1S38 39. THE SOURCE OF STRENGTH. 211 



pressed wonder that he passed unscathed through the tempta- 

 tions thickly besetting a medical student's life, and by means of 

 which many who shared with him a brilliant noon-day, have 

 brought an eclipse on their after years, or have sunk in dark 

 and gloomy clouds below the horizon. Much of George's safety 

 may be attributed to early training and pleasant home influ- 

 ences ; much also to the happy buoyancy of spirit that never 

 forsook him, while the eager craving after knowledge left no 

 room for baser tastes to develop themselves. Had he been 

 asked to say what shield had proved so efficacious in warding 

 off evil influences, he would doubtless have reminded us of the 

 cradle prayer, for him answered as for Joseph, so that " his bow 

 abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong 

 by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob." " Have not we 

 realized," he said to a sister many years later, " in spite of all 

 our sorrows, and cares, and trials, that we are the children of 

 many prayers ?" 



