Chapter LXXX

_Hygiene, Conduct, Method._--I swear to myself henceforth to take the following rules as eternal rules of my life:

Every morning to pray to God, _reservoir of all strength and all justice, to my father, to Mariette, and to Poe,_ as intercessors; to pray to them to grant me the necessary strength always to do my duty, and to grant to my mother _a life long enough_ to enjoy my transformation; to work all day, or at least _while my strength remains_; to trust in God, that is, in Justice itself, for the success of my projects; to make, every evening, a new prayer to God, asking life and strength for my mother and for myself; to divide all I earn into four parts,--one for current expenses, one for my creditors, one for my friends and one for my mother;--to obey the precepts of strictest sobriety, of which the first is the suppression of everything exciting, whatever it may be.