Sailing along the coast they were able to anchor almost
every night in smooth water. The fish they caught, the strange birds
they saw and stranger human creatures, were a cheerful entertainment to
him. He became quite a sportsman, and even joined one day in the pursuit
of a polar bear. He returned in the autumn practically cured of his
trouble, but to regain his strength was out of the question: he suffered
besides very badly from dyspepsia. However he was able to preach
regularly, to make speeches in public, to work in his garden and write
perhaps three hours a day. Such a person is not greatly to be pitied,
and if he had fortunately possessed a small competency we might now look
upon him as a prosperous man: but his only property consisted of a good
working library and five hundred dollars which a friend had given him.
The next eight years were the best and most productive of his life; and
he might have continued in the same course but for another most
unfortunate accident. The supply of coal in his government office gave
out, and the requisition for a fresh quantity was not promptly filled.
Wasson sat writing in a cold room. There was a sudden change of weather,
a severe snow squall, and the result was--pleurisy. This changed to
bronchitis which worried and weakened him for the following ten years,
and finally carried him off in his sixty-fifth year.
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