The Opelousas courier., 1902-08-09
In Hallucination He Quotes JingIing
Poetry-says He Will Survive the
Wreck of Matter and the Crash
of Worlds.

higher up, Wh@re the left %entrlcle OF
the heart had got walled III and the
trouble was what the doctor BALLS the
angina pectoris, and my left Rrm was
helplessfor two days and flights I
suffered more real agony thaf&I ever
suffered in alb my life. Our docteyh 90
was here from Florida, and knew OK
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 | went of to sleep
and rest. Those morphine dreams
and visions are always a. miracle to
me. I thought that in his talk about
my trouble he called it angelina pee
toris, for | don't hear well now, and
I got the refrain on my mind, that
pretty verse from Goldsmith's "Her-
nit"
Turn, Angelina-ever dear
Ny charmer turn to see,
Thine own, thine long-1ost William
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 | was mumur-
ing, Turn, Angelina, dear" / couldn't
stop 1t, nor think of anything else to
say, but I wasn't restored-next day
l got some better, and as | hadn't
taken any nourishment for three or
four days I craved something acid, and
like a 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 / 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 DOR 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 it's thinking balls,
and so | got another refrain and was
m%urmuring ping pong, ding dong and
ding dong bell all night. One of my
boys, who is always punning, told his
mother that huckleberry pie business
was simply a case Of too much pie
eaty, and they tried to make me
smile, but they couldn't. I was past
all wit and humor and puns and jokes.
But / am done with huckleberry pie
and huckleberry cordial and Huckle-
berry Finn and any other huck1eberry.
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! l 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 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 medtioned in the
Bible more than SIX hundred 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 a f1eshy
pulpy organism, a mechanical contriv-
ance, and has to be carefully nursed
or 1t will rebel. It is the engine that
drives the whole anatomical machine.
II oVerWorked, or overfed with ice or
tobacco o anything else 1t will work
on faithfully until 1t can't work any
longer, and then gets discouraged and
dies suddenly at Its post. The book
says that but little was known to med
zeal science concerning the heart until
the eighteenth century. and that with
In the last fifty years many books have
been written, and now no part of the
human system is better understood
or more satisfactorily treated. The
disease called angina pectoris Is de-
clared to be the most dangerous to
which it Is subject because Of It's dis
tressing pain and a sense of impend-
ing death. Ii | had read that while I
was suffering I should have surren-
dered, but the doctor wouldn't tell me
nor let me read it. He says it is better
to minify rather than to magnify the
apprehensions 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 who smokes
cigarettes on the sly is storing up
trouble that will surely come kSFae
and sap his manhood and s~hortenIlhis
his life. This is SO well known lsoW
that good men will not employ boys
who smoke. One vice calls for an
other and a news manager told me
the other day that one of his news
boys skipped some OF his patrons
every week SO as to have a paper or
two to sell and get money to buy CT
garettes. OF course he discharged
him.
It ID pleasant entertainment to lis
ten to g doctor tell OF his varied expe-
riences and this one uttered a truth
the other day that ought to provoke
serious thought III every parents ho-