An oAddress

33

London. Crippled by his long labours, he spent
his last lonely days in a poor way, as his little
savings allowed, robbed of all the comforts
which his industry had gathered round his old
home. For his long life of hard duty and
inadequate recompense you would all of you
style him a slave ; yet, though fully aware of the
injustice of his lot, I have never seen a more
truly contented man. And the secret of his
happiness was that he had kept his soul clean.
Education might have widened his outlook, but
it could scarcely have bettered his nobility and
happiness. As he could read I once asked him
why I never found him with a book. He replied
that he read sometimes in the gospel, but if he
ever took up a newspaper or a chance book he
always came upon something that he wished he
had not seen. I loved chatting with him, for
his simple talk was full of philosophy. In
thought and manners he was a spiritual man
and a gentleman ; superior in both to the rich
educated man who had thoughtlessly wronged
him.

And if a man proceed onwards from earthly