PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANTS: LOSS OF HEALTH. 313 



son, who, as an invalid, had pursued a similar course, and, 

 although consumptive, had recovered comfortable health. 

 He gave me then beginning to recover strength the 

 fullest assurance that, as I had no organic disease, I should 

 fully recover, provided I persevered ; and that in his opin- 

 ion I should by -and -by be able to ride all night in the 

 stage, and to perform all the labors to which I had been 

 accustomed in former years. I was then at the meridian 

 of life, in my forty-fourth year ; and in the almost thirty-six 

 years that have elapsed since, I have resumed no stimulus 

 which I then abandoned, except tea, and very rarely coffee. 

 Tea is a cordial to me ; " it cheers but not inebriates." 

 Tea and water are my only constant drinks ; milk I drink 

 occasionally. I have not the smallest desire for wine of 

 any kind, nor spirit, nor cider, nor beer ; cold water is far 

 more grateful than any of the drinks which I have named 

 ever were. I never used them more than moderately, as 

 they were formerly used in the most sober families. If 

 any person thinks that wine and brandy are useful to him, 

 he cannot, at this day, have any assurance that they are 

 not manufactured from whiskey, with many additions, and 

 some of them noxious. Very little port wine has seen 

 Portugal, or madeira wine Madeira, or champagne wine 

 France ; and if we would have pure wines, and avoid im- 

 position, they must be manufactured at home from grapes 

 or other fruits ; and sugar and age are all that are needed 

 to make them very good. 



I cannot dismiss this topic without adding that Mr. 

 Watson's predictions have been fulfilled. Some of my 

 most arduous labors have been performed since my recov- 

 ery. I have not only been able, as Mr. Watson predicted, 

 to travel all night in the stage, but to travel extensively 

 both at home and abroad ; to lecture to popular audiences 

 in many towns and cities, some of them far away ; to 

 write and publish books ; to ascend the White Mountains 

 of New Hampshire in 1837 ; to explore copper mines in 



