lay entering upon the duties of the ministry two whole years. But I
reasoned the case with him as well as I could, and, among other things,
pointed out to him the course pursued by his Divine Master.

I have never met with him from that day to this; nor have I ever
received from him--strange as it may seem--any communication on the
subject. But I have been informed from other sources, that after
laboring for a time with his father, he was settled as a minister in a
neighboring village with greatly improved health and highly encouraging
prospects. He is at the present time one of the main pillars,
theologically, of the great State of New York, and, as I have reason for
believing, is in the enjoyment of good health.

It is easy to see that the time he spent on his father's farm, instead
of being a loss to him, was, in the end, among the most important parts
of the work of his education. How much better it was for him to recruit
his wasted energies before he took upon him the full responsibilities of
preacher and pastor in a large country church and congregation, than to
rush into the ministry prematurely, with the prospect, amounting almost
to a certainty, of breaking down in a few years, and spending the
remnant of his days in a crippled condition,--to have the full
consciousness that had he been wise he might have had the felicity of a
long life of usefulness, and of doing good to the souls and bodies of
mankind.

CHAPTER LXXIII.

HE MUST BE PHYSICKED, OR DIE.

Mr. S., a very aged neighbor of mine, fell into habits of such extreme
inactivity of the alimentary canal, that instead of invoking the aid of
Cloacina, as Mr. Locke would say, every day, he was accustomed to weekly
invocations only. There was, however, a single exception. In the month
of June, of each year, he was accustomed to visit the seaside, some
twenty miles or more distant, and remain there a few days, during which
and for a short time afterward, his bowels would perform their wonted
daily office.

And yet, despite of all this, he got along very well during summer and
autumn, for a man who was over seventy years of age. It was not till
winter--sometimes almost spring--that his health appeared to suffer as
the consequence of his costiveness. Nor was it certain, even then,
whether his inconveniences,--for they hardly deserved the name of
sufferings,--arose from his costiveness, or from the croakings of
friends and his own awakened fears and a