Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 34, Number 88, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 July 1902 — EDWARD IS BETTER. [ARTICLE]

EDWARD IS BETTER.

SURGEONS REPORT KING’S CONDITION FAVORABLE. Patient Able to Eat and Smoke Making Satisfactory Progress—Medical Advisors Say Monarch Is Displaying Great Recuperative Power. i King Edward’s condition was reported to be much improved Sunday, he was thought to have safely passed the crisis and there was a. wide assumption that nothing was to be expected henceforth but announcements of an uninterrupted return to strength. The Queen was cheerful and hopeful and continued to display most devoted solicitude. She was in the sick room the greater part of the day. The King is able to take plenty of nourishment. So confident are all now of the King’s complete and early " recovery that it has been informally settled that when the time arrives the royal patient will be carefully removed to Cowes and placed on board the royal yacht. Sir Henry Thompson said the King’s condition was hopeful for recovery. The only danger to be feared, in his opinion, was the possibility of cellular or other tissues in the region of the wound becoming affected, but from what other medical men said, the steady improvement in his majesty’s condition was attributable to the fact that he had been able to maintain his strength. If the King continued to hold his own in this respect his recovery was assured. His recent habits are in his favor, for it is a fact, although not known to many outside of the royal household, that the King is, and has been for a long time, most abstemious as to his diet Indeed, this is made necessary by the fact that he is troubled with diabetes and is under a diabetic regime. As this is a progressive complaint, and regarded by many physicians as virtually incurable, it is easy to understand that the King had strong personal reasons for wishing to be Crowned at this time. It is also easy to understand why Queen Alexandra, now feeling most sanguine of her husband’s recovery, has suggested a quiet coronation in Westminster Abbey as soon as he is convalescent, which would be in the latter part of August or September. Of course, the magnificent coronation, which was to have been the most splendid spectacle of the modern world, has vanished forever. No attempt will be made to have a great celebration. for King Edward will not be able for many months-to endure any trying ordeal. The King’s sickness is what is known as perityphlitis. It is an inflammation, including the formation of an abscess Of the tissues around the vermiform appendix and in the popular mind is not readily distinguished from appendicitis. A week previous the trouble manifested itself, but under treatment the King seemed to recover rapidly and on Saturday his condition was such that his physicians believed he would be able to go through the ceremony of coronation. The trouble, however, became aggravated and Tuesday his physicians decided upon the operation. The King was placed under the influence of chloroform and the operation was'successfully carried out. The abscess, which had formed, was removed. As for London, the people were dazed. They had just thrown off, as it were, their mourning garments for the death of the Queen and had plunged into the joyful anticipations of the coronation festivities when with stunning suddenness their joy was turned into sorrow and burning anxiety. In all the churches prayers have been offered up for the recovery of the royal patient and in the ranks'of high and low there is a gnawing sorrow for their ruler and King. Disappointment and Sympathy. London had a million foreigners within her gates for the celebration and four more millions were ready to cross her threshold from the United Kingdom. These, with her own six millions, were greatly disappointed over the postponement. Not only were those who were to witness the splendors incidental to the coronation, hut the great world beyond were moved to sympathy for the monarch who had borne himself so modestly since being entrusted with the imperial aceptre of power.

A London correspondent says that those who have watched closely the King since his mother’s death have not failed to notice that the great responsibilities of the position were going hard against him. The bright eye, the ruddy glow of the cheek, the vigorous hand clasp, the quickened step, the cordial greeting which distinguished him as the Prince of Wales began to lessen under the exactions of kingship. He did everything to conceal the inroads upon his health, but it was evident to those around him that unless there came a change his reign would be a short one. He worried greatly over the Boer war, as his mother had done, and its termination was too long delayed to save him from the consequences of his intense anxiety while it was in progress. Then the anxieties of the coronation were added to make mind and body sick and render life miserable. Riots Over Abandoned Feasts. The abandonment of the coronation feastings has led to a number of riots at different places. The worst occurred at Watford, where, when it wg» announced the dinner for the poor and the distribution of shillings and sixpences to children had been abandoned a mob stoned and wrecked the shops of the members of the committee having the affair in charge. The rioters lit a bonfire that had been prepared to celebrate the event, overwhelmed the police, and threw the officers’ helmets Into the fire. Hundreds of other police were summoned, but they, too, were overpowered. There was desperate fighting and many persons were seriously hurt. A number of shops were sacked and set on fire. In view of the expected extraordinary demand, dealers In supplies of all kinds laid in heavy stocks, hoping to reap large profits. The abandonment of the coronation and the dispersal of the crowds of visitors caused a slump in prices that resulted in large losses to*the dealers. Most of the supplies were es such a nature that it was necessary for them to be immediately consumed. A leading firm in the Smithfield market sold a ton of meat at a half penny a pound. Fish and fruit were also sold at great loss. The New-Herald and Mirror at Olathe, Kam, have been consolidated.

Looking Backward. “I wonder,” said the student of archaeology, of the thirtieth century, “what that queer-shaped thing la we see over the door In pictures of dwellings of a thousand years ago.” “That, my son,” replied the venerable and learned professor, “Is called a horseshoe. It was worn by an animal called a horse, much used In those dark ages as a beast of burden. People rode on Its back and It dragged vehicles from place to place, both for business and pleasure.” “How very strange. But why was the shoe placed over doorways?” “It was supposed to bring good luck to the dwellers In a house so protected.” “What a remarkable Idea!” “Yes, very remarkable. But, then, my son, the people of the twentieth century were very odd In many of their ways. How thankful we ought to be that we live in a more enlightened age.” —Detroit Free Press.