by.

The summer ended and autumn came. Jason was glad that the cold weather
was approaching. The heat had been trying. He had almost suffered a
sunstroke, and twice a mosquito bite had given him much trouble--he had
feared that he would die of malignant pustule. His relief at the coming
of cool weather was short-lived, however, for one of the neighboring
towns developed a smallpox scare, and as he discovered a slight rash soon
after passing through the place, he thought best to submit to
vaccination. He caught a bad cold, too, and was sure pneumonia was
setting in--that is, he would have been sure, only his throat was so sore
that he could not help thinking it might be diphtheria.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, and determining to settle
once for all the vexed question, he pored over his books in an exhaustive
search for symptoms. It was then that he rushed into the presence of his
wife one morning, his face drawn, his eyes wildly staring, and an open
book in his shaking hand.

"Hitty, Hitty," he cried; "jest listen ter this! How 'm I goin' ter tell
what ails me, I should like ter know, if I don't ache where I'm sick?
Why, Hitty, I can't never tell! Jest listen:

The location of pain is not always at the seat of disease. In hip
disease the pain is not first felt in the hip, but in the knee-joint.
In chronic inflammation of the liver the pain is generally most
severe in the right shoulder and arm.

"Only think, Hitty, 'In the right shoulder and arm'! Why, I had a pain
right in that spot only yesterday. So that's what I've
got--'hip-disease'! an'--oh, no," he broke off suddenly, consulting his
book, "'t ain't hip-disease when the shoulder aches--it's the liver,
then."

"Well, well, Jason, I don't think I should fret," soothed Mehitable. "If
ye don't know, where's the diff'rence? Now I've got a pain right now in
my little toe. Like enough that means I 'm comin' down with the mumps;
eh?"

"Hitty!" Jason's voice was agonized. He had been paying no attention to
his wife's words, but had been reading on down the page. "Hitty, listen!
It says--'Absence of pain in any disease where ordinarily it should be
present is an unfavorable sign.' An', Hitty, I hain't got an ache--not a
single ache, this minute!"

There was no possibility of quieting Jason after that, and the days that
followed were hard for all concerned. If he had an ache he was
terrified; if he did not have one, he