ECONOMY, 
75 
The Mexicans also practised a similar purification at 
the end of every fifty-two years, in the belief that it 
was time for the world to come to an end. 
I have scarcely heard of a truer sacrament, that is, 
as the dictionary defines it, u outward and visible sign 
of an inward and spiritual grace/’ than this, and I have 
no doubt that they were originally inspired directly from 
Heaven to do thus, though they have no biblical record 
of the revelation. 
For more than five years I maintained myself thus 
solely by the labor of my hands, and I found, that by 
working about six weeks in a year, I could meet all the 
expenses of living. The whole of my winters, as well 
as most of my summers, I had free and clear for study. 
I have thoroughly tried school-keeping, and found that 
my expenses were in proportion, or rather out of pro¬ 
portion, to my income, for I was obliged to dress and 
train, not to say think and believe, accordingly, and I 
lost my time into the bargain. As I did not teach for 
the good of my fellow-men, but simply for a livelihood, 
this was a failure. I have tried trade; but I found that 
it would take ten years to get under way in that, and 
that then I should probably be on my way to the devil. 
I was actually afraid that I might by that time be doing 
what is called a good business. When formerly I was 
looking about to see what I could do for a living, some 
sad experience in conforming to the wishes of friends 
being fresh in my mind to tax my ingenuity, I thought 
often and seriously of picking huckleberries; that sure¬ 
ly I could do, and its small profits might suffice, — for 
my greatest skill has been to want but little, — so little 
