glect to which our old
bachelor was subjected seemed unavoidable.

I took notice of the neglect, spoke of it repeatedly, and labored
assiduously to correct the evil. But the case seemed an almost forlorn
one. I was morally obliged, as I then felt, to do a thousand things for
him that usually fall to the lot of nurses and assistants. In some
instances, I passed even whole nights in the family, in attendance on
him and the other sick persons.

My task was the more severe from the fact that a similar fever was
prevailing in other parts of the town, and my labors beyond the
precincts of this family were exceedingly fatiguing and severe. In
truth, I was, in the end, greatly overworked and debilitated, and my
system most admirably prepared for the reception of disease.

For various reasons, some of which, have already been named, I often
assisted in turning my bachelor-patient in his foul bed. It is true the
process was so offensive that I avoided it whenever I could; but on
occasions, I yielded to the pressure of necessity.

One night, when I was greatly fatigued and exhausted, and at the bottom
of my condition,--utterly unfit for exertion, even in a pure
atmosphere,--I was stooping over Mr. V., to turn him in his bed, when I
suddenly felt a sensation like that of receiving a blow externally on
the chest and stomach. The thought struck me as quickly as the imaginary
blow did--have I not taken the disease? I knew the laws of contagion;
the only question was whether any contagion had been generated. My
opinion was to the contrary; nevertheless, I could not wholly suppress
my fears.

A sensation of oppression which followed the imaginary blow, soon
gradually passed away, though I felt, each succeeding day, more and more
debilitated. Many a resolution was made to leave my patients, so far as
personal manual care was concerned, and be much more than I had been, in
the open air, though it was only made for a time--to be broken. At
length, however, principle prevailed over sympathy and inclination, and
I did as I ought to have done long before. It was, however, rather late,
for the die was already cast. I was taken sick, and the symptoms of my
disease were precisely like those of Mr. V.

Perceiving now, most clearly, my condition, and that I was engaged in a
war from which there could be no discharge, I made preparation for a
long and severe sickness. First, I calmly and deliberately adjusted all
my domestic concerns of a pe