d already been his refuge during three long and trying
illnesses, and had at last become a sort of property for the poor
fellow in the eyes of doctors, students, nurse-tenders, in fact, the
whole hospital staff. Never did a gentler creature walk on God's
earth: walk--alas! for him the word was but an old memory. Many years
before, he had totally lost the use of his legs; but, to use his own
expression, 'this misfortune did not upset him:' he still retained the
power of earning his livelihood, which he derived from copying deeds
for a lawyer at so much per sheet; and if the legs were no longer a
support, the hands worked at the stamped parchments as diligently as
ever. But some months passed by, and then the paralysis attacked his
right arm: still undaunted, he taught himself to write with the left;
but hardly had the brave heart and hand conquered the difficulty, when
the enemy crept on, and disabling this second ally, no more remained
for him than to be conveyed once more, though this time as a last
resource, to the hospital. There he had the gratification to find his
former quarters vacant, and he took possession of his old familiar bed
with a satisfaction that seemed to obliterate all regret at being
obliged to occupy it again. His first grateful accents smote almost
reproachfully on my ear: 'Misfortune must have its turn, but _every
day has a to-morrow_.'

It was indeed a lesson to witness the gratitude of this excellent
creature. The hospital, so dreary a sojourn to most of its inmates,
was a scene of enjoyment to him: everything pleased him; and the poor
fellow's admiration of even the most trifling conveniences, proved how
severe must have been his privations. He never wearied of praising the
neatness of the linen, the whiteness of the bread, the quality of the
food; and my surprise gave place to the truest pity, when I learned
that, for the last twenty years, this respectable old man could only
afford himself, out of the profits of his persevering industry, the
coarsest bread, diversified with white cheese or vegetable porridge;
and yet, instead of reverting to his privations in the language of
complaint, he converted them into a fund of gratitude, and made the
generosity of the nation, which had provided such a retreat for the
suffering poor, his continual theme. Nor did his thankful spirit
confine itself to this. To listen to him, you would have believed him
an especial object of divine as well as human benevo