It is a thankless task to advise one in such matters, even though
the one be your friend.

Business continued to improve slowly, but at the end of the year
my partner had drawn as his share of the profits, for the eight
months he had been with me, twenty-two hundred dollars.

He was more than satisfied, and well he might be.

During the winter of 1874 and '75 I had another and more trying
siege of rheumatism. As in the previous spring, with the advent of
warmer weather I found relief, but I knew the disease had become
chronic and it worried me.

This worry, however, I soon dismissed from my mind to make room
for one more formidable and pressing.

Hard times were coming again and there were two now to divide the
profits.

The furnishing of our home had absorbed a good portion of the three
thousand dollars I had received from my partner, and my living
expenses together with what it was necessary for me to do toward
the support of my parents and sisters exhausted my income.

My always-cheerful and devoted wife, and my boy, just arriving
at an interesting age, made home so attractive that I was able to
forget business when away from the office.