res on the heart the boys call singly and in droves to see me and
have my assurance that they have no cardiac lesions. I have never yet
found one of them to have a crippled heart. Like you, they all have a
slight neurosis, coupled with a self-consciousness, that makes them think
the world revolves around them and their little imaginary ailments."

I felt somewhat ashamed, but with it came a sense of relief. "Misery loves
company," and I was glad in my mortification to think that I had not been
the only one to make a fool of myself.

The old doctor gave me the usual advice about exercise. He said: "Go home
when this term has closed and go to work at something during your
vacation. Work hard and for a purpose, if possible, but don't forget to
work. If you can't do any better, dig ditches and fill them up again.
Forget yourself! Forget that you have a heart, a stomach, a liver, or a
sympathetic nervous system. Live right, and those organs will take care of
themselves all right. That's why the Creator tried to bury them away
beyond our control."

This little talk, coming as it did from an acknowledged authority, made a
strong impression upon me. I resolved to act upon the suggestions given
me. By the way, it is scarcely necessary for me to state that I never went
back to the medical college again.

CHAPTER XVII.

TURNS COW-BOY. HAS RUN GAMUT OF FADS.

Next I decided to turn cow-boy, so I at once went toward the setting sun.
I would go out West and go galloping over the mesa and acquire the color
of a brick-house, with the appetite and vigor that are its concomitants. I
had frequently read of Yale and Harvard graduates going out and getting a
touch of life on the plains; so, as such a life did not seem to be beneath
the dignity of cultured people, I would give it a trial.

I had never had any experience in "roughing it," but from what I had read
I knew that it was just the thing to make me healthy and vigorous and also
cause me to look at life from a few different angles. In addition to my
unceasing concern about my health, I also had a yearning to experience
every phase and condition of life known to anybody else.

Broncho-busting and Western life in general satisfied me about as quickly
as any of my numerous ventures. In a very few days I was heartsick and
homesick--a strong combination. I will draw a curtain over some of my
experiences, as I don't care to talk about them; one of these being my
feelings aft