Gaspee Virtual Archives |
| A
Singular Hypochondriac found in Poughkeepsie Journal, Wednesday, September 17, 1823, Page 1 [From the Providence Journal ] |
|
The following incident often related
by an eminent
physician of this town, occurred, during his
practice, early in the
Revolutionary War. A farmer residing at Field’s
Point unluckily had a spouse,
subject to splenetic affections. which frequently
filled her cranium with odd
conceits. At the time of the destruction of the Gaspee frigate in the Bay below, her
husband, a man of unbounded
patriotism, was one of the brave fellows who
followed the gallant John Brown,
in the expedition against that vessel; leaving his
wife unaccompanied, but by
her little brood of chubby children. — During the
absence of the husband, she
was visited by one of her hypochondriacal fits,
and conceiting herself to be a
goose, determined to have a setting. Accordingly,
she built a nest in the
cellar, procured a quantity of eggs, on which she
forced herself with every
mark of irritability, discernable in the goose,
during the process of setting.
On the return of the husband, he, to his
astonishment, found his better half
subscribing to the rites and ceremonies observed
by the goose at the
interesting season of incubation; preferring the
company of a flock of embryo
goslins to the plump and ruddy faces of a numerous
progeny. — He protested in
vain against her conduct; he solicited, persuaded
and implored to no purpose,
for she replied to his expostulations and
entreaties, with a cackling and the
rustling of her petticoats. A physician was sent
for, who informed the unhappy
husband that the malady of his wife would not
yield to the most powerful
nostrums. — “But (said he) if she possesses any
article on which she places
inestimable value, bring it to me, and I will
undertake to remove, or at least
palliate her disorder.” A china bowl, which the
lady had received of her
mother, at the celebration of her nuptials, was
produced with an assurance that
of all the things on earth, she most valued that
the most highly.
The
physician took it, went into the cellar, and
ordered her to rise. She cackled
and rustled her petticoats.
|
| Back to Top | Back to Gaspee.com | Back to Gaspee Virtual Archives |