786 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



and If symptoms ai'e bad. and his fever runs 

 away up, both experience and good sense in- 

 dicate that he should not be told of it." 



" On the same principle, doctor, if there were 

 a probability that the patient would never get 

 well, it would not be best, as a rule, to tell him 

 so?" 



He assented. As I recollect about it, I rather 

 think he was quite anxious that I should stop 

 talking. I remember that, at about that time, 

 he forbade my seeing visitors, except my own 

 relatives. Well, I had not been real sick at 

 that time, so I replied something like this: 



" Well, doctor, you need not be at all afraid to 

 tell me the whole truth when the time comes, 

 if such a time should come, that it looks doubt- 

 ful whether I ever get well. I am ready to go. 

 and have been for years, when God sees fit to 

 call me from my labors here on earth." 



He did not make any reply, or. if he did, a 

 very brief one, so I ask('d him if he did not be- 

 lieve that it was safe to trust me to know my 

 exact condition at any time. As nearly as I 

 can remember, his answer was something like 

 this: 



"Mr. Root, I believe every word you say— at 

 least, I believe you are perfectly honest and 

 sincere in what you say; nevertheless, I do not 

 believe it best to tell you every day when your 

 symptoms are unfavorable, especially since the 

 main thing before us just now is perfect quiet 

 and rest. If you can think of any texts of Scrip- 

 ture that will help you to be at peace, to be 

 guided by your friends and physician, they are 

 the texts you need.'" 



I suggested, "Take no thoiight for the mor- 

 row." 



" Yes." said he. " that is just it exactly. And 

 that one about the lilies of the held, that toil 

 not, neither do they spin. That is what you 

 want to do just now." 



Somebody told me afterward that he said 

 that, if he could get me to stop thinking and 

 talking, there would be some chance of getting 

 the medicines to do their work. 



Now. friends, my conscience troubled me a 

 little afterward because I had been so positive 

 that death had no terrors for me; and I lemem- 

 bered the little text, " Let him that thinketh 

 he standeth take heed lest he fall." I thought 

 also of Peter when he said. " Lord, I am ready 

 to go with thee, both into prison, and to death." 

 Not many hours afterward my faith was se- 

 verely tried. When one thinks of it, the whole 

 matter was so ludicrous that it sounds like a 

 joke to laugh at; but I tell you it was to me 

 one of the most serious conflicts, or hand-to- 

 hand fights, with the powers of darkness I ever 

 encountered. 



About this time the doctor was somewhat 

 puzzled over a kind of nervous chills that came 

 daily or oftener before the fever. I had been 

 taking rather heavy doses of quinine at fre- 

 quent intervals: hut it seemed to have but lit- 

 tle effect on the chills or fever. He ti'ied, ban- 

 teringly, to convince me that the chills were a 

 good deal the effect of imagination, or of the 

 nervous state of my system. Imagination or 

 not, when they began to come on they made it 

 lively for the women-folks in getting hot bi'icks 

 and bottles of hot wat<'r. besides all the bed- 

 clothing that could be scraped up. When I 

 told the doctor that these were always heralded 

 by a peculiar ringing in the ears, on a high key, 

 he said that, inasmuch as large quantities of 

 quinine always produce ringing in the ears, he 

 wished to try the effect of suddenly cutting off 

 the quinine for a time. So he directed me to 

 stop taking it after a certain hour, and left a 

 couple of powdei's to b<' taken — one at noon, 

 and the other at suppei- time. I remember of 

 hearing him say something about some un- 



pleasant "fancies" that would result fronv 

 cutting off the quinine so suddenly; but he 

 said the powders would quiet my nerves. I 

 wondered what he meant by the word "fan- 

 cies," but dropped the matter and thought but 

 little more about it. Right here is something I 

 wish to emphasize; therefore you will excuse 

 me if I digress a little. I remember once hear- 

 ing a father remark that he had just taken his 

 son through a long siege of typhoid fevei'. and 

 saved his life. In speaking of the medicine 

 the doctor left, this man said he gave a part of 

 it to the patient, and the other part he threw 

 out of the window, regulating the matter ac- 

 cording to his own judgment. I thought at the 

 time that it was quite a smart thing to refuse 

 to take all the stuff that doctors usually pre- 

 scribe. I am ashamed of this last remark of 

 mine; but nevertheless, for a good many years 

 I have held such notions more or less. After 

 the doctor was gone, my wife prepared a pow- 

 der. I remember of thinking that it was a 

 pretty-good sized one, and that it looked dis- 

 agreeable, and smelled disagreeable to my 

 feverish senses, as she brought the cup to me. 

 It was dissolved in perhaps a quarter of a tea- 

 cup of water. Now, my wife has frequently 

 complimented me by saying that I could take 

 any kind of medicine that was ever prescribed 

 for anybody, without making even a wry face^ 

 But this dose was too much for me. After re- 

 peated trials I drank about a half of it. and 

 then directed my wife to throw it away, telling 

 her I could not possibly take any more, and I 

 was sure I had had plenty. At night I felt less 

 like taking thf "villainous stutt" than I did at 

 noon; and when I told my wife I was not going 

 to try to take it she did not say very much, per- 

 haps relying on my superior (?) wisdom under 

 such circumstances. I n^member that I felt very 

 sick and bad that evening; but I concluded that, 

 when I got to sleep, "tired nature's sweet re- 

 storer " would take care of it all. To my con- 

 sternation, however, I found sleep did not come 

 as usual. I can never tell the experiences of 

 that night; but I will give you a little glimpse. 

 As soon as I closed my eyes I was in a terrible 

 muss with somebody straightway. At first I 

 discovered a lot of good wax thrown out in the 

 grass and weeds back of the factory. I gather- 

 ed it up and demanded to be shown the hand 

 who had thrown away good wax like that. In 

 my dream — for it was a sort of dream — Ernest 

 tried to quiet me by assuring me that it was 

 not good wax at all— it was only dirt. But I 

 insisted that there was a dollar's worth of as 

 good wax as was ever seen. When I got suf- 

 ficiently worked up to awaken, I would glance 

 at my patient wife and around the room, to as- 

 sure myself that it was only a dream. Then I 

 turned over and tried it again; but it was a 

 constant repetition, only things were growing 

 woi'se and worse. The doctor had bade me be 

 quiet, and not worry, and here I was ivearhKj 

 myself out over purely imaginary evils. Before 

 midnight, worse troubles came trooping along. 

 I was rolling and groaning and tossing in my 

 bed. and I began to fear that I should soon be 

 entirely delirious. While strange sights were 

 passing before me, I remember that my atten- 

 tion was suddenly attracted by a beautiful blue 

 snake. The intense shining "brightness of this 

 blue riveted my attention. Pretty soon there 

 were two blue snakes; then there were f/oze/is. 

 then hundreds and thousands. They stretched 

 away in the distance as far as the eye could 

 reach, all crawling toward me. Then came 

 snakes of other colors, and I began to think' of 

 delirium tremens. Why should /. A. I. Root. 

 be afflicted with this terrible malady ? Soon 

 evil spirits began to torment me. I call them 

 spirits, because they assumed the garb of my 



