Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-10-03
LHe'S Problems
Are Discussed
BY MRS. WILSON WOODROW


1 have been receiving some very un-
usual letters lately. Amon0 them is
the one l give below-so touching. SO
appealing that l am sure the readers
OF tnls column viii be as much i'm
pressed by 1t as l have been:
Dear Madam: l have read your ar
tlcle in the paper about then man who
wrote to ask you how he could bear
his life, now that the wife he loved SO
dearly was gone from him.
think it is very hard for any one
TO answer his question unless one
has had sorrows of ones own. But l
would answer, and l think every
mother in the world would answer
the same way. that now that his wife
has passed away he should give the
love he gave to her to the things that
were dearest to her and were a part
OF her-her children.
To let them be adopted by others,
strangers perhaps, would be cruel; to
go back to his old, rowing life would
make not only them but him unhappy;
TO try and join his wife by taking
his own life would be making a leap
in the dark. He might not lind her
means to do so, 1t is bad enough
that his little children are left mother
less, so why should he consider leay-
ing them fatherless, too?
Doesn't he know what her last smile
meant? 1t said to himi BE good to
our children. Do not forsake them
when they need you most. Love them
always as l have loved you
Dear Mrs, Woodrow, 1 write this
letter with a broken heart, When I
was only % years old my husband
died and l was left with two little
Ghildren: My sorrow made me selfish,
/ forgot the little ones. l felt that
there was nothing left for me to live
| for; the world was black. l grieved
| so that 1 lost my health and became
SO III that was finally sent to a hos
"one day the children were brought
there to visit me. and when 1 saw
| them l ached to take them to my
| heart. to hold them tight, to kiss them
But I was too weak and i'll to do so.
Ny little boy came to my bed. and
| said: Hello, mother, dear; how do
you feel? or course I can't write
time came for them to go, my baby
cried and my little boy couldn't say
good-by for his tears.
II couldn't cry. 1 couldn't talk.
| But after they went I began to rea-
lie that they still needed met they
still wanted me: From that day I be
| gan to fight for my life just for their
sakes, l am still fighting and hope
some day to win back my health in
| order that l may give my little ones
their mother again.
This man who has written you has
| health. He can work and give his
children a good home. He is ahead
of me. But I will not give up.
Tell me, though. do you believe it
| is possible for me to win out?
Respectfully,
do believe it is possible for you to
win out I do not say that lightly or
in the hope of cheering and comfort
ing you. I say 1t because 1 believe 1t.
! Any doctor will tell you that the
will to live. the intense desire and
l loA H. toV, tn 6n CO a Of O.
est factor in the recovery of patient.
I do not know anything about you, the
nature of your malady, its cause, or
how serious it may be: But do know
not past. Doctors OF long expert
ence have told me from time to time
strange tales of the startling recov-
cry OF patients who were in extremis
mon knowledge that bedridden in
valids under stress of sudden fear or
some equally strong emotion, VIII get
up and walk, and they usually retain
the use of their limbs thereafter,
II you are a Catholic, you may be
acquainted with the cures that have
taken place at Lourdes and other spots
| sacred TO those of that faith. These
cannot be disputed. The incurabiy
lame have thrown ~ away %estored tnei5 ~
blind eyes, hearing to deaf ears.
II you are Protestant, you may
be aware of the remarkable and In
explicable cures among the early Wes-
ieyans and the Quakers. Christian
Science healings are so common as &c
have come within the observation oi
almost every one. mt
But the great point is this; The
fact that your children need you and
that you feel this need so deeply is
spiritual call that in its vitality and
Intensity may easily, perhaps tnstan-
taneousiy, vanquish the ills of the
flesh"