As a boarder, I left the family some time afterward, though I did not
lose sight of it wholly; nor did they entirely forget or disregard the
numerous hints I had given them. They made some progress every year. At
length, however, I lost sight of them entirely, and only kept up a faint
recollection of them by means of an occasional word of intelligence from
the place where they resided, showing that they were still alive.

One day, after the lapse of about eight years, as I was passing through
a charming New England village, the stage-coach stopped to let the
passengers dine, when, to my great surprise, on stepping out of the
coach, whom should I see but my old friend Mr. L.? He was equally
surprised, and perhaps equally rejoiced, to see me. The interview was
utterly unexpected to us both.

"How do you do?" said he, grasping my hand. I returned the compliment by
inquiring after his own health and that of Mrs. L. It turned out that he
had failed in his business a few months before, and that, as a
consequence, he had been compelled to remove to the place where he now
was, and engage in an employment which brought his skin into contact
with the air, and his muscles into prolonged and healthful activity. It
appeared also that both he and his family had long since banished the
use of medicine. "And now," said he, "thank God I know what it is, once
more, to enjoy health; I can not only eat, but work."

It was Monday, the great _washing-day_ of Yankee house-keepers; and
while we were talking together with so much earnestness, that, like
Milton's first pair in innocence, we "forgot all time," a female
approached, with her sleeves rolled up, greeted me with much cordiality
and seized me by the hand. "Can this be Mrs. L.?" I asked. How changed!
She was, it is true, like her husband, a little sunburnt; but then she
was as she assured me, and, as I had every reason for believing to be
true, comparatively healthy.

While I was still in amazement, hardly knowing whether I was awake or
dreaming, a little girl approached us. Though somewhat slender and
delicate, she was only slightly diseased; rather, she was only
predisposed to disease by inheritance; and mere predispositions no more
destroy us, than a train of powder explodes without igniting. The girl
was about four or five years old. "Who is this?" I inquired. "Not yours,
most certainly," I added, turning to Mr. and Mrs. L. "We call her ours,"
they said, "and yours; for we, no