medicine they took,
or on account of it, would have been but throwing pearls before swine,
and I would not do it.

It was very soon reported, all over the neighborhood, that Mrs. O. was
in a very dangerous condition, and if she did not have some other
doctor, would soon die. And, what was worst of all, the stories got back
to Mrs. O. herself. And now came the tug of war; and had not the
eruption, just at this time made its appearance, I do not know what the
results might have been.

Before noon, however, of this day (Sunday), every thing went right, and
Mrs. O. was as blooming as she had been before pale and disconsolate. My
good friend who had given me the morning homily, did not again make her
appearance, and the neighbors in general who had dealt out their
jeremiades so freely, kept themselves at a very respectful distance.

The recovery was as rapid as could have been expected, even in the most
vigorous young person. Nor was there any after-trouble, to require
physic, or eye-water, or remedies for the dropsy. And,--what added to my
own surprise, if not to that of the neighbors in general,--though she
was a feeble woman, constitutionally, she recovered with as much
rapidity as the most healthy and robust, and as well, to say the least,
as if she had taken "_snakeroot and saffron_."

CHAPTER LXXXV.

THE CONSUMPTIVE PAIR.

A young man, recently married, called on me one day, and requested me to
visit his family as soon as I could conveniently, for the purpose of
having what he was pleased to call a general consultation.

I called in due time, and found the case as follows: Both the husband
and wife were descended from consumptive families, and though they had
got along tolerably well till very recently, there were now, in them
both, many evidences of approaching disease; and though consumptive
people are said to be slow in admitting they have consumption, yet this
young couple formed an exception to the general rule.

In the bosom of the family, and possessed of their entire confidence, I
had an ample opportunity for examining the case of this interesting
couple. I found the tendency downward much more marked and rapid than I
had expected, and I frankly told them so. Some of the circumstances
were, indeed, rather peculiar. Consumptive people are generally sensual,
while indulgence is peculiarly fatal to them. But here was a case more
glaring than I had before seen. They had been married but about three