call  time,  and  the  more's  wanted  out  of  him,  the  more
you  gets."  They  were  very  watchful  and  devoted  to
him  (as  he  was  to  them),  and  frequently  by  many  little
acts  of  attention  showed  their  love  and  affection  for
him.  George  Allison  (the  gasman),  in  particular  was
described  by  Dickens  as  the  "  steadiest  and  most  reli-
able man  I  ever  employed."

The  nearest  approach  to  an  actual  collapse  occurred
at  the  third  Reading  of  the  Boston  farewells,  when  up
to  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  it  became  a  matter  of
grave  doubt  whether  he  would  be  able  to  read  or  not.
Longfellow,  Fields,  and  several  of  his  friends  from
Cambridge  University  urged  him  to  give  in,  but  he
would  not,  and  at  night  astonished  not  only  himself,
but  his  audience  also  at  his  extraordinary  powers  of
recuperation  when  once  he  found  himself  face  to  face
with  his  taski  On  this  particular  occasion,  he  said,
he  felt  fresher  and  better  after  the  Reading  than  he  had
done  for  three  weeks  previously.  The  severe  attack  of
the  afternoon  seemed  to  be  the  turning-point  of  the
"  true  American,"  and  the  greatest  anxiety  was  now  as
to  whether  it  had  left  a  lasting  injury  to  the  lungs.
In  addition  to  this,  the  lameness,  and  the  pain  resulting
from  it,  became  more  acute,  rendering  walking  a  great
difficulty,  and  it  was  only  with  the  help  of  my  arm  that
he  could  be  got  to  the  little  table  and  away  from  it
after  the  Readings.
