ng regarding the ways in which their souls may be comforted.

The bed for the sick should be soft, but not heating. Nothing can be
more regularly and uniformly comforting to the afflicted than a soft
and easy bed. It need not be costly. Clean straw of oats, cut fine, is
my preference over all other materials. To stir the bed, the patient
need not be taken out, but gently, very slowly and tenderly, moved to
the opposite side first prepared, left there awhile, and then in the
same gentle way returned to the front, similarly prepared. Cleanliness
is next to religion, pure and undefiled, in the sick room. All fumes
of tobacco or other unpleasant smells should not be allowed for a
moment in the sick room. All offensive odors can most readily be
gotten rid of by ventilation. This can be best secured by opening
doors or windows, or both, if necessary. This should be repeatedly
done daily in all weathers. At this season windows should be open all
the time; but the patient should not be exposed to heavy draughts of
air. Unnecessary conversation is very distressing to most sick people,
even though the words be spoken low or in a whisper. Some of you, no
doubt, have had experience of this fact. People kindly feel it a duty
to visit the sick. One does not know that another is going, and each
being impelled by a sense of duty, more go than can be needed; and in
determining who shall return home, and who shall stay, conversations
take place that are often very distressing to the patient. I remember
a conversation I had with one of my own patients once, who had just
shortly before that time recovered from a severe and protracted
illness. He said to me: "Brother John, do try to set the people right
about visiting the sick. There is so much wrong about it the way it is
carried on now that very often more harm than good is done. I
remember," said he, "one night while I was sick. You had been coming,
I think, near three weeks, and I was beginning to mend. In the evening
I felt so much better I thought I was going to rest well and get some
good, natural sleep. But about eight o'clock several neighbors came in
who got to talking; and seeing that I appeared better they were
encouraged to keep on, under the impression that I was strong enough
now to stand it. Ah," continued he, "they did not know they were
almost killing me; for I became restless; and being very weak every
nerve and fiber in my body seemed to be excited into a state of
distre