disease; and to his admirable skill, and watchful and patient care, I owe, like so many others, a recovery, by all others thought impossible. For even so weary an illness, since it brought within reach treasures I might otherwise have lost—the intimate knowledge of such a man, and the privileged assurance of a place in his heart—I thank God as for a blessing.
Looking upon the well-tried and affectionate friendships of these two eminent and admirable men—friendships first won in sickness, but confirmed and strengthened in after health—as among the choicest privileges and honors of my varied life, let me, by gratefully inscribing their names together on the first leaf of this record of convalescence, link the two jewels found so far apart, to be left, as it were, in a casket of memory to my children.
