I was being prepared for the stronger desire of later years.
And the point is that this development of desire was entirely in my brain.

My body did not cry out for alcohol.

As always, alcohol was repulsive to my body.

When I was bodily weary from shovelling coal the thought of taking a drink had never flickered into my consciousness.
When I was brain-wearied after taking the entrance examinations to the university, I promptly got drunk.

At the laundry I was suffering physical exhaustion again, and physical exhaustion that was not nearly so profound as that of the coal-shovelling.