Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1902-07-05
ARP ON A SICK BED.
Doctors Say That BilI's Heart Is
Affected.
He Is Given MOrphine-Then Goes to
Sleep, Has FitfuI Dreams and
Quotes "Turn Angelina"
All the Night Long.
copyrighted by the Atlanta Constitution
and reprinted by permisslon.l


would not write this sick letter, but
it may benefit others who are sim
ilarly affected. / have been a very
sick man and hardly expected to see
my next birthday, which is to-day,
the 18th, but have scufled through,
and am now on the up grade. One
of my far-away boys wired me to
work on my stomach, and l would
get well. He might as well have
wired: Keep on living and you will
keep living on"
No, it wasn't the stomach. 1t 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 1
suffered more real agony than ever
suffered in all my life. Our doctor
boy was here from Florida, and knew
exactly what was the matter, and I
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 I went
off to sleep and rest. Those NOR
phine dreams and visions are always
a miracle to me. l thought that in
his talk about my trouble he called it
angelina pectoris, for I don't hear
well now, and 1 got the refrain on
my mind, that pretty verse from Gold
smiths Hermit"
"Turn, Angelina-ever dear
My charmer turn to see,
| Thine own, thine long-lostWilliam here,
Restored to heaven and thee"
Ever and anon / could hear it rain
ing on the tin roof, but it didn't rain
a drop. All night long 1 was muir
muring; "Turn, Angelina, ever dear"
I couldn't stop it nor think of any
thing else to say, but I wasn't re-
stored-next day I got some better,
and as I hadn't taken any nourish-
ment for three or four days, crayed
something acid, and like foolish boy
eat a 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 I had been, and the doctors
work all had to be done over again.
Emetics and hot baths and hot water
bags and more morphine finally
brought relief. That night after sup
per the young people had the dining
table cleared off and were playing
that pretty little childish game called
ping-pong or ding-dong or sing-song,
or HongKong, or some outlandish
name with its tinkling balls, and so
got up another refrain and was muir
muring ping-pong, dingdong and
ding-dong bell at night. One of my
boys, who is always punning, told his
mother that huckleberry pie business
was simply a case of two 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 Huckleberry
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 20 years younger
than [ am, and now, alas! I have no
brother, and he was always a good
brother to me. But almost everybody
is threatened with heart failure now,
and so I am looking out for it, but
don't want it to come along the
Angelina line. The heart is the most
wonderful and mysterious organ of
our anatomy. 1t is called the seat of
affections, the desires, the emotions.
The organ of love and hate and ioy,
but it is not. It is mentioned in the
Bible more than 600 times, and 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 fleshy, pulpy organ
ism, mechanical contrivance, and
has to be carefully nursed, or will re-
bel. 1t is the engine that drives the
whole anatomical machine, If over
worked or overfed with ice or to-
bacco, 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
says that but little was known to
medical science concerning the heart
until the eighteenth century, and that
within the last so years many books
have been written, and now no part
of the human system is better un-
derstood or more satisfactorily treat
ed. The disease called angina pee
toris is declared to be the most dan
gerous to which it is subject, be-
cause of its distressing pain and
sense of impending death. If had
read that while was suffering l
should have surrendered, but the doc
tor wouldn't tell me nor let me read
it. He says it is better to minifv
rather than magnify the apprehen-
sions of his patients. But the young
people ought to be told, told often
and earnestly, that they can't fool
with the heart. A boy VITO smokes
cigarettes on the sly is storing up
trouble that will surely come home
and sap his manhood and shorten his
life. This is so we'll known now that
good men will not employ boys who
smoke. One vice calls for another,
and a news manager told me the
other day that one of his newsboys
skipped some of his patrons every |
week so as to have paper or two
to sell and get money'to buy cigar
cites. Of course he discharged him. |
tits pleasant entertainment to listen |
to doctor tell his varied experiences
and this one uttered truth the other
day that ought to provoke serious
thought in every parents bosom. He
says that the greatest foe in the tread
ment of diseases OF children is their |