"Kiss me, Jack, and let me go."

Manawatu Herald, 16 April 1895, Page 3

"Kiss me, Jack, and let me go."

♦ Ono*. long agOi I wai witness to a duel in California. The two men bad been bosom friends, bnt had qnarelled abont (of course) i-woman. Splendid fellows bothyoung, brainy, and ambitions. As they stood in a dear space among the pine trees near Sacramento, pale as lilies, steady as rocks, weapons in hand waiting for the word, the- rising sun shining athwart the line of vision, they presented a picture too often Been in 1856. The pistols cracked almost simultaneously. One man stood erect, evidently untouched ; the other fell npon his back and lay straight and still. Seconds, surgeons, and spectators rushed te his side. He was " all there," mind as well as body. "No, don't disturb me," he he saiff coolly to the doctor, "I'm shot fatallj.and shall die in five minutes. Call Jack and be quick." Pistol still in hand, his antagonist came an&bent over his erstwhile ohom. The excitement among the •rowv wtr intense; the dying man alone waecttfm* "Jaok, my darling old boy," lie said, " forgive me and forgive her. Kiss me and let me go." A minute more •nd he was dead, with Jack lying across Ina body, crying like a baby. After I have told you another and very (liferent story, I'll show wherein they teach the. same lesson. Thoitt Is po tragedy in this ono ; nevertheless it is of wider human interest than the other. A woman had been 31 more or less «1} her life.. The details are commonplace •a*m&, and yet they will appeal to millions who care nothing for the jealousies of young men in love. "At times," she says, " I suffered from fOins at the back of the head, and a sense of weight, and felt tired and weary, yet it - was not from work only. I had a strange ■%• feeling, too, of something hanging over me, "" t* of some evil or danger that 1 could not explain or define. " My appetite wai variable; sometimes

**^rWi-*jSg^*-V; - v \_[ ■ ■■ I could eat anything and again f could not touohany food ftt all. But I «*w never laid up, as it were. 11 _ _ . Please note the last sentende. It may s«em like tha weakest but really is the strongest point in this lady's statement. We will tall yoa -why in a moment. She goes on : " Still I was often in misery, but got along fairly well until August, 1890, when I had a severe attack of rheumatism. First the great toe of my right foot and the thumb of my right hand grew hot and painful. After a time the trouble extended to my back and hips. I could not straighten myself ; I was almost bent double. Month after month I was like this, getting little or no sleep at night. Medical treatment proved of no benefit to me. In December, 1891, the pain almost dfOtit me mad. My face was swollen to neftrly twice Its natural size, and my eyeß were so covered by the enlarged lids that I oould scarcely see. There wss a constant ringing in my ears, and the doctors said I had erysipelas. '• For days and days I could not walk across the floor, attd for some time I was able to move about only by taking hold of the furniture or other objects. When all other meanß had been tried and had failed Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup was recommended to me. A single bottle did me a deal of good. I kept on with it, and soon was stronger and in better health than for forty years previously. I still take an occasional dose and continue in good health notwithstanding my age (48), and the -* -Mtige of life.' I tell everyone what the Syrup has doile lift me/ and give you permission to publish what I hate said. Yours truly (Signed), (Mrs.) Mart Jans Mil-ukS, 18, Walker's Buildings, Brewery Lane, Thornhill Lees, near Dewsbury, Yorkshire, October 12th, 1892*" Notf fctf the lesson of both these inei. dents ; what is it 1 This i that it is not people in desperate extremities who suffer most. Pain is in proportion to the resistance to disease. Those who surrender, who are in despair, who give up, have present punishment largely remitted. Dying peraonsaie the tndst comfortable of all. Hopelessness and dissolution administer their own anodynes. Those who are not laid up, who are ill, and yet work and struggle, need pity and help. This lady was one, and to such Mother Seigel always proV-B a friend.