Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-07-15
CON..nN,N6 SUDDEN peAtH
fs Growing Frequency Attributed to the
Excitement OF Modern Life.

the penalties which we have 10 pay for
a highly advanced civilization. The
feverish excitement the incessant effort
necessary to support existence, which is
20 many men a sea that has no haven, a
Struggle thai knows no hull, must newt
ably tell. one may reasonably suppose. on
the heart $ action. il a man escapes the
ordinary forms OF nervous arrangement.
Sudden death, whether the result of
morbid agencies so subtle that they evade
diagnosis. or so insidious that they an
ucipate prognosis by suddenly and unex-
pectedly terminating life. is becoming so
common that 1t forms one of the distlnct
i've features of modern pathology. The
form in which il commonly appears now
may be said TO be the result OF obscure
cardiac affections and IL was compare
lively more rare, both in ancient times
and among our forefathers. compared
with its present frequency.
During the earlier and even the me-
dieval centuries OF the Christian era, sud-
den death wa regarded with especial
horror, and in the litany Of the Anglican
church Is represented as heading the list
of the most terrible calamities incident to
humanity. In pagan antiquity, on the
other hand, a sudden death was held
70 be the crown of the blessings that
heaven could bestow on man. The
Greeks represented Death as a pleasing,
gentle being. while their conceptions Of
an after life were gloomy.
Socrates regarded death rs ian indiffer-
ent accident. Much depends on the
circumstance under which death presents
itself, as well as the state of mans on
science and the condition OF his worldly
affairs. As years roll on death becomes
less and less dreaded. Aged people gen.
orally leave life without regret. Julius
Caesar is said 10 have wished for sudden
death. but he said so Just before he was
slain, and when the mission of his life
mad been accomplished Charles III could
apologize TO his courtiers for being such
an ''unconscionable ame in dying" Vol
taire, and Hume, aud Rousseau weighed
pros and IONS tor sudden death, and
affected TO sum up in its favor, but such
a SUBJECTS sorry matter either for cpl
gram or rhetoric.
In nine cases out Of ten death Is a
great calamity II finds men unprepared,
il deprives then of the ~alleviations which
rob the OF many OF its %terrors;
,t often entails embarrassment and mis-
cry by cutting oil all opportunity of
making testatory arrangements, thereby
bequeathing a direful legacy of teud and
to families who might have
lived in harmony
The moral, and a very practical one II
is. is that the increasing frequency oil
sudden deaths is TO be regarded with
alarm, softened by a hope that med
zeal science may be able to arrest its
progress, and that a proper regard for
their domestic responsibilities will induce
sensible men not to continue to defer the
proper arrangement OF their affairs which
ten seconds may make too late.
The three men whose lives, tempera-
ments and habits were peculiarly typical
of the times in which we live were un-
doubtedly Lord Macaulay, William Make
peace Thackeray and Charles Dickens,
These three men, renowned writers. and
EACH a master Of his art. all died com
paratively young. and all died suddenly
and the first two OF heart disease. Death
came upon them, not with slow and
measured steps. but without note OF
warning Apparently there was a pain.
less passing from time into eternity.
Look at the work these men did Ma.
caulay had ALREADY won high reputation
for prose and poetry at the : Of % and
the famous article on Milton. winch al
once won him a reputation as a essayist.
that his ~subsequeut' performances in thai
line merely confirmed, was published be
fore he was 2j wears old.
Macaulay for over thirty wears had
three lives. as il were. lie was a politi-
clan. he was a man OF letters, he was a
man OF society a great dehater and a
good working official, a distinguished
and voluminous author. a diner out
whose company was sought for his con.
yersauon by all who could obtain IL.
Hand brain work in parliament and in q
mans library is scarcely compatible with
grand dinners and breakfasts winch,
with delicaCies OF food and wine, were al.
most n had as the dinners.
Thackeray and Dickens suffered greatly
from the same cause. They were tree
livers they loved society. These two
did an immense quantity Of literary
work Thackeray scarcely fell OIL IN
point OF execution. hardly in construc
uon. 10 the last. Denis Duval, a
story which he left Incomplete, promised
20 be ~ good as amy of is predecessors
except Vanity Fair, ~ which Is its an-
thor's best work. Dickens was far more
successful in his latter work. "Our Mu-
maI Friend Is a performance nor am
bilious than able, with a heavy. involved
plot and the hall OF Edwin brood
that has been published Is not good
enough to make any reader wish Tor
more Of II. Dickens ovcrworked himself
until paralysis gave him warning. un
happily not needed. and the end came
suddenly
A very elegant writer, in n bcautifulls
written essay entitled Erroneous No
ions Of Death Reproyed. observes: ''ln
particular II is thought thnt this final
event passes with some dreadful vista.
ton Of unknown agony over the depart.
ing sufferer 1t Is imagined that there i
some strange and mysterious reluctance
In the spirit 10 leave tie body, that II
struggle long to retain iis hold, and Is NJ
last torn with violence from its mortal