It was a hot afternoon. A poor boy was going from door to door selling goods to pay his way through school. He was hungry. But he found he had only one thin dime left as the business wasn’t too good. So he decided he would ask for a meal at the next house.
However, when a lovely young woman opened the door, he lost his nerve. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry so brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, and then asked, “How much do I owe you?”
“You don’t owe me anything,” she replied. “Mother has taught us never to accept pay for kindness.”
He said, “Then I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
As the poor boy left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in humanity grew stronger as well. He had been ready to give up and quit.
Many years later, the lovely young woman was now a happily married middle-aged woman. Then a misfortune struck her. She became critically ill of a mysterious disease that got the local doctors baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease.
Dr. Howard Kelly, a world renown specialist who was visiting the city hospital, was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town the woman came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room.
Dressed in his doctor’s gown he went in to see the woman. She seemed to catch a gleam of twinkle in his eyes when he was talking to her. Dr. Kelly went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day he gave special attention to her case. After a long struggle, the battle was won.
Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it, then wrote something before sending the bill to her room.
The woman was afraid to open the bill. She was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally, she took a deep breathe and opened up the bill. Her eyes darted straight to the last figures on the bill. She gasped, then stopped halfway when some scribbles caught her attention on the side of the bill.
She read these words, “Paid in full with one glass of milk. (Signed) Dr. Howard Kelly”
Quickly, the memory of a hot afternoon and the image of a poor boy came back to her. Tears of joy flooded her eyes as her happy heart rejoiced.