The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-11-29
MRS. MOLL'S AILMENTS.
She Was Finally Cured in a Very
Lively Manner.


a misery of some kind and never
knew what it was to see "a well day."
Her conversation chiefly referred to
the diseases she was suffering from,
those she had had. and those she ex-
pected to have. She always spoke in
plaintive and detected little whine,
but at the same time wished it to be
understood that she was quite resigned
to her fate. She was sure that she
had suffered from most of the mala-
dies common to humanity, and warm
ly resented the idea that any one had
had more diseases than she.
She loved to dwell upon the many
times that -four doctors had given her
up" and when it was confidently sup
posed that every breath would be
her last" 1t might, however, have
puzzled her to give the exact dates
of these trying occasions. Certainly
they had not been within the remem-
brance of some of her friends who had
known her twenty-five years.
These friends were, indeed, some
what skeptical in regard to the genu-
ineness of Mrs. Rebecca Moll's mala-
dies. They doubled her oft-repeated
statement that she had had the small
pox, the genuine Asiatic cholera, the
yellow fever, distinct shock of par
alysis and all the fevers ever heard
of. They did not believe that her left
lung was "clean gone" or that she
ever recovered from a combined at
tack of typhoid fever. diphtheria,
congestion of the lungs and black
measles.
One reason for their doubts regard
ing this last statement was that it was
proved that on the day following that
on which all these diseases were at
their height, Mrs. Moll had walked
three miles to quilting; but when
reminded of this fact she said, calmly:
Some folks git over sickness quick
er'n others, and L IN one of that kind"
1t was not uncommon for Mrs. Moll
to be ''breathing her last one day,
and enjoying cup of tea at the house
of neighbor a mile distant on the
next. The ease and grace with which
she took on and threw off disease was
matter of surprise to her friends and
of satisfaction to herself.
There was one person, however, who
had firm faith in the genuineness of
all Mrs. Moll's maladies. and that per-
son was her patient and affectionate
husband, Mr.. Pliny Moll.
what my Becky has endoored no
one but me and her knows" he often
said, earnestly. "Many an a-many's
the time I've set by her sick bedside
an said to myself: is she a-breathin'
Or ain t she a-breathin'?' and I've riz
to my feet thinkin' / was a widow man
this time-yes, sir An ag'in when
she's been settin' right in her chair
I've looked at her an said: You dead,
= Becky Moll?' an when she'd say, sc
feeble like: 1 amt quite. Piny,' I've
said to myself: We'll, it won't be long
fore you will be, Becky Moll, if yor
amt better right forthwith an
faster.'"
So good Mr.. Moll bore in patience
the inconvenience to which Mrs
Molps many sudden and acute attacks
and unending ailings subjected him
As they kept no servant, great domes
tic confusion resulted when, as was
frequently the case, Mrs. Moll had tt
be almost carried to bed from thu
breakfast table, leaving Mr.. Moll t.
wash the dishes and attend to other do
nestle duties. But Mr.. Moll made nj
complaint He would go to work pa
tiently and sometimes tearfully sayir g
''Poor Becky! poor Becky! it's sigh
harder on her than it is on me-"
One day Mrs Mol went to bed, ant
did not get up again as the days ant
weeks wore on.
II shall never get up again, Pliny.'
she said to her husband. I'm don,
fer. dom seem to have the first NIT;
OF siren tn, an I've a kind of feelin
of goneness all the time. There
somethin' the matter of my back an
chist, an it amt long I'll be burden
to YOU"
Old DR.. Philbrick was called. H
seemed unable to unders tand the cas-
of Mrs Moll, but told her anxious hus
band that he'd shave her around in
few days"
mo, you WON'T" said Mrs. Mol
resolutely, as she came out of the stu
por into which she seemed to hav
fallen. ''Pliny might as well be mad
to understand the truth, doctor, an
can't be kept from ne!"'
Doctor Philbrick did not have Mrs
Moll around as he predicted H
came again and again, and SCENE
at last to be greatly puzzled over tn
case.
Seems as though she'd RELY ough
to git some stren'th," said Pliny to tn
doctor. ''Her appetite amt faile
her yet; she eats m0re'n do"
'.Pliny Mol, that ain sor' Dried M;
wife, Indignantly. During her hus
bands absence from the room Mrs
Moll had been telling the doctor tina
it gave her pain to swallow any thin,
at all, and that she didn't eat enough
70 keep bird alive.
An elderly relative of Mr.. Moll'
called Aunt 'Cindy'' had by thi
time been installed as housekeepe
and nurse to Mrs. Moll, who steadil
grew worse and now gave daily in
structions as to how her funeral shoul
De conducted and what Pliny Shout
90 when she was gone. These detail