Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-06-21
TIE PAINS OF FEAR.
THE EXQUISITE TORTURE ENDURED
BY THE TIMiD WOMAN.

In6 c~(OlSiVE lux IKE ENDURED
BY THE TIMID WOMAN.
The Night Eas It's Terrors and the Dey
Its Dangers-Methers Who Make Their
Motherhood Long Drawn Agony.
Peril Everywhere.
Think what that poor. dear. tinid
woman undergoes who nightly looks
under her bed for the burglar she be
aeves TO be secreted there who goes
round the house after the servants are
aoed to see that all is safe and that no
ticket OF leave man Is prodting by mis- lib
erty to do her harm With what a sense
OF dread she locks the doors of those dark,
underground places into which she dares
the Key on both with quick throb and
trembling hand, then beats retreat with
ever the same feeling of nameless terror,
the same sensation Of being followed by
some vague horror, which she has not the
courage to turn round and confront.
Night after night this torment Is re-
newed, as unfaiEngly as that which the
Old bag inflicted on the merchant Abudah.
Ii the night has its terrors so has the
day its dangers. Such person as this in
the country dies Thousand deaths In
quick succession. and the one is as IN
necessary as the other A tramp lettering
On the highway means robbery first and
assassination after A few harmless COWS
going home to be MIXED. and driven by
child, are as dangerous as a stampede of
ou1alos, heads down and tails aloft Cat
tie IN field. however well worn the pub.
lie way across, make that field taboo: for
Is not each dull, slow. grazing OK. each
mild eyed milky mother of the herd"
each tangle polled yearting calf, as dam
gerous as wild bull, man mad, ;" and to
be approached only with caution and In
force1 That distant. barking collie; that
restless. neighing horse prancing up to
the gap In the hedge. through which he
thrusts his socially inquisitive nose; that
wayside encampment Of travelling gypsies
all the circumstances of the country are
so many causes of fear to the timid Pc
destrian, beating along the public road
for constitutional; and taking no pleas
ure IN what she sees
In carriage she fares no better. Up
hill she is sure the horses will jib; down
hill they will slip and fall, or the pole will
break. and then heaven have mercy on
her soull On the plain road. put to q
sharp trot they will run away; indeed,
they are running away, If they whisk
their tails they are about to kick; If they
cock their ears they are sure to shy She
screams at the smallest difference between
them and their driver and when they
have to meet another carriage. or pass a
numbering cart, she pinches her compan-
ion black and blue In the spasm of her
fear.
The torment Of fear is hard to bear
when it is conferred on ones self What
Is it when it spreads itself abroad and in
cludes others-the beloved-in it's mesbes?
For the beloved, indeed, Is no security
Every railway journey includes smash;
every sea voyage is a foregone shipwreck;
If an epidemic touches the outside fringes
of the district, it is sure to make a leap
into the home where the dear ones live
The smallest cold is bronchitis; and when
the little people cough they have whoop-
ing cough. no less.
Some mothers make their motherhood q
long drawn agony by the fears with which
they encompass their young Is the nurse
q quarter of an hour beyond her usual
timer Straightway the grave is opened
and the cherished and adored lie therein
stark and cold. Wild wanderings to and
fro, wild surniseS as to what can have
happened, angry rejection of any common
place explanation as to longer walk than
usual, g longer session under the trees
than was calculated on, passionate tears
OF frantic despair, passionate outbursts OF
rs frantic wrath; when lo the nurse
comes quietly up to the house door with
her charge as fresh as flower and as CAV
as lark. and that voluntary descent into
Hades proves itself as futile as it was un-
necessary.
These fears accompany mother of this
uneasy kind all through life. When her
boys go to school she is sure they will be
mauled by the bigger ruffians of their
class. MANNED for life in the playground,
overworked, underfed, put into damp
sheets and morally corrupted She suffers
more than they from the dire necessities
Of learning, and wishes that there was
royal road to knowledge where her dar-
lings could bowl along at railroad speed,
with never q hill to climb nor a valley
to descend. She thinks the mas
ters cruel and the curriculum inhuman,
and wonders how SO much can be ex-
pected from such young brains and grow
ing bodies.
All through life It is the same cry Of
evil The fortunes Of war take her sons
here and there, and the mother frets over
the possibilities of disaster, as if that pos
sible event were proven fact and chance
mad no side alley for escape And when
It comes to matrimony the whole thing Is
renewed under another name; for surely
was there never the girl born who was a
it wife for the son of such mother,
while the finest man extant makes but a |
Door kind Of care taSer for her daugh- |
,erl So she perverts the great gift of love
md the divine glory Of maternity into
'oourge. and not a blessing. and weeps |
behind her mantle of self made mourning t
because she has not the courage to believe
lor the common sense to hope.-The Fo-
I'M.