the bed. By a
desperate effort I threw the pillow on the floor, and, too exhausted to
feel annoyed by the burning feathers, I sank into a state of somnolency.

How long I lay, I do not exactly know; but I was roused from my
lethargy by the neighbors, who, alarmed by the smell of fire, came to
my room to ascertain the cause. When they took me from my bed, the
under part of the straw with which it was stuffed was smouldering, and
in a quarter of an hour more must have burst into a flame. Had such
been the case, how horrible would have been my fate! for it is more
than probable that, in my half-senseless condition, I should have been
suffocated, or burned to death. The fright produced by this incident,
and a very narrow escape, in some degree sobered me, but what I felt
more than anything else was the exposure now; all would be known, and I
feared my name would become, more than ever, a byword and a reproach.

Will it be believed that I again sought refuge in rum? Yes, so it was.
Scarcely had I recovered from the fright than I sent out, procured a
pint of rum, and drank it all in less than an hour. And now came upon
me many terrible sensations. Cramps attacked me in my limbs, which
raked me with agony, and my temples throbbed as if they would burst.
So ill was I that I became seriously alarmed, and begged the people of
the house to send for a physician. They did so, but I immediately
repented having summoned him, and endeavored, but ineffectually, to get
out of his way when he arrived. He saw at a glance what was the matter
with me, ordered the persons about me to watch me carefully, and on no
account to let me have any spirituous liquors. Everything stimulating
was vigorously denied me; and there came on the drunkard's remorseless
torture: delirium tremens, in all its terrors, attacked me. For three
days I endured more agony than pen could describe, even were it guided
by the mind of Dante. Who can feel the horrors of the horrible malady,
aggravated as it is by the almost ever-abiding consciousness that it is
self-sought. Hideous faces appeared on the wall and on the ceiling and
on the floors; foul things crept along the bedclothes, and glaring eyes
peered into mine. I was at one time surrounded by millions of
monstrous spiders that crawled slowly over every limb, whilst the
beaded drops of perspiration would start to my brow, and my limbs would
shiver until the bed rattled again. Strange lights would danc