921.73 W589w.pdf - Mesa FamilySearch Library

232 W/_iling_ family.
many months, free from all excitement. To so
great a degree did nervous excitability increase,
as the disease advanced, that common co'nver-
sation produced a painful, and even dangerous
excitement; and not only friends and neighbors,
but some of his own relatives were
obliged to refrain from visiting him. But he
had periods of comparative rest ; and, in these
tranquil times, he was so cheerful, and enjoyed
so much what friends could do for him, that
he often said these last two months were the
happiest he ever spent. Uniform patience and
self-control prevailed over all his bodily dis-
comforts; the idea of duty triurnphed over all
the moods of sickness; and he rendered the
care of him a pure pleasure by his genial ap-
preciation of every service. For the last five
weeks he did not lie down at all, and died in
the same chair where he had sat all that time.
Though lingering, his death was not painful,
and his consciousness was manifest to the last.
"' During the whole of his sickness, his
mind seemed entirely occupied with the sub-
jects of highest importance to ot_e in his con.