ot
attended to. At the time of his death he was about eighteen years of
age.

The treatment of this young man on the farm, was by no means what had
been intended. The experiment of having him eat alone was hazardous, and
I sternly protested against it. But the hours at which he chose to take
his two meals, especially the first, were such as to preclude,
practically, a better arrangement. There was no one that wished to eat
at ten in the forenoon, but himself; and it was not customary for the
family to convene for eating in the afternoon, till six. Now, although,
abstractly considered, he selected the best hours for his meals, yet,
taking society as it is, and human nature as _his_ was, it would have
been much better, in the result, had he eaten with the family at twelve
and six. He would have eaten less, and yet would probably have been
better nourished and better satisfied.

No housekeeper who has the usual feelings of a housekeeper, will be
content to set before a young man of seventeen or eighteen years of age,
no more, for example, than one-sixth as much food as she would prepare
for six such persons. It would seem to her almost like prisoner's fare.
And then, few young men or old ones will content themselves with one
sixth as much food when sitting alone, entirely unrestrained, as when in
company, where pride or self-respect would have influence. And of one
thing we may, at least, be sure, viz., that Samuel, with his almost
illimitable appetite, tempted by abundance and assured that he might,
with safety, eat as much as that appetite craved, would never be the
individual to stop short of fifty per cent more of carbon than his
feeble machinery could appropriate; while every ounce of the surplus was
burned up by his lungs, at an expense of that vital energy which should
have been husbanded with the greatest care, and expended no faster than
was indispensably necessary.

His friends, no doubt, supposed--for such views greatly prevail--that he
would not be likely to hurt himself on plain and simple food; and, in
truth, that it was so light and unsubstantial that he needed a large
amount of it to keep him alive.

One or two individuals, largely interested in him, gave this as their
opinion, more than once, and vainly believe, to the present day, that he
ran down and died for want of proper nourishment. Whereas, we need
nothing more than Samuel's own confessions, to show us, as clearly as
the sunlight could possibly