LEE'S WINDHAM BILIOUS PILLS.
I was, at length, twenty-two years of age. I had about fifty dollars in
my pocket, besides a few books. But what would this do towards giving me
a liberal education? And yet, to an education in the schools, of some
sort, either as a means to a profession, or as affording facilities for
obtaining knowledge or communicating it to others, I certainly did
aspire. But I seemed compelled for the present to plod on in the old
way.
There had been, but recently, a gold fever--not, it is true, of
California, but of Carolina. The young men of the North, shrewd,
intelligent, active, and ambitious Yankees, had flocked by hundreds, if
not by thousands, from New England to the Southern States, to sell tin
ware and clocks, especially the former. The trade at first had been very
lucrative. Though many had been made poor by it, yet many more had been
made rich. I do not say how honorably the trade had been conducted. To
sell tin lanterns, worth fifty cents each, for silver, at fifty dollars,
and tin toddy sticks, worth a New York shilling, for twelve dollars, did
not in the final result redound much to our New England credit. Though
it brought us gold, it did not permanently enrich us.
A much better trade had now, in 1820, sprung up with the South. The
North--the great nursery of America--had still a surplus of young men
who wanted to go somewhere. A part of them found their way to Carolina
and Georgia, and engaged during the winter, and occasionally through the
year, in teaching; while another part labored on their canals and
railroads and in their shops. This was to furnish the South with a
commodity of real value, for which we received in return a fair
compensation. Besides, it had a better effect than clock and tin
peddling, both on the seller and buyer.
To improve my pecuniary condition, and to acquaint myself with the
world, I prepared to embark for the South. My purpose was to teach. It
was the beginning of October, and yellow fever was said to be raging in
Charleston, where I purposed to disembark. Was it, then, safe for me to
go? Should the prospect of doing good, improving my mind, and bettering
my condition in many other respects, weigh against the danger of
disease; or was it preferable that I should wait?
My numerous friends counselled me according to their various
temperaments and prepossessions. The strong and vigorous in body and
mind said, _Go on_; the feeble and timorous and trembling interposed
their caution. But the vessel was ready and would soon sail; and I saw
on board many of my acquaintances. The temptation was before me, and was
great; the dangers, though many, were remote--the dangers of the sea
excepted. For these, it is true, I was, like everybody else, entirely
unprepared, having never before in my life crossed more than a single
river. I was moreover exceedingly timid.
One kind friend--kind, I mean, in general intention--who had been many
years at the South, amid the ravages of the gold fever, as well as other
fevers more or less yellow, whispered me just at this critical moment,
"Take with you a box of Lee's Windham Bilious Pills; and as soon as you
arrive at Charleston, make it your rule to swallow, every other day, one
of these pills. That will prevent your getting the fever. I have often
tried it, and always with success."
My friend's words gave me more courage than his pills. I saw that he had
been in the midst of sickness and had lived through it. Why might not I?
My mind was soon made up to proceed on the journey.
We sailed from New Haven in Connecticut, and were seventeen days on our
passage. When we reached Charleston, either the yellow fever had spent
itself or it had not recently been there, except in a few rare
instances. I found no use for pills of any kind, except _such as grew on
fruit-trees_--the apple, peach, orange, persimmon, etc., or such as
were the products of the corn, potato, and rice fields; nor did I ever
take any other while I remained in the South. A queer idea, I often said
to myself, that of taking poison while a person is well, in order to
prevent becoming sick! In any event, I did not do it.
There was sickness in the country, however, if not in the city; and I
was much and often exposed to it. But what then? How would one of Lee's
pills defend me from it, even for two days? I preferred to eat and drink
and sleep correctly, and then trust to my good fortune and to Him who
controlled it, rather than to nauseous and poisonous medicine. And I had
my choice, and with it a blessed reward. I was in the low country of
North and South Carolina and Virginia six months or more, and often and
again much exposed to disease, and yet I never had a sick day while I
remained there. And yet, as I have before intimated, I never took a
particle of medicine during the whole time.
Once, indeed, I was beguiled into the foolish habit of using French
brandy with my dinner, under the idea that it would promote digestion.
But I did not continue it long; and I verily believe that it did me more
harm than good while I used it; for I have at no other period of my life
suffered so much from dyspeptic tendencies as during the summer which
followed this temporary indulgence of brandy with my dinner.
During my wanderings in the South, I had, much of the time, a fellow
traveller, who, though he took no medicine, was less cautious than
myself, and less fortunate. Perhaps his very recklessness served as a
warning to me. In truth, without being much of a theologian, I have
sometimes thought that the errors of mankind were intended in the divine
plan--at least in part--for this very end. Happy, then, if this is so,
are they who make a wise use of them!