Imprisoned on a Ship.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4916, 3 January 1895, Page 3

Imprisoned on a Ship.

TnE steamship Normmiia, from Hamburg, arrived in the port of New York on Saturday, Sept. 3rd, 1892, with cases of cholera on board, Many of the ship's company had died on the passage. At Hamburg and elsewhere in Europe the disease was raging. The authorities in America were alarmed lest the scourge should be introduced into that country. Hence they quarantined the Nommnia with every soul of her passengers and crew. The writer was a passenger. It was an awful time. Death was amongst us and on all sides of us. Nobody knew who next would fall. We were imprisoned. Liberty never seemed so fair.iw) 1 so far. Wc could neither fight or fly. There wc were—hundreds of us—per/ctffy in//, and yet hound together as with chains, that the health officer of tho port might see whether the plague would not yet break out in our midst. When at last—after weeks of this—wc were set on shore—men lifted their hats and reverently said" Thank God ,'" This was being shut up under conditions to make it horrible and fearful. Yet any form of incarceration is bad enough, Here is a woman, for example, who says," I never moved a yard from nvj own doorstep for twenty weeks .'" Her own house was a prison to her. Who had sentenced her ? A judge ? No, a power greater and moro pitiless than any judge. Her tale runs thus: In April 1882, whilst living at Lasher's Farm, Old Stamford, Essex, a lire broke out, and the family were burned out of house and home. Wc have no call to remark on such a calamity, The very thought of it is fit to make one shiver with dread. For most of us it is like tho world coming to an end to experience such a dis-' aster.

"Well, what liappened after that the lady shall tell in for own fashion—tbo bcst,ofallfashions,bccauso it is plain and straight to the point, She says:— " Owing to our bedding being damp from exposure, I took a bad cola, which brought on rheumatic fever. For fourtcon days I was confined to my bed, and for twenty weeks I never moved a yard from my own doorstep. After a time tlio fever abated, leaving me weak, languid, and low. At first I bad a sickening taste intkomoutk and a poor appetite. No matter how simple and light tbo food was, I was afraid to cat, for it was sure to give me pain at the chest and sides; so I often had to loosen my corset audundrcss my. self during the day. I could not bear the weight of my clothing, " I was constantly spitting up a sour, frothy fluid, and had a gnawing pain at the pit of the stomach—Eke hungcr.and yet different. It wan with difficulty I voided the kidney secretion, and my bowels, ankles, and legs began to swell. I got worse; I was in agony night and day, and could not put my foot on the ! ground. Soon afterwards a husky cough took me, and my throat filled with a thick phelgm. I could not sleep and was never easy. later on I had often to sit up in bed, for I felt as if I should choke.

"Year after.year I continued tosuffcrinthisway,growing worso and worse, until I despaired of cvor being well again. But who can tell when trouble mil come, or when reliof P A wonderful Providence is over all. " One day in June a book came by post describing Mother Seigcl's Curative Syrup and what it had done for many,poor sufferers. I got.a bottle 'from Mr Suckling, medicine dealer,!