The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-04-12
ALOVELY LADT'S SECRET.
She Talks Very Frankly and Earn
estly to the Writer.
JUST WHAT SHE SAYS.
One of the Most Serious of Conditions
and How Light Came Out
OF Darkness.

SIu, Inc WElL0T gave interested dbI0nLlOu
to the narration which follows. 1t is here
reproduced almost exactly in the words
of the lady from whose lips it fell-Mrs.
S. 3. Cook, of $50 Tompkins avenue,
Brooklyn, N. Y. Her husband, Mr.. S. B.
Cook, has for many years held a respon-
sible position in the Registered Letter
Department of the New York Postoffice
We three sat at the front windows of
their home overlooking the park, as Mrs.
Cook gave this leaflet out of her life, one
of her little children Nesting against
her knee.
Should confirmation of our report be
desired, Mr.. Cook will respond to any in
quiries that may be addressed to him.
ssTo make my story plain" said the
lady, 81 shall have to go back just year
to January, 1898. 1t was then began
to feel badly There was nothing like
what is commonly called an attack of
any particular disease. No, my trouble
came on very much summer changes
into autumn. The trees were green, now
they are brown; it was like that; no
sharp symptoms, no sudden collapse. 1t
was fading and sinking down. All
women will understand what that means.
81 felt tired, weak and exhausted. No,
it was not from overwOrk or worry. The
life and strength seemed to be passing
and down stairs was a hard task for me.
l became SO weak that any exertiOn l
would almost faint away. All my hopes
of gaining strength by eating were fail
ureS. My appetite was htful, and food
distressed me.
perhaps | really ought to date my i'll
ness further back than last January. l
will give you the facts, and people can
judge for themselves.
"ny husband and l have been mar
was troubled a great deal with indiges-
ton and dyspepsia, and sometimes since.
I would be well two or three months and
sick two or three months, off and on.
This was the history of several years
indeed, of many years. Four years ago
/ had serious time with that complaint,
sleeping badly aud suffering all the
symptoms that. are 50 much written
about. l couldn't eat any solid food. l
lived on boiled milk, taken hot, right off
the stove. That was my diet, and l got
very tired of it; but l was afraid to touch
anything else l say had years of this
sort of thing, and possibly it may make
what | am going to tell you easier to I'M
derstand, or it may not. However, it is
part of the truth.
'.Now to get back to the year 1898, last
year, a long and sad one for me. AS the
warm weather came on l hoped to get
better, but did not. The opening buds
on the trees out there in the PARK found
me as weak, low and miserable as had
been in the winter. l was losing flesh
and strength, slowly but surely, all the
time My nerves were feeble and shaken
SO that my sleep was habitually bad
During the warm nights in June L often
left my bed and sat by the window and
looked out When one can't sleep,
almost any diversion is better than to
lie in bed waiting for the clock to let
you know that another hour has drag
ged by.
well, there is no need to dwell on this
part of my experience. L was running
down, and nothing that could be done
here in Brooklyn appeared likely to help
me. My relatives live in Peekskil1 on
the Hudson, and to them | went early in
July, taking our three children and leav-
ing my husband to attendto his work in
New York, and to take care of our home
here.
"Peekskill lies on the hills, and, oh how
fresh the air isl 1t was in hope of benefit
from that, and from the change of scene,
that 1 went there. But l was destined to
be disappointed. The country, even with
all the beauty and glory of summer upon
it, was no better for me than the city. In
the midst of it all | was the same weak
and weary woman. The slightest exer-
ton tired me, and any continued effort
made me faint About the first of August
l broke down altogether and took to my
bed. When I entered my room l little
thought it would be three long months
before should come out of it. Yet that
was my fate. 1t was dreary imprisOn-
ment, lightened only by what kind friends
and the best of medical attention could
effect Now and then they got me up to
have the bed made, and to rest me; but l
couldn't sit up long.
eyes, / took nouishment, of course,
broths, soups, ETC., and kept alive on
them; but lost flesh just the same and
got weaker-that is, # could be any
acealce1.
my friends saw L was growing thin
ner, and expressed the opinion to one
another that was in a decline.
THE doctor suggested that take cod
liver oil, but told him | couldn't bear
the looks or the taste of it, either in its
looked grave at this but said no more
about it. So lay there and fingered
and sank; that is all there is to say of the
result of my trip to the country"
avery time l went up to visit my
wife, said Mr. Cook, 81 could see she
was much thinner and more feeble than
before, although she didn't like to ad-
NIT it,
"Wen." continued the lady, 81 felt
that if it were physically possible must
get home, and SO, on the Sd of November
they wrapped me up and brought me
home, what was left of me, and aoltGt
there scas of me eoetg7ted just SO pounds, 81
mounds less than aOetgIted an my glTlho0d.
Here could do nothing. eat nothing;
only wait for what might happen. l had
tried doctors and drugs-often useful to
others-but of no use to me.
sOn the next day after my return my
husband brought me a bottle of some
thing called Paskola. a pre-digested food,
and said friend of his recommended it
and hoped I would try it. / tasted it
end it tasted good. nothing like cod liver
oil. I began taking it according TO the
directions without feeling the least
confidence in it or indulging any hope
from it But it did have a good effect,