Sketches New and Old


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remedies, and finally drove my cold from my head to my lungs.  
I got to coughing incessantly, and my voice fell below zero; I conversed  
in a thundering bass, two octaves below my natural tone; I could only  
compass my regular nightly repose by coughing myself down to a state of  
utter exhaustion, and then the moment I began to talk in my sleep, my  
discordant voice woke me up again.  
My case grew more and more serious every day. A Plain gin was  
recommended; I took it. Then gin and molasses; I took that also. Then  
gin and onions; I added the onions, and took all three. I detected no  
particular result, however, except that I had acquired a breath like a  
buzzard's.  
I found I had to travel for my health. I went to Lake Bigler with my  
reportorial comrade, Wilson. It is gratifying to me to reflect that we  
traveled in considerable style; we went in the Pioneer coach, and my  
friend took all his baggage with him, consisting of two excellent silk  
handkerchiefs and a daguerreotype of his grandmother. We sailed and  
hunted and fished and danced all day, and I doctored my cough all night.  
By managing in this way, I made out to improve every hour in the  
twenty-four. But my disease continued to grow worse.  
A sheet-bath was recommended. I had never refused a remedy yet, and it  
seemed poor policy to commence then; therefore I determined to take a  
sheet-bath, notwithstanding I had no idea what sort of arrangement it  
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375 376 377 378 379

Quick Jump
1 101 201 302 402