Imprisoned on a Ship.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4917, 4 January 1895, Page 3

Imprisoned on a Ship.

The steamship Normimia, from Hamburg, arrived m the port of Now 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 tliey quarantined the Normannia with every soul of her passengers and crew. Tho 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,not 1 so far. We could neither fight or ily. There we were—hundreds of us—perfectly well, and yet bound together as with chains, that the health officer of the port might sec whether the plague would not yet break out in our midst. When at last—after weeks of this—we 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," J never moved a yard from my own doorstep for tmty weeks Her own house was a prison to her. Who had sentenced her ? A judge? No, a power greater and more pitiless than any judge. Her talc runs thus: In April 1882, whilst living at Lasher's Farm, Old Stamford, Essex, a fire broke out, and the family were burned out of house and home. Wc have no call to remark on such a calamity. Tho very thought of it is fit to make one shiver with dread. For most of us it is like the world coming to an end to experience such a disaster.

Well, what happened after that the lady shall tell in lier own fashion—the best of all fashions, bccauso it is plain and straight to the point, She says " Owing to out tedding being damp from exposure, I took a had cola, which brought on rheumatic fever. For fourteen days I was confined to my bed, and for twenty weeks I nover moved a yard from my own doorstop. After a time tho fever abated, leaving me weak, languid, and low. At first I had a sickening taste inthomouth and a poor appetite. No matter how simple and light the food was, I was afraid to eat, for it was sure to give mo pain at tho chest and sides j so I often had to loosen my corset and undress my. self during the day, I could not bear the weight of my clothing. "Iwas constantly Bpitting up a sour, frotliv fluid, and had a pawing pain at the pit of the stomach—like hunger,and yet different. It was with difficulty I voided the kidney accretioa, 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 ou tho ground, Soon afterwards a husky cough took me, and my throat filled with a 'thick pliolgm. I could not sleep and ! was never easy. Later on I lmd often to sit up in bed, for I felt as if I should choke. "Year after year I continued to suffer in this way, growing worse and worse, until I despaired of ever being well again. But who can toll when trouble will come, or when relief ? A wonderful Providence is over all. " One day in June a book came by post describing Mother Seigel's Curative Syrup and what it had done for many poor sufferers. I got a bottle from Mr Suckling, medicine dealer, and after taking it for a short time, all pain left me, and I gradually gained strength, By taking an occasional dose I have since kept m good health, and can eat and digest any kind of food, (Signed) Mrs Lydu Green, Moor End, Great Stampford, via Braintree, Essex, August 24, 1892," Wow, in order that Mrs Green's clear and truthful statement may be of use to others (as she desires it to be) we must add a word or two. The bad cold she caught at the fire no doubt" brought on " the rheumatic fever (as she relates) but there was something hack of the cold,/or ii cold never cause* rheumatism. The rheumatic seeds, or poison, must already lie in the blood; ami that poison is always created by ■pre-eiiding indigestion and dyspepsia, whether the sufferer knows it or not, This is proved by the fact that Mrs Green's chief ailment for ten years after the fire was not rheumatism, but indigestion and dyspepsia, and dropsy, which is one of its results and symptoms. When the digestion was finally righted by the remedy she alludes to, all her apparent maladies ceased together.' Why ? Because she had but one, as we have said. Ah, yes, Disease is a stern Jailor And how sweet (and cheap) is liberty, obtained by Mother Seigcl's help. |