ssful commotion, from which I did not fairly recover during the
next three days. When you came again you gave very strict orders not
to allow more than one attendant in the room at a time, aside from the
nurse; and after that I began to mend again and got well."

One thing more, and I will leave this feature of the subject. This,
although last in order, is first in importance, because it is the very
basis of recovery. I mean food and drink. Very sick patients, we all
know, can take, and require very little; but that little is
all-important both as to quality, and uniformity as to quantity, and
exact regularity as to time in its administration. I will say here
with emphasis, that in no regard is it more important to comply
punctiliously with the instructions of an intelligent physician, than
in the nourishment given the sick. Without nourishment, recovery in
any case is impossible. How very important, then, that it be rightly
composed and properly administered! Food should be made as attractive
to the patient as possible. This should be carefully kept in mind when
preparing it for patients in a state of convalescence or recovery. The
nerves of the stomach at such time are often very sensitive, and small
excellencies in its quality will be highly appreciated, and slight
deficiencies as readily detected.

You remember, I started out with the text: "This is my comfort in my
affliction." I have tried to give you some bits of counsel as to the
means and ways by which the afflicted may be comforted physically. I
now turn to the means and ways by which they may be comforted
spiritually. But here a difficulty confronts us at the very start. We
cannot make pathological examinations of the soul's distress, and
conclude from these what therapeutic agents to employ for its relief,
as we can in that of the body. In the last we are governed almost
exclusively by the visible and tangible symptoms; but regarding the
first, we are deprived of all these, and are compelled to rely mainly
upon the oral testimony of the sufferer himself. I have repeatedly
been called to the bedside of the dying in compliance with their wish
to receive some comfort, some consolation in their last moments,
before launching out on the unknown deep of eternity. But, alas! with
the exception of a few, paid to humble and obedient followers of the
meek and lowly Jesus, nearly all such visits have caused me to feel my
own absolute incompetence to do them any good,