Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-04-12
A LIVING DEATH.
PECULIAR OUTCOME OF TIE ENvI-
RoNMENTs or OUR GREAT CITIES.

Victims of Paralysis Dragging Their Feet
Along the Observation-Disclosures Who Are
ms Helpless rs New Born Infants--sad
Case of u Journalist.
On these sunny mornings, when the
atmosphere Is cool and bracing, one sees
here and there on the streets II man crawl
ing along aided by crutch or cane.
He Is usually bent forward, his progress
Il slow. difficult and painful. His feet
drar Viii, Il shuttle on the surface of the
pavement. His nair is gray, although
his countenance may not indicate more
than middle are. There are evidences OF
pain in his features There are wrinkles
and contractions that are the cicatrices OF
wounds incurred in fierce life struggles.
The ewes express comminglng of weak
ness and despair. His shoulders droop,
and his entire figure has II bagginess sug-
gestive of Il collapse. On his shrunllen
lips are hints OF pleading helplessness.
When he speaks it is with hesitation
and a muilied tone. His utterances come
with difficulty; they are low, choked,
broken. His speech hats at short inter
walls as if at loss for the proper word.
Often he cannot find it, and frequently IN
unwanted aud strange term wholly with
out meaning, will thrust itself in the
hiatus. Possibly one arm bangles at his
side loose and limp as rope. Possibly one
leg is dragged along as If it were foreign
body. Perhaps one side or the other of
his mouth is drawn up with a line that
spreads out fan shaped into u series OF
scar like shrinkages. His glance, like his
gait, is wabbling and uncertain. Over
IA; to- a, ny & that il "A
combination of mbecillty and hope. He
:, an object with qualities so peculiar, so
ndividualizcd, that one easily recognizes
him as the victim of some one of the nu-
merous forms of paralysis.
These specimens taking the morning
air, assisted by cane or crutch and shut
fling along the sidewalk, are getting to be
a frequent exhibition. Whether or not
Characteristic of Other points, they are
getting to be an increasing feature of Chi
cago.
The men who no longe, crawl out to
catch the glow and warmth of the sum-
mer sun are nerveless rs new born chill
dren. Their limbs are inert rs masses OF
gelatine, They are rowerless to move
their muscles, and have to he lifted,
turned, taken up and down like babes.
They must be fed and the wants of
nature cared for as If they were pulling
infants III The nurses arms.
This new disease is n peculiar outcome
of the environment of onr great cities.
The atmosphere of this region is Rl.ed with
II malaria which eXhausts, prostrates,
paralyzcs those whose overworked Lodies
are forced TO inhnle it. Its victims are
not the old who have reached the allotted
span of their life, nor those enfeebled by
age or heredity, but the men with active
brains, intense energy, boundlcss ambi-
ton aud restless effort 1t is in the
nasure of u rot which affects not the
green, the immature, but the ripened
fruit 1t attacks the men who labor by
day and dream of work 10y night it is
sting which perces not the drones, but
the workers in the human hives.
The idler SLOWLY disintegrates and dis
appears. He passes from IL lethargic life
into death with Us little consciousness and
suffering as attend the natural demise of
mollusk. He is an Implement that rusts
from disuse; the tireless brain worker is
machine, driven at II high rate Of speed,
with no stoppages for repairs, which car
-ies tremendous pressure, and some day
ex1lodes and is blown into fragments.
Over quarter of u century ago there
came & young man from an eastern state,
who in time located in Chicago He was
finely educated, ambitious, industrious,
energetic and ready and willing to devote
himself to any honorable employment
tie soon secured Il situation as principal
ct one Of the public schools.
Further on he gave llp teaching and
connected himself with journalism. He
was for several years valued attache of
this journal, during which time he showed
himself capable, indefatigable, prompt,
and the possessor of high orde.' of intel
.ect. OF religious nature, he later nc
cepted an offer to take charge Of promi-
nent denominntional weekly issued in this
THY, and became its chief writer and man
agerial assistant, and for many wears
illled his place with credit to himself and
the periodical with which he was con-
nccted.
such was Leander Stone, principal of
public school, reporter on The Chicago
Times and afterwarl one of the powers
that controlled the Eceat Methodist Jour
nal, The Northwestern Christian Advo-
cate. The face and figure of no man in
Chicago were better known'than those of
Leander Stone during all these wears.
n few months ago, having just passed
into ripe middle age and in the very
height of his popularity and usefulness,
he felt one day numbness in one of his
arms. 1t extended slowly I'LL the whole
arm was involved, and then it crept into
the other arm, and so on aud on IA little
at time, TIL it had permeated and pos
sessed his entire limbs and torso His
head alone escaped. The last time | saw
him, all below his neck was dea mass
80 far as motion is concerned
Like one of Dante's damned, he was
imprisoned in ice to his chin. And vet
the savage destiny that has thus impris-
oned him did not have the mercy to de-
prive the inclosed mass of sensation.
Along its nerves travel incessant poignant
pains, which are beyond reach and beyond
remedy, Strangely enough, in this gro
tesque, unparalleled infection his head
ana face remain untouched His brain il
as clear us in his palmiest intellectual
DAYS, and he ] aads with his old avidity
AMI thinks and reasons with his old time
ciearness'-'Poluto' in Chicago Times.
Why Deljanof WINS nnnosa1