Josiah, although my hair is white and my veins are thin.

"But that was not all, brother; he is a poor man indeed who gives up
hope. When a man loses hope for himself, he wishes to live in another.
The ancients used to pray that their sons might be nobler than
themselves. When I read your letter that said that you had named this
boy for me and had made me his godfather, you can not tell how life
revived in me--it was like seeing a rainbow after a storm. I said to
myself that I had another hope in this world; that I would live in the
boy. I have come over to America to live in this boy.

"O brother, I never thought that I would see an hour like this! I am
poor, but I am happy. I am happy because you loved me after I became
poor and friendless. That was your opportunity to show what your heart
was. I am happy because you trusted me and gave my name to this boy.

"Brother Josiah, I have come over to America to return your love, in
teaching this boy how to live and how to fulfill the best that is in
him. A boy with your heart can succeed in life, even if he have but
common gifts. The best thing that can be said of any man is that he is
true-hearted. Brother, you have been true-hearted to me, and the boy
inherits your nature, and I am going to be true-hearted to him and to
do all I can to make his life a blessing to you and the world. We do no
self-sacrificing thing without fruit."

The old man put his arm about the boy, and said:

"Ben, little Ben, I loved you before I saw you, and I love you more than
ever now. I have come across the ocean in my old age to be with you. I
want you to like me, Ben."

"I do, uncle," said little Ben. "I would rather be with you than with
any one. I am glad that you have come."

"That makes me happy, that makes my old heart happy. I did everything a
man could do for his wife and children and for everybody. I was left
alone in London, poor; I seemed to be a forsaken man, but this makes up
for all."

"Benjamin and Benjamin!" said the younger brother, touching the strings
of the violin that he held on his lap--"Benjamin and Benjamin! Brother
Benjamin, how did you get the money to cross the ocean?"

"I sold my goods and my pamphlets. _They_ were my life; I had put my
life into them. But I sold them, for what were they if I could have the
chance to live another life in little Ben?"

"What were your pamphlets?" asked little Ben.

"They were my life, and I sold them for you, that I might