theless, it indicates that he could have saved himself hours of
time and subsequent worry, had he met my friendly advances in the
proper spirit, for it is the quality of heart quite as much as the
quantity of mind that cures or makes happy the insane.

The literary impulse took such a hold on me that, when I first sat down
to compose a letter, I bluntly refused to stop writing and go to bed
when the attendant ordered me to do so. For over one year this man had
seen me mute and meek, and the sudden and startling change from passive
obedience to uncompromising independence naturally puzzled him. He
threatened to drag me to my room, but strangely enough decided not to
do so. After half an hour's futile coaxing, during which time an
unwonted supply of blood was drawn to his brain, that surprised organ
proved its gratitude by giving birth to a timely and sensible idea.
With an unaccustomed resourcefulness, by cutting off the supply of
light at the electric switch, he put the entire ward in darkness.
Secretly I admired the stratagem, but my words on that occasion
probably conveyed no idea of the approbation that lurked within me.

I then went to bed, but not to sleep. The ecstasy of elation made each
conscious hour one of rapturous happiness, and my memory knows no day
of brighter sunlight than those nights. The floodgates of thought wide
open. So jealous of each other were the thoughts that they seemed to
stumble over one another in their mad rush to present themselves to my
re-enthroned ego.

I naturally craved companionship, but there were not many patients whom
I cared to talk with. I did, however, greatly desire to engage the
assistant physician in conversation, as he was a man of some education
and familiar with the history of my case. But this man, who had tried
to induce me to speak when delusions had tied my tongue, now, when I
was at last willing talk, would scarcely condescend to listen; and what
seemed to me his studied and ill-disguised avoidance only served to
whet my desire to detain him whenever possible.

It was about the second week that my reformative turn of mind became
acute. The ward in which I was confined was well furnished and as
homelike as such a place could be, though in justice to my own home I
must observe that the resemblance was not great. About the so-called
violent ward I had far less favorable ideas. Though I had not been
subjected to physical abuse during the first fourteen months of my