WINTER. 



151 



my memory, of one whose only aim through life was the relief of suffer- 

 ing and sorrow. In storm or calm, by day or night, he fulfilled his holy 

 mission. And when the fearful scourge swept o'er the town, and filled 

 its homes with woe ; when friends deserted friends, and brothers left 

 their kin, this noble soul sought out the sick and dying, cared tendei'ly 

 for their sufferings until the end, and even laid the dead away alone. A 

 life of sacrifice, for rich or poor alike, without a thought of self. Pro- 

 fessing no religious faith — yea, doubling even ; but finding in the precept 

 of the " golden rule " an inspiration worthy the devotion and the effort 

 of his life: " By their fruits ye shall know them." 



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THE GOOD PHYSICIAN. 



And so the winter goes. It has its joys and its sorrows, its strong 

 contrasts of light and shadow. The bitter winds will freeze and rule the 

 earth, but the sun will shine again, and the very gloom transform to glit- 

 tering splendor. Soon we greet the lengthening days. The farmer 

 heeds the warning sism. The woods resound with the stroke of the axe 

 and crashing of falling trees ; and the prostrate trunks are rolled upon 

 the sledge and hauled away " to mill ;" the fields are strewn with com- 

 post, and meadows sown with clover on the snow, fences are fixed, and 

 hot -bed started on the sunny slope ; the cackling hens have felt the 

 prophecy, and steal away into snug little places among the hay-mows 



