desperate resort;
yet hope sometimes whispered that my hour had not yet come, that I had
more work to perform.

At length I began to perceive a slight increase of muscular strength. I
could work moderately a quarter of an hour or more, and yet walk home
very comfortably. In about two months, I had strength enough to continue
my labors several hours, in the course of a whole day, though not in
succession--perhaps two in the forenoon and two in the afternoon. In
about three months, I was, so far as I could perceive, completely
restored.

It is to be remarked and remembered that, during the whole three
months, I never took the smallest particle of medicine, either solid or
fluid. My simple course was to obey, in the most rigid and implicit
manner, all known laws, physical and moral. It was my full belief at
that time,--it is still my belief,--that conformity to all the Creator's
laws is indispensable to the best of health, in every condition of human
life, but particularly so when we are already feeble and have a tendency
to consumption.

When it became known to my neighbors, who saw me day after day, reeling
to my garden or staggering home, that I refused to take any medicine,
there was a very general burst of surprise, and, in some cases, of
indignation. "Why," said they, "what does the man mean? He must be
crazy. As he is going on he will certainly die of a galloping
consumption. Any one that will act so foolishly almost _deserves_ to
die."

As soon as I found myself fairly convalescent, I returned gradually to
all those practices on which I had so long relied as a means of
fortifying myself, but which, since my _fall_, had been partially
omitted. Among these was bathing, especially cold bathing. To the last,
however, I returned very cautiously. Not for fear I should not be able
to secure a reaction, but rather for fear Nature would have to spend
more _vitality_ during the process than she could well afford to spare.

I have known cases of the latter kind. An aged minister in Cleveland,
Ohio, who had long followed the practice of cold bathing every morning,
came to me in Dec. 1851, when the cold weather was very intense, and
told me that though he could, with considerable effort, get up a
reaction in his system after the bath, he was afraid it _cost_ too much.
I advised him to suspend it a few weeks, which he did with evident
advantage.

There are, however, many other things to be done besides giving due
attent