uscles, being inactive, do not
claim their share of nutrition, the stomach flags, and the brain grows
weary.

"Secundo. Irregular food. Caprice is your cook; your stomach a slave who
must accept what you give it, but who presently takes a sullen revenge,
like all slaves.

"Tertio. Sitting up late. Instead of using the night for sleep, you spend
it in reading; your bedstead is a bookcase, your pillows a desk! At the
time when the wearied brain asks for rest, you lead it through these
nocturnal orgies, and you are surprised to find it the worse for them the
next day.

"Quarto. Luxurious habits. Shut up in your attic, you insensibly surround
yourself with a thousand effeminate indulgences. You must have list for
your door, a blind for your window, a carpet for your feet, an easy-chair
stuffed with wool for your back, your fire lit at the first sign of cold,
and a shade to your lamp; and thanks to all these precautions, the least
draught makes you catch cold, common chairs give you no rest, and you
must wear spectacles to support the light of day. You have thought you
were acquiring comforts, and you have only contracted infirmities.

"Quinto"

"Ah! enough, enough, doctor!" cried I. "Pray, do not carry your
examination farther; do not attach a sense of remorse to each of my
pleasures."

The old doctor rubbed his nose with his snuffbox.

"You see," said he, more gently, and rising at the same time, "you would
escape from the truth. You shrink from inquiry--a proof that you are
guilty. 'Habemus confitentem reum'! But at least, my friend, do not go on
laying the blame on Time, like an old woman."

Thereupon he again felt my pulse, and took his leave, declaring that his
function was at an end, and that the rest depended upon myself.

When the doctor was gone, I set about reflecting upon what he had said.

Although his words were too sweeping, they were not the less true in the
main. How often we accuse chance of an illness, the origin of which we
should seek in ourselves! Perhaps it would have been wiser to let him
finish the examination he had begun.

But is there not another of more importance--that which concerns the
health of the soul? Am I so sure of having neglected no means of
preserving that during the year which is now ending? Have I, as one of
God's soldiers upon earth, kept my courage and my arms efficient? Shall I
be ready for the great review of souls which must pass before Him WHO IS
in the dark vall