Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1884 — The Original of J. Horner. [ARTICLE]

The Original of J. Horner.

Tattle Jack Horner is so indelibly associated in the Anglo-Saxon mind with the popular pie of this period of the year that it is interesting to hear that he is believed to have been a member of the family of his name last seated at Mells, near Frome, in Somersetshire. A will dated 1540, contains bequests to “John Horner the younger,” and in the previous year, at the destruction of the great abbey of Glastonbury, so eloquently alluded to by Froude, the Horners clawed up a considerable share of the good things going, so much so that an old distich runs: “Horner. Popham, Wyndham, and Thynne. When the Abbot came out they went in.” The plum which little Jack pulled out is surmised to have been a handsome share of the monastic estate, satirically alluded to by a wag, who certainly never dreamed that nearly 400 years later every child on this continent would be familiar with his rhyme. The Horners are still livings* Mells.

Consumption in Its Early Stages. To a very large extent consumption is a hereditary disease, either as directly propagated in its germ or taint, or as engrafted on a constitution too feeble to resist attacks from without. It is not a local disease, like yeHow fever, nor an occasional one, like cholera; nor is it confined to a certain period of life. Its deadly work is going on always and everywhere, from infancy to old age. Few others compare with it in fatality. It may mock its victims with hope to the last, ’but its grasp, once fully fixed, is, in the majority of cases, relaxed only in death. Shall we then give up to it in despair ? By no means. It is an established fact that it can be cured in its earlier stage. Post-mortems reveal multitudes of healed and scarred lungs—probably self-cured—in persons who have died of other diseases; and medical history records many similar cures, the result of well-directed treatment. The condition out of which consumption is developed is always one of feebleness. Our only hope is in physical invigoration. Says a distinguished British authority, “If we ask what treatment is attended by the best results, the experience both of the past and present will, I think, unhesitatingly reply that which has for its object the improvement by every means possible of the general health. The most important indication in the treatment of this disease has been in the past, and probably will be in the future, to endeavor, by means of good hygiene, good food and suitable remedies, to promote and maintain, as far as possible, the normal performance of the digestive and assimilative processes which is essential to healthy nutrition.” The requisites to this end are rest from one’s usual occupation; change of surroundings; out-door exercise and a nutritious diet of easy digestion. Fat, which is so desirable, should be taken in the form of butter, cream, eggs, bacon, etc. To relieve the fatigue of the early morning cough, and to promote expectoration, warm tea or chocolate, with plenty of milk is good, before dressing. At night, to prevent night sweats, give egg and milk, or strong beef-tea, the last thing. The special aim of the drugs administered should be to invigorate the digestive- organs. “I would also say,” adds the above author, “take care of the stomach, and the lungs will take care of themselves.” Of course, a skilled physician must direct the details. — Youth’s Companion.