The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-07-11
BILL ARPS' LETTER
William Had Heart Trouble and
Thought His Tim Had Come.
TOOK MORPHINE, DREAMED DREAMS
IN Halluolnatlon He Quotes Jlngling
Poetry-says He viii Survive the
Wreck Of Matter and the Crash
Of Worlds.


Of Worlds.
II anyone else was concerned / !
would not write this sick letter, but |
It may benefit Others who are similar. |
ly affected. / have been a very sick |
man and hardly expected to see my !
next birthday, but l have scufled |
through and am now on the upgrade. |
One Of my far-away boys wired to
me to work on my stomach and
would get well. He might as we'll
have wired Keep on living and you
win keep living on"
No, 1t wasn't my stomach. It was
higher up, where the left ventricle of
the heart had got walled in and the
trouble was what the doctor calls the
angina pectoris, and my left arm was
helpless. For two days and nights
suffered more real agony than l ever
suffered in all my life Our doctor boy
was here from Florida, and knew ex-
actly what was the matter, and took
all his medicine, but got little relief,
and was willing to die to get out Of
pain. Finally he gave me morphine
in both arms and l went of to sleep
and rest. Those morphine dreams
and visions are always a miracle to
me. l thought that in his talk about
my trouble he called 1t angelina pee
toris, for I don't hear we'll now, and
II got the refrain on my mind, that
pretty verse from Goldsmiths "Her-
nit"
Turn, Angelina-ever dear
My charmer turn to see,
Thine own, thine long-lost William
~ here,
Restored to heaven and thee"
Ever and anon I could hear it rain
ing on the tin roof, but it didn't rain
drop. All night long l was mumur-
ing, Turn, Angelina, dear" I couldn't
stop it, nor think Of anything else to
say, but I wasn't restored-next day
got some better, and as l hadn't
3taken ar punishment for three or
AfOp 1 craved something acid, and
liRe foolish boy eat small piece of
huckleberry pie for supper, which they
told me not to do. That set the dogs
to barking about midnight and set
me back just where l had been, and
the doctors work all had to be done
over again. Emetics and hot baths
} and hot water bags and more NOR
phine finally brought relief That
night after supper the young people
had the dining room table cleared off
and were playing that pretty little
childish game called ping pong or
ding dong or Hong Kong, or some out
landish name with its linking balls,
Ssnd so I got another refrain and was
Jnurmuring ping pong, ding dong and
ding dong bell all night. One Of my
boys, who is always punning, told his
mother that huck,eberry pie business
was simply a case Of too much pie
eaty, and they tried to make me
smile but they couldn't. was past
all wit and humor and puns and jokes.
But I am done with huckleberry pie
and huckleberry cordial and Huckle-
berry Finn and any other huckleberry.
Only last Saturday my only brother
died suddenly Of heart failure away off
from home. His time was not out,
for he was nearly twenty years young
er than am, and now, alas! I have
no brother, and he was always a good
Another to me. But almost everybody
Yis threatened with heart failure now,
and SO / am looking out for it, but
don't want it to come along the Ange-
lima line. The heart is the most won
derful and mysterious organ Of our
anatomy. 1t is called the seat of af-
lection, the desires and the emotions.
The organ Of love and hate and joy,
but it is not. 1t is mentioned in the
Bible more than six hundred times,
All always in connection with our
good or bad traits, but it has nothing
to do with feeling or emotion or
character. 1t is nothing but a fieshy
pulpy organism, mechanical contriy-
ance. and has to be carefully nursed
mfor it will rebel It is the engine that
lrives the whole anatomical machine
overworked, or overfed with ice OF
obacco or anything else it will work
on faithfully until it can't work any
longer, and then gets discouraged and
dies suddenly at its post, The book
saws that but little was known to med
,,,oo ,,,,,,o,,,i,,ey +bo heart nm tf