Ch. IV.J REMINISCENCES. 103 



days were so planned that all his resting hours might be shared 

 with her. She shielded him from every avoidable annoyance, 

 and omitted nothing that might save him trouble, or prevent 

 him becoming overtired, or that might alleviate the many 

 discomforts of his ill-health. I hesitate to speak thus freely 

 of a thing so sacred as the life-long devotion which prompted 

 all this constant and tender care. But it is, I repeat, a prin- 

 cipal feature of his life, that for nearly forty years he never 

 knew one day of the health of ordinary men, and that thus his 

 life was one long struggle against the weariness and strain of 

 sickness. And tbis cannot be told without speaking of the 

 one condition which enabled him to bear the strain and fight 

 out the struggle to the end. 



