65 There I Lay” “ Night After Night,” “A VICTIM TO INSOMNIA. The Case of Mr. C. A. THORNE. (By a Special Reporter.) The colonial home of Rugby football is unquestionably in New Zealand, where some of the finest players in the world indulge in the game. When the British football team visited the land of the moa some years ago, the members of that fine combination were astonished at the number of clever ex ponents of Rugby who were pitted against them in small towns, possessing names which the visitors found diffi culty in pronouncing. Gymnasiums arc also freely patronised, concerning which fact Mr. Charles Albert Thorne, of Grey-street, Auckland, had somethinc to say to the writer. “ ies," said Mr. Thorne, “ I took or gymnastics, and did three nights a week at it so that is sufficient proof that I was all right.” “ Strength and vigour are certainly required for that kind of athletics. But were you very much run down before hand ?” asked the reporter. “ I was, indeed. My health wa: completely shattered, and I rcmaiuci in a terrible state of collapse for fully six months. „ Four years have elapscc since then, and I hope never to have a recurrence of that dreadful illness, which started in the form of a very bad attack of indigestion. I always had an unpleasant and bitter taste in my mouth, and there was a tight feeling on my chest after eating, combined with severe pains in the stomach, where the food lay heavily and undigested, till it turned sour and fermented. A dull pain began to tantalise me under the shoulders, besides which I had sharp pricking sensations under the lower ribs. I used to do a lot of reading, but now my eyesight became so bad that I could not read. Persistent depressing head aches made me always feel dejected and miserable; but my greatest misfortune was that I could not sleep at night. Whether through over-study or through being so excessively weak and debili tated I cannot say, but sleep refused to give me the solace I so badly wanted. When everybody was soundly asleep, there I lay, night after night, wide awake. 