upon another until I reached the school exhausted and shaken; then I would plunge into the circle of my girlfriends and try to dispel whatever fear and agitation had clung to me along the way. And if one of the boys in class tried to join our circle, I would drive him off, scolding, furious, letting him understand that we did not want his friendship — he was a beast of prey...
When I came home in the evening I would recount to my mother everything that had happened to me during the day, including my keeping away from the wicked wolves, and she would pat my shoulder, saying: Bravo! Bravo! That is how I want you, my girl — bold and strong, not a meek lamb whom everyone who sees her wants to ravish...
*
The days went by in succession... I was nearing seventeen, and my troubles began to grow day by day, my pains multiplying hour by hour... I felt an anxiety and agitation whose source I did not know; I felt I wanted something, but did not know what it was; I was searching for something, but had no knowledge of it. This feeling wore me down, and this strange sensation exhausted me; I would go on thinking and thinking to no avail... So it was that I became like one dazed and absent; my glances became false, restless, wandering; my face pale and withered, my body thin and worn. I was weary of myself... and my mother was no less weary than I... She would ask me anxiously from time to time what pained me, what robbed me of sleep, what brought this withering and pallor upon me — and I did not know how to answer her...
The days passed and with them my condition went from bad to worse... My mother's anxiety
grew, and she saw nothing better than to take me to a doctor, in the hope that he might disclose to her the hidden cause of my collapse...
*
The doctor was a young man in the prime of life, handsome and elegant... He welcomed us with a broad smile, seated me facing him, and went on putting question after question to me; then he set about examining me limb by limb with care and deliberation. When he had finished that operation, he looked at my mother and said:
— What ails her is no particular physical illness, but a general wasting brought on by certain complicated matters of the psyche... If you care for your daughter's life, my advice to you is to bring her out of her isolation into the wide world...
My mother asked him, eager and alarmed:
— And what is to be done now, Doctor?...
— You will get her certain medicines; then she must come to
me every other day so I can give her some nourishing injections...
I began taking the medicine... and my mother began accompanying me to the doctor every other day, for him to give me the nourishing injections and see how far I had improved... The doctor was of the open, merry sort, one of those who look at the world through a bright, shining glass... He did not catch my eye at first; in my view he was like an instrument or a machine a person uses to find the fault and then try to correct and treat it... But no sooner had my visits to him multiplied than I began to see in him a human being... I do not say a man... for had I seen a man in him from the start, I would have recoiled and shrunk into myself, shaken and terrified. But I saw in him a human being like my mother... merciful... compassionate... a graceful talker... understanding of the ways of things... trying with all the strength he possessed to work for my comfort and happiness...
Before I knew it, I had begun awaiting my visits with longing
Vicks VapoRub — A Gentle Salve for Treating Colds
A gentle salve for treating colds
Your child will get relief in two direct ways when you rub his chest and neck with this gentle salve, Vicks VapoRub, at bedtime. Its soothing vapors improve the cold and calm the cough. And its warming action through the skin is like the action of a poultice, easing his strained, aching chest.
Vicks VapoRub
"The Gentle Salve"
1 — Directly by way of the nose
2 — Directly by way of the skin
VICKS VAPORUB