A MOTHER'S LOVE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1450, 5 January 1886, Page 3

A MOTHER'S LOVE.

Professor James Walsh stood in the dissecting-room of the New York TJoivsrsity Medical College one afternoon, with his large blue apron on and bis syringe in bis hand, busily engaged in preparing some bodies or "cadavers" for dissectioß. It was an unusually busy day, and bis face wore an anxious and tired look. He hnd just placed the lost " padaver " op the slab, and was preparing to go home, when a messenger arrived and announced that a lady wished to see him. The Professor at once ordered that ahe be admitted. A 3 this was a most unusual request on the part of a lady, and as the Professor did not know of any lady anxious to see him in the dissecting room, his curiosity was aroused to learn the cause of this lady's \isit. He did not wait loDg, however, for after the lapse cf half-arininute or bo a tall angular woman, past middle life, with a Teutonic cast of countenance and unmistakeablo sccent made her appearance. The Professor, who is of small stature, looked up inquiringly into the tall stranger's face and eagerly Bought the object of her visit. "You are the superintendent here T' B.he answered, and without waiting for an jibswer, added ;' u I have a body at home I wish to dispose of, and I am told you buy such things here." This was at ones in the Professor's business, and he sagerly caught at the opportunity. •* Yes, we buy bodies here," he said, " but they mußt be of the right kind—do mutilation, no infection ; nothing of that ■jrt, yea know." ' "Ob," Bhe replied, "this body is all right, and I will ba responsible for it. You see, my children are hungry, and it will not do, io let them starve while one i can get bread. I do bate to see them dying under my very eyea while I am able to give them no help."

" Perhaps, then, it ii the body of one of your children you are going to sell," interrupted professor Walsh. "In that case it would be of no «se to us ca we require adults alone." " On that score you may rest easy. It is not one of my children's body but my own, for I can get bread now no other way, and you can have it as soon as I receive the money, for I can die easy when 1 see the little ones have had something to eat."

The Professor, who is of a kindly disposition, looked »p into the face of the distracted mother and at a glance saw that picture of earnestness and truth forcibly depicted thereon that went down into the very depths of his heart, and he drew from his pocket a five-dollar bi'l and placed it in the bands of the poor creature.

Commenting editorially on this matter the New \ork Herald Bays :—"Some, we fear, who read our report of the scene between a Professor in a medical college and the mother who offered her body for dissection to gat bread for her children will be cynical about her earnestness. Others, who know better the pressure of poverty on thousands in this vast city, will recognise in this woman a mind driven to despair by distress. The picture is a genuine one, drawn from real life."