s a
sailor would say, from stem to stern. "Well," said he, at length,
putting on a face which of itself was enough to destroy some very feeble
persons, "he says you cannot live more than thirty-six hours."

My friend, in divulging what he deemed an important secret, doubtless
felt relieved; but not so with me. My philosophy had disappeared with
the progress of my disease, and I was now, in mind, a mere child. In
short, I was so much agitated by the unexpected intelligence, that I
sank at once under it, and remained in this condition for several hours.
When I awoke from this delirium, the symptoms of my disease were more
favorable, and from that day forth I began to recover.

But the risk was too great for my enfeebled and diseased frame, and
should not have been incurred. Dr. Thornton, though a physician of much
reputation, was nevertheless a man of very little principle, and though
respected for his medical tact and skill, was beloved by very few. He
died, moreover, not many years afterward, as the fool dieth; viz., by
suicidal hands. Nor do I know that as a man--a mere citizen--he had many
mourners.

The reader will pardon me, perhaps, for saying so many times, and with
so much emphasis, that "it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good."
But I must be allowed to repeat the saying here, and to observe that
while I entirely disapprove of the course my attendant took in the
present instance, I am by no means sure that the delirium into which I
was thrown by his tattling propensity was not safer for me than a
restless apprehension of danger would have been, especially when long
continued; nor that it did not contribute, indirectly, to bring about my
recovery.

I was confined to the house by my sickness about five or six weeks, or
till it was midwinter. And yet, all covered as the earth was when I
first ventured forth, no Paradise could ever appear more beautiful to
any son or daughter of Adam than did this terrestrial abode to me. And
if ever I shed tears of devout gratitude to my Father in Heaven, it was
on this very occasion.

It was a long time, however, after I got out of doors, before I was
strong enough, in body or mind, to attempt to perform much labor. At the
time of being taken sick, I was teaching a public school; and as soon as
I began to be convalescent my patrons began to be clamorous about the
school. They were hardly willing to wait till my physicians and myself
deemed it safe to make a beginning. I