Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-06-26
ADVICE TO SUICIDES.
10 Follow Aun. Mehitaoe,s Very
Sensible Example.

- rCi'O" RCne MeHita OetS Very |
Sensible Example.
Boston Transcript.
That. ~ least. was the PLANTATION
ihat suggested itself to the listener
as he shivered through the stree $.
Somehow the raw chill brought to
his mind the ease Of Aunt Mehitabel
lotlin, who not more than short
generation ago lived in n cold old
house down the cold side of Cape
Cod. with n housetul OF rather frigid
maiden ladies. her sisters and nieces.
Becoming a little unsettled in her
mind, Aunt Mehitabel resolved that
she would battle no longer with an
Indictment world. She announced to
the family. one particularly chilly
morning, that she had fully made up
her mind to commit suicide.
Laws sakesn' exclaimed her
Younger sister Abigail, incredulously;
how do you think you re going to
kill yourself, Mehitabel?"
1.-The most nat'ral way round
here said Aunt Mehitabel, with
shiver, lis to freeze yourselfto death.
| An that's the way I'm going to do
it.
The rest of the family laughed her
to scorn. But when she had made all
her preparations to 60, and even
given away her Paisley shawl and
her string of gold beads, their scepti-
cism turned to alarm. 1t began to
| look as If she We're actually in earnest.
The next night the thermometer went
down almost to zero. Aunt Mehta.
BILE told them all n wailing good-by al
about 8 o'clock in the evening, and
went up to the spare room, which
was, of course, the coolest room in
the house. She put up the window,
sat on the sill, and hung her feet out
into the icy north wind.
There was no man in the household,
and no woman strong enough or
brave enough to compel Amt Mehit-
able to get back into the room. SO
the sisters and nieces gathered about,
shivering in the intensified cold OF
| TIE spare room.
By-and-by the suicide began to
show signs of uneasiness in her perch
at the window.
Wal" she said, II guess it 5 bout
g easy to freeze to death on the floor
as tbs out here
She crept back into the room, anC
crouched down upon the hard floor
moaning and complaining. By this
time the other women of the house
hold had fed back into the passage
way, and stood waiting in the dark
ness.
Beats ALL they heard Aunt Me
hitabel murmur presently, chow hare
this ere old floor isl l guess Ill Sc
on the rug"
She moved to the rug, and set up ;
new series of world-wenry iamenta
tions; but after she had sat here fo
some time, and had experienced no n
of the positive symptoms of freezing
to death, she rose and sat down OF
the foot of the bed.
"This damp old bed always wa
'nough to freeze anybody, and
guess it'll fetch me-" she exclaimed
"if anything will"
Presently, almost without her owl
consciousness, she sank down upol
the bed, and then one OF her niece
glided into the room and softly GOV
cred her with quilt.
ooh, dear! oh. dear!' Aunt Mehita
bel shrieked. "1'm goin' to sleep, ar
that's sure sign that I'm freezin
to death Yes. I'm goinl Good-b
to cold, cruel world-good-by
good-by!"
Aunt Mchitabel slept soundly I'm
til morning, and awoke in a creatl
improved mental condition. She di
not renew her attempt at suicide
! and never made any reference to
, as long as she lived.
J. To people who are born to commi
+ suicide, Aunt Mehitabel's method {
II shutting off is, perhaps, to be recon
j mended.