ns."

The Martian recalled the time he had plunged under the water and
remained there too long; vividly, he remembered the thirst for air, the
seeming bursting of the lungs, the compression and vise-like grip of
the muscles of the throat and chest, and he could not help exclaiming,
"Benevolent, Compassionate Being!"

The physician continued, "This child," pointing to a beautiful, robust
boy of ten years, "was in perfect health, until he fell in the street
and received a minor cut which the parents treated with home remedies,
but which in a few days was diagnosed as Tetanus." And the doctor went
on to explain that the compassion of the Lord is great when this occurs,
for the child gets convulsions, the jaws become locked, and beads of
cold sweat stand out on the child's forehead in his anguish; the
convulsions increase in severity and in duration so that finally they
are continuous and the child lies with the heels and back of the head
only touching the bed, the rest of the body is arched. The convulsions
then become so severe that the body is so bent backwards at times that
the head and trunk touch the heels. The misery of such a child is
sufficient to cause a physician to lose his reason. Again the Martian
murmurs, "Verily, the compassion of the Lord is beyond understanding."

The child in the next bed had just become paralyzed by an attack of
poliomyelitis (infantile paralysis). The Martian observes how the Lord
in His compassion saved a certain number of these children upon whom he
vents His anger for their sins, by inflicting upon them this hideous
disease. He saves their lives, but to serve as an everlasting reminder,
as a covenant between them and their Lord, He paralyzes their limbs. The
spectacle of these children attempting to move, making intense effort to
move paralyzed limbs, was the most revolting and heart-breaking sight
that he had ever witnessed. This time, too, the Martian remarked,
"Verily, the Lord in His infinite wisdom and goodness strange tasks does
perform."

The physician then informed him of the many men and women who have died
of cancer. A large number of these individuals had reached a period in
life where they could just afford to relax from their struggles for mere
sustenance; men and women who had reached a calm lake after journeying
through troubled and tortuous waters; who had fought the "good fight,"
and had won the just reward of resting after their labors. But no, the
Lord must tro