because she is
refused the use of them.

Add to this the anxiety, the sufferings the amputated man feels when he
is also deprived of his means of livelihood, as well as his limb, and
from comfort comes down to penury. Perhaps he has been able hitherto
to keep his wife and children with a fair amount of comfort; now he is
helpless and has to depend upon them.

He may be of proud spirit, but he has to endure mortification by seeing
his wife labour and slave for him. He becomes moody, then passionate, a
little drink maddens him, then comes the danger. He does something,
then the police are required, and prison awaits him. There he thinks and
broods over his wrong, with bitterness and revengeful spirit. Perhaps
his wife has been compelled to give evidence against him; he remembers
that, he scores it up, and henceforth there is no peace for either of
them!

Frequent convictions follow, ultimately the wife has to claim the
protection of the law, and gets a separation order on account of his
cruelty. Henceforward he is an outcast, his children and friends cast
him off, for they are afraid of him. But he lives on, and many have to
suffer because he has lost a limb.

We read a great deal about the development of character through
suffering, and well I know the purifying effects suffering has upon our
race; but it is well sometimes to look at the reverse side, and consider
what evil follows in the wake of suffering.

Blind men, the deaf and the dumb and the physically disabled need our
pitiful consideration. Some of the sweetest, cleverest, bravest men I
know suffer from great physical disabilities, but they have pleasures
and compensations, they live useful lives, their compensations have
produced light and sweetness, they are not useless in a busy world, they
are not mere cumberers of the ground. They were trained for usefulness
whilst they were young.

But a far different case is presented with the disabled among the very
poor. What chance in life is there for a youth of twenty who loses an
arm or leg? He has no friends whose loving care and whose financial
means can soften his affliction and keep him in comfort while training
for service. Who in this rich, industrial England wants such service as
he can render? Very few! and those who do make use of him naturally feel
that his service is not worth much.

Numbers of my acquaintances like Angus half lose their sight! Who
requires their service? No one! But these men l