Letter on Mother's last illness, pages 4–5 (continuation)
Book 1, Page 144 ·1874
Transcription
A two-page handwritten spread, numbered 4 at the top of the left page and 5 at the top of the right page. Continuing prose in cursive ink, with no salutation or signature visible on this opening.
Left page (4)
moment to think if there was anything else I could do, when I noticed she looked worried, & said she would get up again. She seemed very faint, & I stood by her, & she got the little basin in her hands, & she seemed to feel so faint, I said maybe you had better lie down again — so I put my arms round her, & finding she did not lift herself at all, I stooped round, & found her eyes were fixed. I tried to lift her but could not so I rang the bell, & Kate came & we lifted her in bed, & Tody ran for Dr. Wragg — By the time Dr. Wragg came we had given her brandy, & rubbed her, but she was in drenching
Right page (5)
perspirations, & excessive weakness. After mustard applications & Valerian, & stimulants, she rallied. If you were here, I could perhaps tell you better the details — but if I am confused, it is partly because I felt bewildered, in my thoughts, & there was something to be done, every moment from that Wednesday evening, till she died the next Wednesday, & between the necessity of resting & sleeping a little, & the extreme heat of the weather, there was no chance to keep an account for you — Wm. Matheson & Wm. Arthur Huger, were perfectly devoted & untiring, as well as efficient in their nursing ^(with Kate) & I — & Flora, who was Cattie
AI Notes
Two facing handwritten pages numbered 4 (left) and 5 (right), continuing the long letter on Mother’s (Ellen Milliken Barker, 1807-1874) last illness from the 1874 Barker family death cluster. The writer (most likely Susan Milliken Barker) describes the moment Mother fainted while sitting up in bed, the rush of Kate and Tody (Theodore Gaillard Barker) for Dr. Wragg, the brandy and mustard plasters and Valerian, and the names of those who nursed her — William Matheson and Arthur Huger devoted and untiring, with Kate and ‘I’ and Flora (the household servant) also present. ‘Arthur Huger’ (not just an initial) matches ‘Mrs. Matheson’ in page 152’s funeral roster. A caret insertion ‘^with Kate’ appears above the line near ‘in their nursing’.
Letter continues on next page.