*r\ - * - TRAVELS AND EXPERIENCE OK , MISS PHEBE B. DAVIS,; BARNARD, WINDSOR COUNTY, VT., BE1.NU A SEQUEL TO BEH Two Years and Throe Months i . \. Y. STATE LUNATIC ASYLUM,^ AT UT1CA N. Y. \ i 'B3S JT7ST A.KTX) FEAB lXTOIV I Mi PRICE, TWENTY-FIVE CENTS. II SYRACUSE, N. Y. : J. fl. K. TinMlt A CO., STFKEOTYPERS AND PRINTERS. I860 /Y ^->^E?fc^^--v ^-- V v. ^ ^ y \2 73 THB TRAVELS AND EXPERIENCE or MISS PHEBE B. DAVIS, or BARNARD, WINDSOR COUNTY, VT., BE1NO A SEQUEL TO HER Two Years and Three Months IN THE N. Y. STATE LUNATIC ASYLUM, AT UTICA, N. Y. "BE JTJSX A-3STX) FEAR ISTOT." PRICE, TWENTY-FIVE CENTS. SYRACUSE, N. Y.: J O. K. TRUAIR A CO., STEREOTYPERS AND PRINTERS. 180.0. IBGO NATIONAL LIBRARY Cr *—.'?& -^^ BETHESDA 1-t, »- d> Straotsb, July 1, 1860. The bearer ol this note—Miss Phebe Davis—has been an acquaintance of ours for the last fourteen years. Her character for a conscientious determination to do right, in all circumstanees may be depended upon. Her health is her apology for offering this book to the public ; she hopes that the avails will give her the means of support. She seems, also, to have a strong desire to benefit the condition of those who bare been afflicted with her. GROVE LAWKENCB, MRS. GROVK LAWRENCH, O. R. STRONG, A. B. SHIPMAN, M. D. JOS. F. SARINS, If. D. BURNET, H. BALDWIN. B. D. MOXON. PREFACE. Perhaps I cannot say anything that will interest community; but this work is rather a continuation of the one that I have written on the Lunatic Asylum, at Utica, N. Y.,—together with a short chapter on mechanism, and the outlines of my travels in twenty-five States in the Union, including most of the Southern States; and the reader will find every feature o* Slavery shown up just as I found it, and also a true account of «*y false imprisonment in Charleston, S. 0. P. B. D. SEQUEL TO TWO YEARS IN THE K Y. STATE LUMTIC ASYLUM. CHAPTER I. I am a native of the State of Vermont, Windsor County, and town of Barnard ; brought up in a farmer's kitchen ; well acquainted with the wash-tub and the * cheese-press, and not a stranger to the milking of a few cows, if necessary ; and in that section of the country it was fashionable to eat; and the soil and climate was not prolific of a class of people that was ashamed to cook what was necessary to supply the demands of the physical system—and 1 am rather a unique in the world, but always everywhere present—and I partook of the vulgar habit of cooking,- with the rest of the Yankees. And the parlor work was not piano playing, but knitting and sew- ing ; and in the sitting-room, perhaps, one would find a spinning-wheel or two, which often made the domestic circle appear very social. But how little I knew at the time that they were my only happy days—when I could run down cellar and get any quantity of the best kind of apples, and a plenty of cider, and then up stairs after butternuts ; and what could be more desirable to a nu- merous family of young children than that class of asso ciates 1 To be sure, I would not wish to go back there to live, but " there is no place like home." 6 8EQTOX TO TWO TEARS Iff THE Who can obliterate local associations ? There is the same old brook running past the house now, that has for more than fifty years past, and the same old well that ir^ vites old friends to '"partake of the waters of life freely. Yet it's not pleasant to dwell on the past, or at least on the dark side of the past. But, my mother died when I was about the age of seven years, and I was soon under ■he influence of one that did "not understand my composi- tion ; and as the tide of life ebbs.and flows, I happened to be thrown upon my own resources, with a positive mind and living lor a fixed motive that I gathered up when I was about seventeen years of age—which was, to write a book, and some unseen agency told me that 1 should get my living by a feeble production of my own; but the whole world have doubled their diligence to turn the cur- rent of thought and action, but all without success on their part, as I felt impelled to pursue the course that looked consistent to myself. I have had to " stoop to conquer," but where there is no army there is no victory. I know my own weak points, but I have studied to know my strong points, and I am a victim of sectarian circumstan- ces, which is my only apology for the past. God would not give me power to send my head back to him, and get it made over to fit the social condition of society nor the pious straight-jackets of the nineteenth century, which is made up of devotion, but no religion. The fact is, each sect coins their own trap to catch game in, and those that dupe the most are the best fellows. The ministers address their arguments to the base of the brain, and " like begets like," and church-going christians are mag- netized into a certain class of belief that just fits their phrenological developments, which is nothing more nor less than a species of foreign barbarism ; but the most of them are like the Indians in one respect—their supersti- tion predominates over their reason. They have always been willing to live in a h—11 in this beautiful world for the sake of securing themselves a better, place in the world to come; but if they should fail on getting a through ticket to the land of rest, it would be like chil- dren trying to overtake tjieir own shadow by moonlight; NEW YORK STATE LUNATIC ASYLUM. 7 and I think it foolish to avoid a certainty for an uncer- tainty. I want a Heaven on earth, and the whole is summed up in the golden rule, which is, to do by an- other as you would that another would do unto you, which is the only true religion in the world, and the only reli- gion that Jesus Christ established on earth. And how much less it would cost the world to carry out the princi- ple of universal benevolence, than it now does to furnish Churches and the variety of Public Institutions that I con- sider one of the great burdens of society. But nobody must speak to be heard, except a few that are called great men in the world, and the most of that class are great in some respects, but in others they are very weak, and their weak points are always connected with their selfishness, which leaves them blind to their own motives. And the most of that class of men think if a Lady ventures out of her kitchen to speak, that she is quite out of her own sphere of action. I know that the women in Syracuse have not treated me very well, but there are good women in the land, and there would be many more such if they could be allowed their just rights ; but as they now are, they are better than no women, for I should be very loth to live in a world where there were no women. It would be a chilly atmosphere to me to annihilate women; there would be a state of semi-barbarism in less than two hours. Women are to the world what the pilot is to the steamboat; yet there # are household tyrants in both classes, and petty tyrants in every avenue in life; but the most of women are nothing but voluntary slaves to their husbands, instead of com- panions, as they should be. When I survey their social condition, I do not wonder that they live for sinister motives; but if they were properly educated, they would be capable of acting the best parts in the great amphithe- atre of human affairs. But the ministers are the first to oppose equal rights, for they know very well that they get their support through the influence of the vvomen; but who ever knew a good man that did not have a good mother 1 Napoleon Bonaparte said that we needed intel- ligent mothers, but when shall we see that olass of moth- ft MATTEL TO TWO TEARS IN THE ers 1 Not at present, for they are only partially educated ; but I hope in mercy that the next crop of mothers will not furnish the world with as many criminals as the pre sent generation has. but after all, I consider criminals victims of circumstances. The Clergy costs the United States six millions annually, and the criminals nineteen millions, and I believe the greatest of the two classes- occupy the pulpit. There are a great many crimes corn mitted every day, which, if recognized by law, won! ! swell the number of convicts in all the criminal Institu- tions in the United States; and there are thousands in prison to-day for less crime than half of the world are guilty of, that are now at large; but the first cause ol crime is only winked at as yet. When the human family cease to rob each other of their natural rights, then wiJJ crime cease to exist. I have been a great sufferer by the wrongs of the world, which has led me to investigate the cause of all classes of crimes as far as I have had an opportunity of studying character, and I have arrived at the conclusion that " those that are without sin had better cast the first stone," for no one person is made of perfec- tion, and the lowest class of people in the world have re- deeming traits of character; but they have become low by associations; and if there were less legal robbers, there would be less vulgar ones. And how many dollars have I received at the hands of great, noble souls, encased in the poor man, and even classes that did not claim a standing in society have oontributed their share very lib-# erally ; and I hope that I have gratitude enough to appre ciate a small favor from a great soul. I found many indi- viduals that could not buy a book of me, but perhaps hand me a dime or half-dime, and I took the will for the deed ; and I very seldom met with ill or abrupt treat- ment from such as are called the lower classes ; but was much more apt to find vulgar minds' in high life, and I know that no principle will ever redeem the vices of the fallen except general intelligence and genuine philanthropy. Some author has said that the world will talk about religion, and write about it, and fight about it, and die foi NEW YORK STATE LUNATIC ASYLUM. 9 it, and do everything except live religion. The religion of Jesus Christ has got rather old-fashioned, and any shrewd man can coin a piety to suit any class of people that will pay him the most money for his preaching; and I often meet them, and many of them are very impudent to me, and I have told some of them that my own religion was more useful to me than theirs, for mine was worth making sacrifices for, but theirs was not. It is now twenty-one years since people found out that I was crazy, and all because I could not fall in with every vulgar belief that was fashionable. I never could be led by everything and everybody, simply because they all told me their arguments were right, and at the same time . . . they were all in direct opposition to each other, and I knew that all truths harmonized. I kept track of all the Churches in Syracuse for a number of years, and f found that they all persecuted each other. They all coin their own Deity and their own demons ; and each one accord ing to the brain that they have to do it with, " and the man that does best is best." Hach man's brain should be his only Church, and then he can worship in spirit and in truth, and he will tind it will cost him much less to wor- ship God than it now does. The religion of Jesus Christ should be established in each one's own head, lor a well- balanced brain is a great Institution. 'But Sectarianism in its different phases has chilled my blood into icicles, and my heart has become ossified, but there is just one corner of it that is able to perform itsoffice. And I should be rery glad to meet with a change of heart now, if I could tret a sound one, tor-there is danger of my dying with the heart disease, and then the ministers would say, '• Poor soul! she has gone into eternity unprepared !" Asylum do it, for there were no healing qualities in Dr. Benedict nor Dr. Gray,— and Dr. Cook was very young, but rather gentlemanly ; and Dr. Porter knew more than the other three, but he left soon after I went there. Mr. Rhodes, the first steward, and Dr. Porter were cousins, and they were very much respected in the Insti- tution. And Dr. Tleadly was there a short time, but he had so much sympathy in his nature that he could not live there, for no person can live there unless they like to wit- ness misery; and the class that apply for situations in public institutions are generally the lower classes, that are not qualified for usefulness anywhere, and the most of Drs. that are employed in lunatic asylums do much more to aggravate the disease than they (Jo to cure it. And after I had been through all the pious mills, and crazy mills, and rational mills, I found myself a living skeleton without means of support or a home, and mv strength was all invested in my will power, and I made' that my only stai;ting-point when I left the Institution ; but I kept rather still, for fear I should get outwitted, and in selling my books I found a few individuals that had humanity enouo-h to be capable of restoring the equilibrium of the nervous system to its proper balance; and just as long as I was under kind influences I was perfectly passive, and kindness SEW YORK STATE LUNATIC ASYLUM. 11 has been my only medicine. And if the great brother hood of mankind would all extend the hand of kindness and charity to each other, there would soon be less misery in the world. In traveling, I have visited a great many public institutions of both kinds, both benevolent and criminal, and I rather think that the most of them are per- fect pandemoniums; but I wish I could think better of them than I do, but I judge from what I know, and in the Lunatic Asylum I know that a positive mind would live surrounded by the same class of influences that a negative mind could not live in any length of time, for the positive mind will repel disease, while the negative will partake of it. Although my own nerves have been very well kinked up, 1 have in a measure straightened them out again ; but. how bad yomo have felt to see me getting my living again, and they have pulled on every string to hedge up my path; but at length, I believe, they have fallen back into the negative state, and agreed to allow me the privilege of getting an honest living—for, in times past, they would neither help me nor allow me to help myself, and they ap- peared determined to prevent my wrriting my other book; but Mrs. Philo Ray allowed me the privilege of writing it in her family, and I am now with her daughter, Mary, while writing again ; but when I wrote the other pamphlet I put forth a very great mental effort, for it was necessity in the extreme that called that small work out of my brains, and the mental suffering that I endured while writ- ing that book is utterly indescribable, from different causes. The prominent cause was in my head. My brain appeared to be too large for my skull, and there was no reaching the cure, except by external influences ; but Mrs. Ray and all her family were very kind to me, but I knew, if I did not sell the book, that the poor-house was the only home I could claim ; but my feelings told me that the book would sell just as it did, and I thought I had paid for a living, and I thought I merited a living. My hope is small, but my faith is very large, and in less than one week after I had finished that book, my head felt like another head, and I often looked in the glass to see if it was my own that I was wearing about, but I could not deny the face, and 12 BBQUEL.T0 TWO YEARS IN THE began to feel much more reconciled to the condition that my head was in. The nervous system will resist a great many shocks, " but a continual dropping will wear stone.'' One of the most terrible deaths that the Spanish Inquisi- tion ever inflicted on a person, was by causing one drop of water at a time to fall on the top of the head until it would produce a very great state of suffering. But a poor person that lives for exalted motives, must expect to live in a world of their own, and any world for a time wras in a cell in the Lunatic Asylum, and I ar- ranged the most of my other pamphlet while in that cold, chilly cell; the stench.was terrible ; and during the time I was locked up in that cell, the Doctor sent me an emetic, and the first food after that was cold corned beef and cold boiled potato, and baker's bread and cold water. I par- took of the sacrament, but left the beef and potato until I got well enough to partake of all that I could get there. Some of the help in the Asylum told me that Dr. Bene diet would get up in the morning long before his" wife did, and pray for himself and children, and let her do her own praying;—I told the girls I did not wonder that she chose to do her own praying, if she knew him as well as we did ; and they said he always blessed his food before eat- ing, and he could well afford to tell God how pood it was, for he had the best the market afforded, and we only had second and third class eatables, and got it at our own ex- pense, too. I wonder how much money it has cost the City of Syracuse to try to govern me ; and they have never put me under the supervision of one yet that could govern themselves ; I can do that, and always could when I chose ; but there are circumstances where " forbearance1 ceases to be a virtue ;" for human endurance is not made of India-rubber, although my own is r.ither elastic, for 1 always meant to convert my misfortunes into success__ that is all the ability that I happen to possess, which will allow me to provide for myself, for real high-souled peo- ple are but little appreciated in this world__they are never respected until they have been dead two or'three hundred years. It has been said that one of our promi- nent authors wrote the best work that he ever wrote in NEW YORK STATE LUNATIC ASYLUM. 13 his life to defray the expenses of his mother's funeral! And who can wTonder that the depth of that full-grown soul was called out on such an occasion as that, and I pre sume tnat he coined that soul into truths and gave them form, and by the use of language presented the in to the world m that peculiar manner that was not to be resisted. As for my own small productions, I have never thought them great; neither have I ever thought them very inter- esting ; but I claim they are true, and there is the only merit v my disconnected class of ideas that I offer io the public. But I write by impression, and it's worth every- thing to me to know that my impressions have never de- ceived me, while all my friends thought I was pursuing the wrong course. It was riveted in my mind that it would result in my favor at the end of a certain time; and sure enough, I have realized all my anticipations so (iir—-thank Heaven for that. During the time that I way in that dismal cell in the Asylum, suffering with cold and hunger, and not even a chair to sit in, and no bed in the cell, and not able to sit up, I made the best use of the naked floor that I could, and my bed and pillow was the floor for a number of weeks. One side of the cell was ceiled up with narrow boards, which was varnished ; and in that veiw cell I discovered traces of some great genius. It was the work of some female, alone, with a hair-pin. which was the drawing of a splendid carriage and four horses, all harnessed, and the driver on his seat with the lines in his hands, and even the whip was on hand, and I thought that I never saw a picture that looked more life- like than that did ; and the greatest geniuses were i:i the worst halls in the Asylum. But society is arbitrary, and no great genius can act naturjl; and a great portion ol those that are qualified by nature to do the most good, a;; either in some Prison or a Lunatic Asylum, arid their in- fluence is lost to the world, while the minor class lend <-.'Y. and even in Congress they remind me of a family of small children at meal time, quarrelling to see which will get the largest piece of pie; and for the same conduct that they are guilty of in Washington every year, they would arrest the lower classes, as they are called, and pitch them 14 SEQUEL TO TWO YEARS IN THE into the watch-house, and the next morning the daily paper tells the criminal news; but the working class are paying men at a dear rate for fighting one half of their time and quarreling the other half. It's only a few years since I read of their spending six weeks' time talking about a Door-keeper, and as crazy as I am, I could select a man to fill that office in fifteen minutes ; and if their salary was very small, they would despatch business faster than they do now, but their motives are on a level with highway robbery " But," as Henry Ward Beeeher says, '' they can all pray cream, and live skimmed milk," and I do not wonder that they are all afraid to meet- the King of Terrors, as they talk of, but I always thought there was more terror in this world than in the other ; for the " love of God casteth off fear." And I can truly say that I have never known what fear was yet. " It's fear that makes our demons, and weak hope our God." And I choose to make my own impressions in preference to be- ing led ; yet I like to learn of all, but not to be governed by any, and I like to consult the wise and then do as I choose ; but I do not ask any person to adopt my opin- ions, bu^ simply ask all to believe that I am honest in them myself- than is what I call honorable generosity. I do no call /thers dishonest because they cannot think just as 1 i rat we all have claims on each other's civil it\ : there „ no argument in favor of our abusing each other Secaus- we do not all look just alike : and, as the Indian said, if w'e all thought alike, we wrotil i all want his squaw. But how many great men have Written out their lives in prison, because they were made legally responsi ble for thought; and when I was in the asylum they locked me up when they pleased, but what did~ I care for that as long as they had nt has hung over the men- tal horizon is now fast breaking away, and the time is not far distant when the human brain will be allowed the privilege of expanding to its utmost capacity. God never made a peck of' brain to be crammed into v pint bowl;— and there are some persons that have had to have their skulls sawed open and a piece of gold inserted, to make room for the brain to do its office. The world is large enough to hold all the brain that there is in it, but the house that the mind lives in is kept locked up, and mam- ma has got the key ; and if bub or sis can think of things that mamma cannot, she tells them not to ask questions— it's wicked to ask such questions. How do children know what disposal to make of their energies of character ]— And it is lamentable to see the millions of undeveloped minds that there are in the world; but the Bible govern- ment is, " spare the rod and spoil the child," and the mother develops the bumps with sticks and knocks, and rough language, and then two or three times each day she prays to God and tells him all of her own faults and her ohildren's, and asks him to forgive them, just as though he was going to accommodate himself to all the old women's whims in creation. When I was in the Asylum, they kept me in the base- ment about six weeks, which was the worst hall in the house, and during the time that I spent there I had what I call a concussion of the braia. It was the greatest state 18 SEQUEL TO TWO TEARS IN THE of physical suffering that could possibly be endured, and I feel the effects of it now at times, but I cannot describe the sensation, but I know the cause of it, and it appears to be exactly in the centre of my head. It is a fine noise like two sharp bones grating together. Sometimes I can feel it much plainer than at others, and then perhaps I will not hear from them again in some time. It's not very pleasant to have that little racket in the skull, but perhaps ray bump of firmness or self-esteem caved in, and if so, no wonder they made a racket; I presume they are trying to»get back again, and after getting up a piece, fall back; I should think the bumps that I have left would begin to fit Syracuse by this time, for in selling my books I was in every public block from the basement to the attic, and some of them were rather low in the wall, and I presume that my veneration is no larger than when I commenced selling books ; for it's a knock on one side and a rap on the other until I feel as though some parts of my head had rather caved in. I suppose there will a new set of phrenological developments grow ou*0j and if so, I shall be able to raise a new crop of ideas : and who knows but what they will be a complete fit for Syracuse, and the pious people, and the minister^ an(j the gossips, and the fashions ? If all this should De brought to pass, my last twenty years experience ^aight pay me very well, as far as money would go to p?^y for mental 8Uffering. Ihe soil and clim;^ 0f Syracuse has never been prolific of many great ';t)tellects as yet; but I live in hopes that at some futujre period there will be a few there that will know th^ difference between good common sense and in- ®ani^y, and not take a person by storm and pitch them '.iito a Lunatic Asylum with five hundred crazy people. " O consistency, thou art a jewel." Church-going fire- eaters are governed altogether by their feelings ;—but there appears to be an unseen agency about to establish n new era, and if so, we shall get religion in a more con- densed form. Jesus Christ could concentrate his powers >f mind, and he made every word, -thought, and action tell. He never launched off into eloquent strains of lan- guage without ideas, to make himself fashionable ; but he NEW YORK STATE LUNATIC ASYLUM. 19 clothed his ideas in very simple language, and he was very dignified but severe in his reproof, courteous in his coun- cil, and during his life he was known to smile once and to weep once. But I have done worse than that; for as ridiculous as this old world is now, I should have to carry glue with me all the time to glue my mouth together, if 1 should make an effort to live without laughing ; for my mirth fulness has been my best medicine ; and I kept my- self alive by the use of it. While in the Asylum, when the Doctors thought they had got me in a tight place, laughing was the only outlet to the feelings ; but I now (eel as 'he lion did when he was kicked by the jack, for pop-guns and shot-guns, and long tongues have not taken effect to amount to much, or not so much but what I can wear them out, which they cannot me, and I still choose my own position. George Washington's mother told him when a child, that if he ever expected to learn to command, he must first learn to obey ; and he did so ; and if a person starts aright in the world, and continues to pursue that course, they will rise in the world. The only true way is to re- move the greatest obstacles on the first start, and if a person can use their character to any advantage, they have a right to, for what is morally just to one's self is equally so to the world, and that is a mutual benefit that never can be obliterated, for every action has its reaction, and if one's course is downward, they will go down to their own place eventually. But I never felt injured by what people said about me;—it was their direct treatment to mo ; for I had no home nor money, either; and that is the time to try souls; for no person ever knew what the world was, or what it is, until adversity shows them ;— but adversity makes the true man, and prosperity makes the monster- People grow into conditions gradually, without realizing how they appear to the world. But Robert Burns said, " If we could see ourselves as others see us, it would from many a trouble free us." And I presume that is one of my own weak points, for a great many have been wise enough to offer their ad"uce free of oharge; and I thought that was their weakness, for when 20 SEQUEL TO TWO TEARS IN THE I thought I needed advice, I always went to those that knew more than I did myself. After I left the Institution, I met a Physician's wife, and she was interested in the case more to gratify her curiosi- ty th::n to show her humanity ; she was very quizzy, and asked rne if there was no remedy for my nervous affec- tion. I told her I thought there was, but not in medicine. She said I could have just as much medicine as I wished free of any charge, if I would take it. I told her I did not want to make a medicine-chest of my stomach, but if her husband could make those little white pills reach the petticoat telegraph company, and regulate their treatment to me, my nerves would regulate themselves. As soon as I found that the sale of my pamphlet would secure me a living, I began to feel better; for so far I have been out of their reach, and what they say about me is no more than a July frost. My physical health is perfectly good, and my head is about as good as new ; and on the whole I think there is no great loss without some small gain; and perhaps I shall get rational yet. I felt as though my other pamphlet was written on a subject that richly merit- ed public patronage, for it was made up of a class of facta that I know to be true, and that is not all;—the same facts will never be known except it's by the patients, and not by all of them, for they do not all witness them. They must go on to the worst halls to get the whole, and spend a long time there, too. In a small village in this State I sold a copy of my work to a young lawyer, and I saw at once that he was interested. He asked me if I thought the Asylum to be a moral Institution. I told him that I thought it as much so as any one of the kind. He then told me he had an acquaintance who was a Physician in a Lunatic Asylum and he had told him a great many facts that he said never was known to the world, which if they were, the Institu- tion would not stand long. I told him that if those walls could talk, they would tell great tales ; and if all could be known, they would think my other work gave a very modest description of the house. But it was fun for me to see Dr. Benedict lock up a NEW YORK BTATE LUNATIC ASYLUM. £1 patient because they would get mad, and he could not control himself. He would fly mad just like an old hor- net, and once he flew at me and pushed me along a short distance, and I thought I should take my own time and way to get revenge on the gentleman, when they got me into the worst hall in the house. I then took my time to pay all my old debts. In the basement they dish out the food to the patients before they are seated at the table, and the meat, pudding, pie, and gravy, all go on to the same plate. One day after the dinner was dished out, and before we took our seats at the table, who should favor us with a call but the Hon. Dr. Benedict, and I then seized on the opportunity to settle with the jpoctor. He had on a very fine suit of black cloth, and I took my dinner-plate and threw it at him with some little force, if I am not mistaken. He stood lacing me, or as the Irish say, " for- I'.instme"; it took him near the shoulder, and the plate was in pieces too numerous to mention—his coat was a coat of many colors, and his pants showed what kind of gravy we had for dinner. He got Mrs. Maloy, the attendant, to go into the clothes-press with him, and take a knife and scrape off a plate-full of gravy before he cared to pass through the halls ; but that job afforded the pa- tients a good dish of fun, and myself a bit of pleasure with the rest. I presume the Doctor thought " Each pleasure has its poison, too, And every sweet a snare." I wish that all the ministers in the world could be in an Insane Asylum for one year, and they would see the effect of Protracted Meetings staring them in the face on every side. The first winter I was there they received eleven patients during five days in one week, and the house was crowded before to its utmost capacity. The only move that could be made was to start a few loads off to the different Poor-houses, but those that were the most benefit to the house they would allow to remain as long as they could, and very often to the injury of the patient. They were very apt to get rid of such as made 22 SEQUEL TO TWO YEARS IN THE them the most trouble as soon as possible. I found that out by observation; and I was not a very dull scholar in that department. I had the most of my fun in the fine ironing room. I liked the girls in that room very well; and when I wanted to burlesque the Dr.'s government over me, I always managed to get down into the fine ironing room, and nothing suited the girls better than to get me down there and play up insanity, to get the Doctors to threaten me, and tell what they all said; and many of the attendants thought me a very fortunate patient, for they said I could be rational any time I chose But they often wondered how I could bear as much impudence from the doctors as I did; but I knew they employed every effort to provoke me, and that is the time that I should feel above getting out of patience with low-bred people. " He that ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city." 1 know I have struck a vein of egotism, but the world is more capable of appreciating my bad qualities than the few good ones that I possess. The gossips will naturally insinuate a person's reputation away ; but they take the stars that shine the most or the brightest, they never take an ordinary mind for a bridle to their tongues, for they will not last long, but they take such as have native character enough to keep up a sensation; they always select a hobby from that class. But my character is in my own keeping, and my reputation is in the hands of the public, and I do not think strange that it has become partially deranged in the present state of society. The first low insinuation that reached my ears after I went to Syracuse, was made by one of the girls that worked in the shop with, myself. She found out that I had a friend, and she went there and planted a thorn to rise up and prick her; and she raised a good crop of thorns. But it was not long before she expe- rienced religion, and united with the Presbyterian Church and she lives in the place yet. Enough of those long tongues is equal to a cactus hedge, such as they have in some of the Southern States; they are full of lono- thistles on every side. " But we read of a time when all old thino-s shall be done away ;" and I see that old Institutions and o?