The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-06-18
BEATING "T. B.
Dy HORACE ID. SLATER

| over and above all. I put my case sduarely up to my physician and the Lord. l did not make the mistake Of accusing the Lord of having made me sick 10 serve Ills needs. I knew that I had done it myself either through neglect, carelessness or overwork; but that He would raise up friends for me and give me the fortitude to go through the ordeal. It is not the purpose of this article to detail the heartaches, the suf- fering and the deprtvatiOn. These are readily apparent 1 do not think I am
 entirely cured; but l am confident that
 I have control of the disease and that
 with ordinary care and vigilance. I may be able to live out my allotted time
 Somehow I have never felt that I was
 going to die. I had ample opportunity to look things squarely in the face, to
 canvass in my own mind what I had done
 as well as what I had not done in my life. My friends were very kind and
 would often write me flattering letters,
 sympathetic and kind, telling me what
 great things l had been able to do for
 my race and for mankind I knew all
 this was wrong, I knew that whatever
 effort I had made to be of service, that
 there had been many instances in which
 I could have been of use and had failed.
 I knew that I had failed to do many
 things I should have done and had done
 many things that were better left un-
 done.
 Frankly canvassing the situation, past and present. I could see that had had far more of good fortune |, than misfortune that l had been served far more than I had served | Trying to do my level best, if 1t was meant that I should go this way. I was | quite ready. I did not dread death
 as a state, but I just did not feel that | ought to die in my early thirtfes. | could have accomplished nothing 1 by myself. I had no money. Left to
 myself the thing to have done would | have been to repair to my home and
 quietly die The experience T have gone through makes me know that | this world is not nearly so void of l human sympathy as one Is apt to | think when one is well and about af- | fairs I shall never again make the
 mistake of accusing my people how ever great the provocation, of ingrat- l itude or of a lack of any of the finer human qualities. I am alive today be- ! cause the black men and women I throughout this country kept me ! alive
 had no money and no place to
 get any. It will be surprising to know
 that during the two and a half years
 of my indisposition that the leaders | of my people, a number of southern 1 white papers, and a few northern | friends in Boston and New York have sent me over S3500. Really, that is more money than I would have cleared 1 If had been well and at work, but i even that sum has been consumed en- | tirely in the hunt for health with only partial success I shall never forget these friends and only regret that this | expenditure of money and thought has been made upon so unworthy an ob- 1ect. If there is any way. this recital may help some other individual who may be a sufferer or may awaken some individual of influence and au- thorty to the importance of making provisions somewhere for sufferers among my people. I shall feel that my suffering has not been in vain
 1t will take one who has gone through with this thing to fully ap- preciate what it means. In most in stances the tuhercular patient is fac ing death, slowly, but surely, and no l one realizes it more certainly than he He stands much in the position of the prisoner awaiting his execution, save. unlike the prisoner, he does not know exactly the date or the hour of his approaching death