The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-05-26
THE PAINS OF FEAR
THE EXQUISITE TORTURE ENDURED
BY THE TlMlD WOMAN.

The Night Has Its Terrors and the Day
lie Daugers-Mothers Who Make Their
Motherhood = Long Drawn Agony.
Peril Everywhere.
Think what that poor, dear. timid
woman undergoes who nightly looks
under her bed for the burglar she be
heves 10 be secreted there; who goes
round the house after the servants are
abed to see that all is safe. and that no
ticket Of leave man is profting by his lib
erty to do her harm. With what sense
of dread she locks the doors of those dark,
underground places into which she dares
not peer Ghosts and robbers--sbc Turns
the key on both with quick throb and
trembling hand, then beats retreat with
ever the same feeling Of namcless 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 uhfaikngly "a that which the
old hag inflicted on the merchant Abudah
If the night has It's .crrors so has the
day IFS dangers 'Spch a person as this IN
the country dies Thousand deaths In
ouick succession snd the one Is rs I'M
necessary as tho other A tramp lettering
on the highway means robbery first and
assassination after. A few harmless cows
going home 10 be MIXED. and driven by n
chRd. are as dangerous as stampede Of
buTalos. heads down and tails aloft. Cat
tie in a 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 poled yearling calf, as dan
gelous as wild bull, man mad, and to
be approached only with caution and in
force That distant, barking collie, that
restless, noighing horse prancing up to
the gap in the hedge. through which he
thrusts his socially inqulsitivc noSe' that
waysiAe cncampment Of travelling gypaies
all the circumstances Of the country are
so many causes Ol fear 10 the timid pc
destran. beating along the public road
for n constitutional. ana taking no pleas
IRE in what she sees.
In n carriage sho 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 the plain road, PIT TO
sharp trot they will run away indeed
they are running away. Ii they whlsR
their tails they are abo9t ia kick, If they
cock their ears they are sure 10 shy. She
screams at the smallest difference between
them and their driver; and when they
have IN meet another carriage. or pass
numbering cart, she pinches her comPan'
ION black aud blue in tho spasm OF her
fear
The torment Of fear is hard to bear
when il is ccntercd Oh ones self. What
is it when it spreads itself abroad and in
cludes Oihers-the beloved-in its meshesy
For the beloved indeed, is no security.
Every railway journey includes It 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, Oless.
Some mothers make their motherhood
long drawn agony by the fears with which
they encompass their young. Is the nurse
a quarter Of an hour beyond her usual
time Straightway the grave is opened
and the cherished and adored lie therein
stark and cold Wild wanderings to and
fro. wild surmisos as 10 what can have
happened. angry rejection of any common
place explanation as I" longer walk than
Usual. longer session under the trees
than was calculated on, passionate tears
of frantic despair, passionate outbursts OF
as frantic wrath; when To- the nurse
comes quietly up TO the house door with
her charge as fresh as q flower and as gay
ms lark. and that voluntary descent into
Hades proves itself as futile az ii was un.
necessary.
These fears accompany Il mother of this
uneasy kind all through life. When her
bows 20 to school she is sure they will Dc
mauled by the bigger ruiiians of their
class. MANNED for life in the playground,
Ovorworked underied 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 a hill to climb nor n vale;
wherein 10 0DScenu. one lhlHhS inc mus
tiers 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 We're proven fact and chance
had no side alley for escape And When
1t comes 20 matrimony the whole thing is
renewed under another name; for surely
was there never the girl born who was
fiji wife for the son Of such a mother,
while the finest man extant makes but
poor kind of care taker for her daugh-
ter! SO she perverts the great gift of love
and the divine glory of maternity into
scourge. and not n blessing. and weeps
behind her mantle of selfmade mourning
because she has not the courage TO believe
nor the common sense 10 hope.-The Fo-
rum.
Ueaddresses Of the Sioux.
Tho SHINY Gisnlav rernarl<a hle farf ilitv