said
Mrs. Leslie. 1t was in December. A
few days later, one sleety, snowy MORN
ing. DIR. Thompson, the first physician
who had seen the patient, sent for Mrs.
Leslie. A thought shot thu Iough her
brain like flash.
"lt was the very fist time l had an
idea that my husband might be serious
ly i'll. Invent to the physician and said:
Doctor, what did you send for me for?
Was it about Mr.. Leslie?"
eyes," said he, "it was. l must tell
you that this trouble OF his is Of q can
| eerous nature"
Mrs. Leslie held fast to the chair in
which she sat.
"Do yon mean that he will die" she
said.
yes" he answered, "his case is hope
less. have known it from the first"
Still she hold fast to the chair and
controlled herself.
"You have TOLD Inc that it will be
DEATH" she said. "Now toll me the
time and the manner"
ole may die in three days, or he may
live three weeks" replied the medical
man.
"And there was no more sympathy in
his face than if he had been \ stone,"
said Mrs. Leslie.
She visited DR.. Sims, and told him
the verdict.
"My poor child, know it" said DR..
Sims. 81 have known il all along. 1t
is not the disease itself, but the location
Of it which makes the danger SO immi
nent. The cancerous growth can not De
cut out without risk of severing the
windpipe or jugular vein. We can not
perform an operation.
The physician told her that nothing
could be done for him but to give him
opiates, just as they are giving them to
General Grant now. "By and by he
will suffer great PAIN they said.
But he never did suffer pain. About
that time one of those wandering quack
cancer doctors was brought 10 their no.
tice. lie was n werd-looking man, 90
years Of age. He told them he could
cure the sick man.
"Let's try him." said Frank Leslie.
"The scientific doctors are not helping
me-"
The scientific doctors in the case had
no objection to let the specialist try his
hand. In that respect thoy were more
liberal, if not more genuinely scientific
than General Grants physicians.
The quack at once began to treat his
patient with hot applications, inward
anG outward. He gave him hot drinks
constantly, and kept steaming hot cloths
about his neck, changing them as often
as they cooled. In that way state Of
perfect muscular relaxation about the
patients throat and the glands Of the
neck was produced and maintained. He
gave beside nostrum he called the
elixir of life. The pain and suffering
predicted by the physicians never ap-
peared. Through the whole progress OF
the disease Mr.. Leslie did not take all
opiate. So much the quaek undoubtedly
accomplishsd-he kept his patient from
suffering pain.
so time went on till within ten days
of death. Still he was ignorant of his
fate. Up TO that time he had gene to
his Office regularly.
81 knew he was going to die," said
Mrs. Leslie, "but | knew not how TO
tell it. His business was in the hands of
an assignee. He had to compromise
with the creditors, and he, unconscious
" to himself, was in the hands Of death.
Any other misfortune than the last
could have borne.
"Hs appetite was good. He was
able to swallow beef tea, soft boiled
eggs and raw oysters, able to take
enough food to keep him nourished. He
was not emaciated, his strength was not
weakened. kept the accounts of his
Hines. out Of the papers, so that he him
self might not read how hopeless his
case was"
At last, however, it seemed necessary
that he should know. In the unsettled
state of his affairs there were hundred
things that he might wish to do, direc-
tions he would want to leave behind
him, arrangements for the future, and
so on. He must be informed.
"Day and night" said Mrs. Leslie,
"this thought was with me, how can /
tell that great, strong man he must
die?"
Mr.. Leslie had habit of pacing the
floor as General Grant does. He walked
up and Gown in his apartment by the
hour, sayiug sometimes that he had done
so many miles and so many laps on that
day.
Finally, while thus walking the floor
once ne said to his wife:
"Ths doctor is doing me no good
with his elixir Of life. Ny throat is
slowly but surely closing up. What
shall we do?"
81 don't know that we can do any
thing" she said. Then she kDelt down
on the floor beside him, and TOLD him
the worst.
"Thsre is one thing they say may