46 THE LAME BOY.

can supply the place of all others in your heart, and
by His presence life will become to you so full of
sweet flowers, lovely music, and pleasant pictures, that
you will be as happy as you can desire. What relatives
have you, my dear ?”

“JT have an uncle,” replied Louis, “who is always
generous and kind to me; but he is himself a lonely
man, having neither home, wife, nor children; and
though he sometimes takes me to the hotel where he
boards in K
and I generally pass my vacations at school; and then,

 

, on a Visit, it is not pleasant to me,

good nurse, [am often very sick. Last spring I was
so ill that my life was despaired of. I have never felt
so strong since, and I heard the physician tell my uncle
that I could never bear so severe an illness again.
That has often made me think a great deal about dying,
and I have concluded that it would be quite as well to
die as to live here in pain, weakness, and mortification
through a long life. For of what use can I ever be in
the world, or what pleasure can I take in living?”
“Oh, my dear child,” answered the nurse, “ speak not
so of the lot God ordains for you. Light from above
must and will be shed upon your path, and then all
will be bright and happy to you. O Father of
mercies,” continued the godly woman, raising her eyes
and hands to heaven, “send down thy blessed light
and truth into the soul of this child of thine Give
him the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of