ied nurse may take to
heart the comforting thought that one rarely hears of a man dying in a
bad humor. It is undoubtedly discouraging to have a patient turn away
from a carefully prepared dainty with a shudder of disgust and
revulsion. It may sound harsh to say it, but nobody, sick or well,
has the right to do such an unkind and rude thing. Any one in extreme
bodily discomfort cannot be always smiling and uttering thanks, but he
can be gentle and appreciative of the efforts that are made toward
mitigating his distress. On his own account, as well as for the sake
of his attendant, he should keep up a semblance of cheerfulness, the
moral force of which is great. On the part of patient and nurse there
must be self control and forbearance, which if closely practiced may
bring sunshine into the most darkly shaded chamber of suffering.

CHAPTER XXXI.

A TEMPERANCE TALK.

(_Frank and Personal._)

A correspondent sends me, under cover of a personal letter, this
request:

"Will Marion Harland show her hand upon the temperance question? The
occasional mention of wine, brandy, etc., in her cookery-books, and
her silence upon a subject of such vital moment to humanity, may
predispose many to doubt her soundness as to the apostle's injunction
to be 'temperate in all things.'"

To clear decks for action, I observe that the text quoted by my
catechist contains no "injunction" but an impersonal statement of the
truth that "Every man that striveth for the mastery" (or in the games)
"is temperate in all things." The apostle is likening the running and
wrestling of the Olympic games to the Christian warfare, and throws in
the pregnant reminder that he who is training for race or fight must,
as he says elsewhere, "Keep his body under." The same rules hold good
with the athlete of to-day. While training, he neither drinks strong
liquors nor smokes.

The stringency of the regulation, I interject in passing, is a
powerful argument laid ready to the hand of the advocates of total
abstinence. A habit that so far injures the physical powers as to tell
upon the action of heart, brains, lungs or muscles, must be an evil to
any human being, however healthy.

The Chief Apostle, in another place, admonishes his neophytes to let
their "moderation" be known of all men. The revised version translates
the word "forbearance" or "gentleness." We will try to keep both texts
in mind during the informal homily that is the outcome of the qu