DOCTOR GOLDSMITH
THERE was once a kind man whose name was Oliver
Goldsmith. He wrote many delightful books, some of
which you will read when you are older.
He had a gentle heart. He was always ready to help others
and to share with them anything that he had. He gave away so
much to the poor that he was always poor himself.
He was sometimes called Doctor Goldsmith; for he had
studied to be a physician.
One day a poor woman asked Doctor Goldsmith to go and see
her husband, who was sick and could not eat.
Goldsmith did so. He found that the family was in great
need. The man had not had work for a long time. He was not
sick, but in distress; and, as for eating, there was no food
in the house.
"Call at my room this evening," said Goldsmith
[119] to the woman, "and I will give you some
medicine for your husband."
In the evening the woman called. Goldsmith
gave her a little paper box that was very heavy.
"Here is the medicine," he said. "Use it
faithfully, and I think it will do your husband a great
deal of good. But don't open the box until you reach home."
"What are the directions for taking it?" asked the woman.
"You will find them inside of the box," he answered.
When the woman reached her home, she sat down by her
husband's side, and they opened the box. What do you
think they found in it?
It was full of pieces of money. And on the top were the
directions: —
"TO BE TAKEN AS OFTEN AS NECESSITY REQUIRES."
Goldsmith had given them all the ready money
that he had.
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