cared for with
parental love. A few weeks later these children were physically
unrecognizable, so rapid had been the improvement in health, and
probably there were with God's blessing four graves less to be dug.

The trials incident to the moral and spiritual condition of the orphans
were even greater, however, than those caused by ill health and
weakness. When children proved incorrigibly bad, they were expelled,
lest they should corrupt others, for the institution was not a
_reformatory,_ as it was not a _hospital._ In 1849, a boy, of less than
eight years, had to be sent away as a confirmed liar and thief, having
twice run off with the belongings of other children and gloried in his
juvenile crimes. Yet the forbearance exercised even in his case was
marvelously godlike, for, during over five years, he had been the
subject of private admonitions and prayers and all other methods of
reclamation; and, when expulsion became the last resort, he was solemnly
and with prayer, before all the others, sent away from the orphan house,
that if possible such a course might prove a double blessing, a remedy
to him and a warning to others; and even then this young practised
sinner was followed, in his expulsion, by loving supplication.

Towards the end of November, 1857, it was found that a serious leak in
the boiler of the heating apparatus of house No. 1 would make repairs at
once necessary, and as the boilers were encased in bricks and a new
boiler might be required, such repairs must consume time. Meanwhile how
could three hundred children, some of them very young and tender, be
kept warm? Even if gas-stoves could be temporarily set up, chimneys
would be needful to carry off the impure air; and no way of heating was
available during repairs, even if a hundred pounds were expended to
prevent risk of cold. Again Mr. Muller turned to the Living God, and,
trusting in Him, decided to have the repairs begun. A day or so before
the fires had to be put out, a bleak north wind set in. The work could
no longer be delayed; yet weather, prematurely cold for the season,
threatened these hundreds of children with hurtful exposure. The Lord
was boldly appealed to. "Lord, these are _Thy_ orphans: be pleased to
change this north wind into a south wind, and give the workmen a mind to
work that the job may be speedily done."

The evening before the repairs actually began, the cold blast was still
blowing; but _on that day a south wind blew, an