Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-05-26
THE PAINS OF FEAR.
The EXQUISITE TORTURE ENDURED
BY THE TlMlp WOMAN.

ho Night Has IL. rerrors and IN. pns
us bsosefs-Mothars who Make Their
M'"h' rhcod Long Drawn Agony.
Perl vrryvs~re
Think what that poor. dear timid
Toriin, undergoes who nightly looks
under her bed for the burglar she be-
teves 10 be secreted there. who goes
rctcl the house after the servants are
at to see that all is safe, and that no
" of-leave man Is profting by his lib.
e % do her harm. With what a sense
~ ad she locks the doors Of those dark,
aa ground places into which she dares
itt ,er. Ghosts and robbers-she turns
ih y on both with quick throb and
- ling hand, then beats retreat with
g.; he same feeling Of nameless terror,
the ne sensation Of being followed by
scna vague horror. which she has not the
courage 70 turn round and confront.
Night after night this torment is re-
newcd, rs unfaGugly rs that which the
old bag inflicted on the merchant Abudah
IL the night has its terrors SO has the
day Its dangers. Such person as this In
the country dies a thousand deaths in
quick succession; and the one Ia as un.
necessary as the other tramp lettering
on the highway means robbery first and
assassination after. A few harmless COWS
going home to be MIXED, and driven by Q
chad are as dangerous as stampede Of
buffalos, 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 yearhng calf. as dan.
gerous as a wild bull, "man mad. and to
be approached only with cadtion and In
forcef That distant, barking collie; that
restless. neighlug horse pranclng up to
the gap In the hedge through which he
thrusts his sociably inqnisitive nose; that
wayside encampment OF travelling gypsies
all the circumstances of the country are
30 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 soul On tho plain road, put 70 q
sharp trot they will run away; indeed,
they are running away. II they whisk
their tails they are about to kick; II 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 .
numbering cart, she pinches her compan.
lon black and blue In the spasm of her
fear.
The torment of fear is hard tc bear
when II is centered on ones self What
Is it when 1t spreads itself abroad and in.
cludes others--the beloved.--in its meshesf
For the beloved, indeed, is no security.
Every railway journey includes o smash;
every sea voyage is a foregone shipwreck;
II an epidemic touches the outside fringes
OF the district, 1t Is sure to mako leap
Into the home where the dear ones live.
The smallest cold IL bronchitis; and when
the little people cough they have whoop-
ing cough, no less.
Some mothers make their motherhood a
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 surmises as to what can have
happened, angry rejection Of any common
place explanation as to a longer walk than
usual, longer session under the trees
than was calculated on, passionate tears
as frantic wrath; when lol the nurse
comes quietly up to the hous door with
her charge as fresh as flower and as ray
as lark, and that voluntary descent into
Hades proves itself as futile as IL 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,
overworsed, underfed, put into damp
sheets and morally corrupted. She suffers
more than they from the dire necessities
of learning, and wishes that there was q
royal road to knowledge where her dar.
llngs could bowl along at railroad speed,
with never hill to climb nor valley
wherein 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.
ALI through life II 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 IL that DOS.
sible event were proven fact and chance
had no side alley for escape. And when
1t comes to matrimony the whole thing Ia
under another name; for surely
was there never the girl born who was a
Mt wife for the son of such q mother.
while the finest man extant makes but a
poor kind of a care taker for her daugh.
teri SO she perverts the great gift Of love
and the divine glory Of maternity into n
scourge, and not a blessing, and weeps
behind her mantle of self made mourning
because she has not the courage to believe