A FISH IN A BOY’S EAR.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume II, Issue 170, 5 November 1880, Page 1 (Supplement)

A FISH IN A BOY’S EAR.

A most horrible case of suffering is reported from No. 422 Walnut Street, Reading (Pa), United States. The name of the victim is George Whitm'an, son of Howard Whitman, aged fourteen years, liis sufferings Avere terrible in the extreme, and pain and agony endured almost drove him mad. Young Whitman, in company Avitli a number of boys about his own age, had been in the habit of bathing in the Schuylkill, and since vacation commenced has gone in the Avater several times a day. Three Avceks ago lie was swimming Avith several of his schoolmates, and Avhile diving he experienced a tickling sensation in one of his ears. Directly after he had a little pain, but it Avas only momentary, and soon passed away. He probed for the object Avitli a sharp piece of Avood, but could find nothing. He dressed and Aveut home, and no more attention Avar paid to the matter. Some time after lie had a terrible headache, and from that time up to Avitlim a few days ago he experienced nothing but an unceasing agony. The boy is naturally small and delicate for his age, and the awful strain upon his nervous system Avas enough to greatly reduce him and render him almost crazy. Sometimes there Avas a slight alleviation, but it invariably increased, and always Avith increasing pain. No physician Avas employe:!, liis parents thinking he av;is alllieted with nothing but ear-ache? The agony increased, and the boy passed many a sleepless night, liis eye lost its brilliancy, and his cheeks their rosy, healthful hue. Laudanum avus recommended as a reinedy for oar-ache, and enough i of the liquid was poured into his auditory passage to lay him into that sweet sleep that j knows no waking. No relief was experienced j by the frequent applications of laudanum, [ and rabbit's fat was next recommended. I The animal was obtained, and a lot of fat j rendered. This brought no relief, and only ! greater and more horrible suffering. Matters wont on in this way for over two weeks. Jt Avas now thought that the boy Avas alllieted avitli neuralgia, because lie only experienced the pain in fits and starts. When it first commenced the one side of his head felt as ii: some small object avas wriggling and twisting in his car. During this time lie often thought the top of his head Avas about bursting open. The properties of molasses to ‘draw’ arc Avell knoAvn, and a drop was poured into his ear. At 1 I o'clock at night he had another attack, and the pain ho then endured, his parents say, is simply indescribable. Sleep Avas impossible. Lying quietly down Avas not to be thought of. Up and doAvn the room and through various parts of the house the boy paced all night. At six o'clock next morning lie felt something press hard against the lope of his ear. His mother Avas called, and winding a handkerchief around the head of a small pin, probed into liis ear. She saw something protrude. She reached for if, got a linn hold, and pulled out a white looking object, over two inches long, which proved lo be a fish, one of the species used by many of the disciples of Izaak Walton for bait. Immediate relief was experienced. The boy felt as if a weight of fifty pounds had been removed from his head, and immediately began to get better. CIIINESE MAERIALE BROKERS. The peculiar facilities for roguery afforded by the fact that all respectable marriages in China are conducted by means of a gobetween, or broker, are illustrated by the following story : —I may observe that its incidents Avere the talk of native Shanghai, and that they Avere published at the time. The unfortunate heroine had about four husbands in about as many Avceks, having been forsaken by every suitor immediately after marriage. Indeed, her history is a curious one. She is described as being fair to look upon—-according to Chinese taste—and in CA'ory way calculated to attract admirers ; her feet of the tinost, her eyes of the narrowest —and yet somehow or other there always seemed some obstacle in the way of her getting a husband. At length a marriage brokeress took compassion on her, or rather, saw her Avay to turn the despised lady to good account. .She took her home with her; painted her face, and arrayed her in the most attractive of jackets she could muster. Thus dressed, the girl really looked very Avell ; and very shortly a suitor appeared in the person of a gentleman of some means, avlio had been left a Avidower and childless. The brokeress — 1 white ants,’ they call those ladies in China —asked him ninety dollars, Avhich ho, enraptured Avith the beauty of his new bride, willingly paid upon the spot. The marriage rejoicings passed off quietly enough ; the husband took the fair one home in much satisfaction. But, alas ! favour is deceitful and beaut) vain. The vacant stare avp.s all the reply vouchsafed to him by his Avife Avhcn he addressed her; then she broke into a crackling, senseless • laugh, and lie found that she Avas mad. Disgusted at being so imposed upon, lie packed her agaiu to the person from -whom he had purchased her, Avith a verbal message that lie made her a present of the idiot and the dollars too. Nothing could have suited the lady’s vioAvs more admirably, and next day the mad lady was again at the disposal of the highest bidder. This time the applicant Avas a man occupying some small post in a yamen, and he paid bargainmoney to the extent of tAventy dollars : in the meantime, 1: OAVCver, a married but childless barber appeared upon the scene, and lie bought her for a hundred. Avhich lie paid, money down, and carried off the prize before the other. The jilted one thereupon abused the ‘Avhite ant’ roundly, and refused to listen to her attempts at a compromise : a Avife ho bad bought, and a wife he would have, and the oue in question happened to he particularly to his taste. The old crone’s eyes twinkled. “ Bide a wee, ’ she said -or Avords to that effect— ‘ Wait a day or two longer and you shall have her back.’ The event justified the prediction : the next day the disgusted barber bundled back the unfortunate idiot, preferring rather to lose his dollars than his face. The business so far had prospered ; two hundred ami ten dollars came rolling in, and another man hooked already. This man—the yamen rum or—had meanwhile taken a trip up the river, in order to present his devotions at some shrine at Monshan, near Nankin, Avith a view to securing success in his matrimonial schemes; and, during his absence, his number-one Avife. * fearing that lie should bring back a still more formidable rival, clinched the bargain and brought the lady home. But she might just as Avell have purchased a wild cat. No sooner had the new Avife arrived, than her malady took a more serious form than ever, and the lmnse was turned into a perfect bear-garden. The alllieted and much-despised lady av.ih summarily packed off home again ; and married next day to a traveller from the country. avlio paid a similarly heavy price, and did not find out that he had married a maniac until lie had got her as far as his residence at IfooehoAV. Back she came again, poor tiling, like a bad penny ; sbe probably found another husband the next Aveek ; and meantime the lady who had got possession of her reaped a golden harvest. —‘Temple Bar.’