2O8 CALVIN : 



We tempted him with the delicacies of the sea- 

 son, but it soon became impossible for him to 

 eat, and for two weeks he ate or drank scarcely 

 anything. Sometimes he made an effort to take 

 something, but it was evident that he made the 

 effort to please us. The neighbors and I 

 am convinced that the advice of neighbors is 

 never good for anything suggested catnip. He 

 would n't even smell it. We had the attendance 

 of an amateur practitioner of medicine, whose 

 real office was the cure of souls, but nothing 

 touched his case. He took what was offered, 

 but it was with the air of one to whom the time 

 for pellets was passed. He sat or lay day after 

 day almost motionless, never once making a dis- 

 play of those vulgar convulsions or contortions 

 of pain which are so disagreeable to society. 

 His favorite place was on the brightest spot of 

 a Smyrna rug by the conservatory, where the 

 sunlight fell and he could hear the fountain play. 



