The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-01-17
A MOTHERS HEROISM.
How a Good Woman Sacrificed Her Life
to Assist Her Son.

How a Good Woman Sacrificed Her Lie
to Assist Her Son.
| A friend relates to me case of female
+ h roism of quite recent date, which
! somewhat reminds me OF much older
case. in which Mrs. Disraeli was the
heroine. In the Quarter Latin of
Vienna. the quarter around the Wiener
! Allgemeines KrankenhauS, there lived
an aged widow and her only son, a
u>,ical student. They were so poor
tat the mother was obliged to sew
almost day and night, and the son gave
lessons. which occupied the time nee
essarv for his studies in order to enter
university life.
| On the Continent poor students are as
frequent to be found as in Scotland, and
| in Vienna they form the majority. A
good number of mere boys may be seen
running about from one end of the city
to the other, giving lessons whilst they
are themselves still pupils at the gym
nasium (the continental grammar
SCHOOL,, and of the university students
| at least two-thirds are defraying the ex-
| Denses of their studies out of their own
| earnings This works satisfactorily
| so long as the minor examinations have
| to be passed, but when the students
! have the DOktor- Examen or the Stats
| Examen before them, assistance be-
comes necessary, as studying hard and
examining others have proved to be in
| compatible In such cases, the poor
mother or the sister, perhaps a seam
stress or a dressmaker, or may be the
bride-elect, who is also dependent on
needle-work. will for months strain her
ewes and work her fingers to the bone
to allow the candidate, who is the pride
of the family, and may in days to come
be it's support, to devote himself entirely
to his books to prepare for his examina
ton.
The son of this poor widow was such a
candidate, and whilst he was diligently
applying himself to his studies, the final
examination being very near, the mother
deprived herself of the pleasure of
the poor old woman pricked
her finger with her needle. Soon her
hand became swollen and the woman
sought medical advice at hospital
There she was told the finger
must be amputated and she
insisted upon the operation be-
ing performed at once, so that the &C
cident might be concealed from her son.
Twentv-fOur hours later the whole hand
was gangrenous and had to be taken off.
Not a whisper of this misfortune was
allowed to reach her sons ears
At last the examination day for the
doctors degree arrived. The young
man left for the university after taking
hasty farewell of his mother, and he
had hardly quilted the house before the
doctors arrived to amputate the arm of
the silent old sufferer. 1t was an ad-
vanced hour of the day when the son
came home radiant with Joy to tell his
mother that their days of anxiety and
want were at an end; that he had passed
with hOnors, and that it would now be
his turn to provide for his parent. But
the one to whom he intended to COM
municate his Joy was no more. Even the
last operation was made too late. and
blood poisoning was the consequence OF
her endeavors to hide her pains from
her studions son.-Vienna Cor. Londor
Standard
Those Smoking Cars.
The smoking car is a novelty on the
South Side lines, and it looks as though
it would always be a novelty to the fail
sex. The poor conductor may warn them
when they get on that it is smoking
car, but they never seem to heed him
Then, when they sit down in the cloud
of smoke inside, they begin to kick vigor
ously The other day a nicely dressed
lady persisted in boarding smoker
on State street, in spite of the conductors
explanation. Three men were putin.
away at more or less questionable cigars
while fourth man had stalwart pipe
which was loaded to the rim with that
powerful brand of alleged tobacco known
as ''Brakemen's Pleasure" AS soon as
the lady entered this asphyxiating at
mOsphere she turned to the door and pro
ceeded to serate the poor conductor fol
permitting smoking in his car. In vain
he tried to explain that the company's
rules permitted smoking in certain cars
She kept up her TRADE until every man
in the car who had a cigar. cigarette or
pipe lit it for the purpose of giving her
the full benefit of the new rule. AS she
sank into her seat, thoroughly exhausted
two fiashily dressed women stepped on
the car. "This is a smoking car, ladies"
said the desperate conductor. ''All right,
that's just what we want" said one of
the females; and they took seats and ig
nited cigarettes. At this the Directing
lady signaled the conductor and sailed
out of the car in high dudgeon. She
walked down town.-Chicago Herald.
Helping a Sparrow I'm