The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-06-25

| usual stock of cheap trinkets. Scissors and
| watches and knives" as was the popular
Bu;tercup herself. He sells AT the usual
rates and seems to have a brisk run Of
patronage.
Brodrick always thanks his customers
politely when they make their purchases
aud hand him the silver pieces. He smiles
and mods pleasantly. but at the same time
always makes point of rubbing the coin
carefully between his thumb and finger TO
see that he Is being treated squarely. Bust
ness is business.
Friends stop and speak to him if their
work carries him near his chair, and per-
haps in that moments pause in the rush of
the days business catch wholesome
glimpse of heroism aud manly pluck.
Such IS the average days experience of
Thomas Brodrick, the ossified man.
The first premonition of his present mis-
fortune was received fifteen years ago
1t seems to have originated in rheuma-
tism.
Broderick was then hearty, hale fellow
of %. and paid little attention to the dis
greeable witches and kinks that accom-
panied the malady.
In time, however. the joints OF his ankles
and knees became twice and three times
their natural size, and then, for the first
time he became seriously alarmed over his
condition. He tried every remedy recon-
mended, spent months at the springs in
various parts of the country, sQuanderpd
MS resources, and at last gave up. His
limbs were ossitying.
A CALL reporter had a long talk with
Brodrick yesterday and asked him par
ticularly how it felt to be turning int
bone.
"It's the strangest kind of a sensation"
said he. AT first suffered the most ex-
cruciating asony-indeed. for seven years
L thought should 60 mad through pain
Sometimes l think my MAD resented
the horror OF my condition in those first
years. and so my suffering seemed the
more intense. Now L am reconciled and
LOOK upon 1t as matter of fact that can
not be relieved by regret.
From my feet to my waist am as hard
as a rock. The ossifying process is slow,
and continues TO creep steadily upward.
The sensation now is one of q deaden-
ing, numblng GOODNESS. / seem TO be
growing thick. as it were. Stealthily and
insdionsly the life blood is being driven
back. It is like stubborn fight-barricade
falls after barricade. Rather it is like the
recedng of the level sea from the mud
flats-it is so slow and almost impercep IL
BILE.
"A thick sensation OF rustiness and a
Discrimination to exert the affected parts
are accompanying symptoms of osslfica.
ton. Pain soon leaves the sluggish
members and the hardening goes on day
by day. In time there is complete in
sensibility.
I'm other respects I am perfectly
healthy. My mind is unaffected, and re-
tain the use of all my faculties. The part
of me that is dead is as completely foreign
TO me as though it were severed entirely
from my body.
Il am used to itnow. ceased to worry
over it long ago."
Brodrick's arm fell listlessly to his side.
Hope had died out from his blue eyes
many years ago. ut is a living death !"
he said 'Times without number | have
felt like giving up the struggle. But am
not alone in the world. have wife to
support. That is something l must never
forget"
The wasted hand moved anxiously to-
ward the money cup. The brave eyes
sought for familiar faces in the crowd mat
was sweeping by. Half of his body was
as rigid as stone, but the heart of the hero
was conquering yet. c. T. HOWELL.