The balance has got to be kept even if you want to be well.

When the swamps are fillin' up with water, an' there's too much moisture in the outside air, an' too much pressure of it on your bones an' joints, if you swallow enough water inside it keeps things even.

If Barney Thayer had drunk a gallon of water a day, he might have worked in the wet swamp till doomsday an' he wouldn't have got the rheumatiz." "Has Barney Thayer got the rheumatiz, Cephas ?" Charlotte's pale face appeared in the pantry door.
"Yes, he has got it bad.

'Ain't stirred out of his bed since night before last; been all alone; nobody knew it till William Berry went in this forenoon.

Guess he'd died there if he'd been left much longer." "Who's with him now ?" asked Charlotte, in a quick, strained voice.
"The Ray boy is sittin' with him, whilst William is gone to the North Village to see if he can get somebody to come.