beard, to whom Mr. Nosnibor and the whole family paid
great attention; he was the family straightener. With this gentleman Mr.
Nosnibor retired into another room, from which there presently proceeded a sound
of weeping and wailing. I could hardly believe my ears, but in a few minutes I
got to know for a certainty that they came from Mr. Nosnibor himself.
    »Poor papa,« said Arowhena, as she helped herself composedly to the salt,
»how terribly he has suffered.«
    »Yes,« answered her mother; »but I think he is quite out of danger now.«
    Then they went on to explain to me the circumstances of the case, and the
treatment which the straightener had prescribed, and how successful he had been
- all which I will reserve for another chapter, and put rather in the form of a
general summary of the opinions current upon these subjects than in the exact
words in which the facts were delivered to me; the reader, however, is earnestly
requested to believe that both in this next chapter and in those that follow it
I have endeavoured to adhere most conscientiously to the strictest accuracy, and
that I have never willingly misrepresented, though I may have sometimes failed
to understand all the bearings of an opinion or custom.
 

                                  Chapter Ten

                                Current Opinions

This is what I gathered. That in that country if a man falls into ill health, or
catches any disorder, or fails bodily in any way before he is seventy years old,
he is tried before a jury of his countrymen, and if convicted is held up to
public scorn and sentenced more or less severely as the case may be. There are
subdivisions of illnesses into crimes and misdemeanours as with offences amongst
ourselves - a man being punished very heavily for serious illness, while failure
of eyes or hearing in one over sixty-five, who has had good health hitherto, is
dealt with by fine only, or imprisonment in default of payment. But if a man
forges a cheque, or sets his house on fire, or robs with violence from the
person, or does any other such things as are criminal in our own country, he is
either taken to a hospital and most carefully tended at the public expense, or
if he is in good circumstances, he lets it be known to all his friends that he
is suffering from a severe fit of immorality, just as we do when we are ill, and
they come and visit him with great solicitude, and inquire with interest how it
all came about, what symptoms first showed themselves, and so forth, - questions
which