The Stick and the Crust.

Manawatu Herald, 30 May 1899, Page 3

The Stick and the Crust.

A stick and a crust of bread. Like the hands of a cock these two ar.icies told the

time o' day for nearly a year in a certain man's life. Yet, unlike the hands cf a clock, the were not visable at once. When he needed the stick he had no use for the crust ; and when the crust was welcome he had no further occasion for the st ck.

Albeit he was a young fellow of twentysix, you wou'd be wrong in supposing this stick to have been a weapon for attack or defence. In that case the crust and the ctick wou d have been harmonised. As it was, they did not. For tLe stick was a aupp rt noi, a club.

Now, when a man feels the pressure of eighty or niu ty years he is apt to want a travelling companion of that sort ; but one in the very heyday of youth, not suffering from any injury and not constitutionally® feeble, or malformed, shou d commonly be able to wa'k jvithout a stick. And so this young man had a' ways done up to the time when he fe 1 out with the crust and with i all than the crust etood for or represented.

His own aocour.t of the circumstances runs thus;-' Up to October, 1893, I had been a strong, heathy, and active man. Then I commenced to feel week and out of sorts. I was heavy, tirfd.vand had no energy. What had co tvi e over me. l cou'd not imagine. I had a foul nasty taste in the mouth aud was constantly spitting up a thick, phlegm. My appetite left me, and what lit le I ate lay on my stomach like lead, causing me gr at pain about the chest A short, distressing cough s.-tt'ed upon me and troubled me day and night. "At night my seep was disturbed and broken with night sweats and frigh;ful dreams. I had great pains a f the left sde around the heart, and my br.-athing was hurried and short. Next I began to spit blood and wa3 great'y alarmed at it. I wasted away rapidly, losing over a stone w ight in a mo th, and became so weak that I was unable to vise on my feet without assistance.

" Although on'y a young man of twen'yalx I wa=i obliged to hobble about with a stich, and cou d walk but a short dis'anoe even at that~ Worri d and anxious I attend vl the York C unty Hospita l . where the doc'ors °ounded me and said J was in a consumptinn. Here we have ano'h r of the serious and oftpn fatal mistakes that are made in oases like this. Misled by symptoms v. hioh in some respects res mble those of conaumption, medioal mn- -hastily decide that the lung* are affected, treat the patient perfunctorily for the hopeless, disease he is not afflicted with, and leave result to ohanop. Hence he often dias of dyspepsia and its complications— his trug disease — whloh, unlike oonsumption, is curable by the remedy our hie d finally employed. "They gave mo ood-liver oil," he oontinued, " and medicines, but I got no better. Indeed, I was so low-spirited and miserable I didn't care what became « f me. As time pasvd I grew weak t and weaker.

" After I had endured ten months of this, Mr R. W. Dickinson, the chenvst in Wa'mgate, advised me to try Mother Seig l's Syrup. After taking it. a few days I fait much better, my appe'i'e isiving and my food giving me no pain. I continued to lake this nv-dicine only, and soon the co -gh and breathing troub c Wt m° and I b'g'an to ga'n strength and flas'i. Whan I had taken three bott'es I was as strong as ever, and could eat and enjoy even a dry crust. I have since had gord hea'tb. You are at liberty to publish this letter and refer aH inqu'rers to me. (Signed) Isaiah L wis 124, Wa'ragate, York April Bth. 1894." If the readar wonders how a man could suffer so much, becomes so ggnaciated and weak, and be pushed so near ths grave' edge through what is Fometimei flippant' y callrd "mere indijrestinn," he has yet t"> learn that the digestion is the arbiter of lie a-d death. The " crust " (food), enjoyed and dig r sted, mrans life and strength. Rejec'ed it means the " stick," to supplement swift coining wnkness; and t'len the prone position, which hep is v.in Mother Seige''s Syrup enabled Mr Lew'^ to substitude the crust for the stick. It 0 ired his dyspepsia.