WAITING FOR DEATH.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2215, 18 September 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

WAITING FOR DEATH.

Waiting for death, the World says, in a little back parlour in Brooklyn lies Dr Charles F. Reed, 56 years old, who has not been able to move hand or font or turn in his bed nince he was 34. He lives only in his head, for every joint is ftist bound, and his body and limbs are wasted to the bonp. His eyes are sightless, his neck stiff, ,his jaws set so close as to prevent him from taking any food unless it be in very soft or liquid form, and shoulder joints, elbows, wrists, finprer joints, hips, knees, and toes are immovable. The knees are drawn up, the left knee joint is almost thrown from its socket, the right foot is turned outward, so much as to be almost turned back. A white moustache and beard, that Rip Van Winkle would have envied, cover the lower part of a face strong in outline and full of character. Around this sufferer's bed, where so heavy a cross is laid, gather almost daily people who come to get consolation in trouble. Dr Reed is a philosopher, and his cheerful disposition, in spite of the extreme hardness of his lot, has made him the wonder of everybody who knows him. Those who have lost friends call thore to learn lessons in fortitude, and all who meet the doctor say they go away with new ideas of life and its purposes. He is well read in every branch of literature.

The largest gold nuggets ever found were the following : — The Sarah Sands nugget, found at Ballarat. It weighed 13011)3 troy, or 1500oz. This, at £4 per ounce, would be worth £6240. The Blanche Barkly nustget, dug up at Kingower. It weighed 1451b5, and was worth £6960. The Welcome nugget, found at Ballarat. It weighed 184lbs, and was sold for £10,000. This was the largest ever found. An Anti- Woman Speech.— l recently listened to a debate in one of the school lyceums of this city upon the novel and momentous question of " woman suffrage." The debater upon the •• antiwoman" side was doubtless engaged in his first effort, and this fact, together with a slight impediment of speech and a most original series of arguments, combined to produce one of the funniest and most unanswerable speeches that I had ever heard. Here it is almost in full :—: — "Ladies and gentlemen, the first thing to find out is w-w-what man was m-rnade for and what w-w-what woman was made for. God created Adam first and put him in the Garden of Eden. T-then he made Eve and p-put her there too. If he hadn't c-c-created Eve there never would have been all this s-s-*in there is now in this w-world. If hp hadn't made Eve she never would have p-p-pickcd the apple and eaten it. N-n-no, hIk 1 never would have picked it and q j/iven it to Adam to eat. Paul in his epistles, saya w-w-women should keep slill. And besides, 1-ladies and gentlemen, woman couldn't fill the offices. I d-d-defy any one to p-point out a wom.m in this city or c-c-county that should be Sheriff. Would a woman t-turn out in the dead of the night to track and arrest a m-m-mur-derer? I say n-no ! Ten to one she would elope with him !" And amid thunder- and applause and laughter the . ' illant fender of man's rights triumphantly took his seat. — Harper's Magazine,