It was the morning of the second day after Mr. Ridley entered the
Home. He had so far recovered as to be able to sit up in his room, a
clean and well ventilated apartment, neatly furnished and with an
air of home comfort about it. Two or three pictures hung on the
walls, one of them representing a father sitting with a child upon
each knee and the happy mother standing beside them. He had looked
at this picture until his eyes grew dim. Near it was an illuminated
text: "WITHOUT ME YE CAN DO NOTHING."
There came, as he sat gazing at the sweet home-scene, the beauty and
tenderness of which had gone down into his heart, troubling its
waters deeply, a knock at the door. Then the matron, accompanied by
one of the lady managers of the institution, came in and made kind
inquiries as to his condition. He soon saw that this lady was a
refined and cultivated Christian woman, and it was not long before
he felt himself coming under a new influence and all the old desires
and purposes long ago cast away warming again into life and
gathering up their feeble strength.
Gradually the lady led him on to talk to her of himself as he would
have talked to his mother or his sister. She asked him of his
family, and got the story of his bereavement, his despair and his
helplessness. Then she sought to inspire him with new resolutions,
and to lead him to make a new effort.
"I will be a man again," he exclaimed, at last, rising to this
declaration under the uplifting and stimulating influences that were
around him.
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