Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-12-02
VICTIM OF ANoTHER's WEDDING.
Rice Thrown at Welded Pair Led TO n
New Rule ON IA Railroad.

1sice ihrown Mt Welded Pair Led to n
New Rule ON Railroad.
This is the story of grain of rice.
1t was small, unattractive and un-
cooked, and was one of q shower that
was thrown after newly welded
couple in the railroad station at Will
mington, Del, when they boarded o
train bound for New York last week.
The bridesmaids and ushers fol-
lowed the newly-made husband and
wife to the station, secreting on the
way the usual bags of rice and old
shoes to throw after the unsuspecting
couple. The bride and bridegroom
took their seats in the Pullman car,
and talked to the group of friends un-
TIL the signal for the starting of the
train was given. Then the bridesmaids
and ushers hurried to the platform.
and as the train moved slowly out of
the station the fun began.
Rice fairly rained over the car. 1t
fell on the roof in shower; it peeked
in through the open window upon the
young couple, and it fell into the en-
gine-room on the engineer. Just as
the train moved away an extra hurri-
cane fell on the platform Of the car
where the brakeman stood.
OF course every one laughed. But
the brakeman got several grains OF the
rice in his ears. He shook them out
as he supposed, and thought no more
about the matter until next day, when
he noticed sharp pain in his right
ea:. It became so keen towards night
that he decided TO go to doctor next
day.
The doctor tried all sorts of simple
remedies to discover the cause. No
one thought of the rice. The ear was
syringed and washed repeatedly, but
the pain and throbbing became most
intense, and the doctor directed the
patient to consult an ear specialist.
The specialist decided that foreign
substance had lodged in the ear. He
syringed it with water and then with
oil. He probed into the ear canal
with little hooks of various sizes and
shapes. All the time the brakeman
was suffering more and more. He
could not sleep at night, and thought
he would go mad. He said that some
insect was in his ear. He could hear
it buzzing all the time Then the
specialist called in another doctor, and
they helda aconsultation. They decided
to use pair of forceps on the brake
mans ear. He said they could do
anything they liked with him; any
10 OF fln
SO they got pair of the finest sort of
forceps bent about to suit the delicate
EAR canal, and they reached gently into
that ear and felt about until they found
a small, hard substance. It was drawn
out softly and carefully. 1t was a grain
Of rice. 1t had swelled slightly in the
ear r-prison.
The brakeman was mad. He went
TO Trainmaster Frank Carlisle, of the
Maryland Division of the P, W. and
B. Railroad, and made a complaint
against the practice of rice-throwing.
The trainmaster issued an order to the
trainmen giving them special instruc-
lions to prevent rice-t throwing within
the station.
A celebrated specialist of this city
said to World representative: "The
ear is one Of the most delicate of or
gans. Foreign substances often lodge
there; insects frequently get in the
sar, and children are very much ad-
licted to putting peas, in fact any
hing they handle, into their ears.
The tendency of such substances is to
swell, and this causes intense pain
and sometimes suppuration. The
lsual method is to syringe the ear out.
This brings out the substance as q
:ule; but in obstinate cases we use
oil. If it still resists, small steel
hooks are used.
''There is slight bend in the ear
canal which makes it difficult to reach
any object that has passed q certain
point. [ do not myself approve of
1sing forceps. They are apt to push
,he object further in and sometimes
lnjure the ear drum.
"The pain begins when the sub
stance swells. Sometimes the pain is
axcruciating. / should imagine that
4 grain of rice would have grown soft
er, but it evidently did not do so in
this case. When an insect gets in
the ear we hold sponge saturated
with chloroform against the opening.
This kills the insect, and we then
syringe it out. New York World.