cuniary kind, and made such arrangements as
would, in case of my demise, render every thing intelligible. Then, in
the second place, I made up my mind to submit, as cheerfully as I
could, to my condition. I determined to keep quiet, and not indulge for
a moment in any undue anxiety. I employed a physician,--my old
master--but steadfastly, and almost obstinately determined not to take
much medicine;--nor was there much prescribed.

My disease proved to be much milder than was expected; but it had its
regular course. I never wholly lost my muscular strength or my appetite.
While I was sick, several of my nearest friends and patrons sickened in
a similar way, only more severely; and one or two of them died. On my
recovery, however, or about the same time, the most of them began also
to recover, and the disease in general abated.

Now, when I came to reflect coolly and carefully on the whole affair, I
could not help perceiving that I richly deserved all I suffered. It was
the just penalty of transgression. I had been fully and repeatedly
warned not to watch with my patients, as those who turn back to Chapter
XXIII, and those too who remember its contents, will perceive. It was
fit, therefore, that I should feel the rod, even if I could not kiss the
hand that had appointed it. The only wonder with me now is, that my
punishment was not more severe.

CHAPTER XLIV.

BLESSINGS OF CIDER AND CIDER BRANDY.

Some of these blessings have been alluded to in Chapter XXXVI. But the
subject is one of too much importance to be left in an unfinished state,
and I have concluded to make it the principal topic of a separate
chapter.

A man came to me, one day, with sundry grievous complaints about his
head and stomach. It was easy to see, at once, that they were not of
mushroom growth, and that they could not be removed either in an hour or
a day. However, I did the best I could with him, and charged him to
follow, implicitly, my directions, which he promised faithfully to do. I
told him, even, that he was in danger of a severe disease, but
counselled him to do his utmost to escape it, if possible.

He was, in the first place, a New England or Yankee farmer. Not quite
satisfied with the products of his farm from the labors of the day, he
coupled with them the night labors of managing a saw-mill and a
distillery. And not satisfied with even these, he sometimes burned
charcoal, which also involved more or less of nocturnal labor