A STRANGE STORY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 250, 16 July 1919, Page 7

A STRANGE STORY

STARVING WOMAN'S SACRIFICE. , Here is a, strange but true story. A well-known London physician, on whose authority wo tell it (says the "Morning Post"), was visited by a young seamstress, whose deep-set eyes, furrowed brow, hoKow checks, and threadbare dress betokened a really desperate' fight for existence. Obviously she was starving, i Yet, taking from her pocket a bundle of Treasury notes to, the value of i' 93, which she promised 'to 'make up to ■£100, she' pleaded with'him'to find a hospital that would accept this endowment and use it for the institution of an eight-hour day for nurses. The physician's endeavours' to dissuade her from devoting all . her savings to. this object—in any case difficult to realise— were unavailing, but drew from her this piteous tale. Her parents had died when she was a child, leaving her. to look after a still younger, brother, to whom she was passionately attached. The lad ■ volimteered for the war and fell—a terriblo blow for his Sister, who worked night and day, suffering every deprivation, in order to save money to set up a memoria.; to "her boy." Both impressed and distressed by this story of sacrifice, the doctor sent a letter to a' London' hospital, commending the pious project of the poor seamstress, but before he received a reply—which, by, the wav, entirely ignored the proposal—she had died of starvation.