or lad's face brightened as if the
sunshine had fallen upon it; and he answered, 'I would say that
nothing could please me better.' I promised to find him a teacher;
and, as I promised, the thought of you, friend Croft, came into my
mind. Now, here is something that you can do; a good work in which
you can employ your one talent."

The sick man did not respond warmly to this proposition. He had been
so long a mere recipient of good offices,--had so long felt himself
the object towards which pity and service must tend,--that he had
nearly lost the relish for good deeds. Idle dependence had made him
selfish.

"Give this poor cripple a lesson every day," went on the neighbor,
pressing home the subject, "and talk and read to him. Take him in
charge as one of God's children, who needs to be instructed and led
up to a higher life than the one he is now living. Is not this a
good and a great work? It is, my friend, one that God has brought to
your hand, and in the doing of which there will be great reward.
What can you do? Much! Think of that poor boy's weary life, and of
the sadder years that lie still before him. What will become of him
when his mother dies? The almshouse alone will open its doors for
the helpless one. But who can tell what resources may open before
him if stimulated by thought. Take him, then, and unlock the doors
of a mind that now sits in darkness, that sunlight may come in. To
you it will give a few hours of pleasant work each day; to him it
will be a life-long benefit. Will you do it?"

"Yes."

The sick man could not say "No," though in uttering that
half-extorted assent he manifested no warm interest in the case of
poor Tom Hicks.

On the next day the cripple came to the sick man, and received his
first lesson; and every day, at an appointed hour, he was in Mr.
Croft's room, eager for the instruction he received. Quickly he
mastered the alphabet, and as quickly learned to construct small
words, preparatory to combining them in a reading lesson.

After the first three or four days the sick man, who, had undertaken
this work with reluctance, began to find his heart going down into
it. Tom was so ready a scholar, so interested, and so grateful, that
Mr. Croft found the task of instructing him a real pleasure. The
neighbor, who had suggested this useful employment of the invalid's
time, looked in now and then to see how matters were progressing,
and to speak words of encouragement.

Poor Tom was