There was a poor boy named Howard Kelly who was going through some real bad times. He wanted to study but had no monetary support so to make the ends meet he started to sell goods from door to door. This way he could pay his school fee. But selling is a hard job. One fine day, he found he had just one thin dime left and he was hungry as well.
He wondered for a while and then decided to ask for the meal at the next house. When he knocked at the door, a pretty lady came out and Kelly felt nervous. Instead of asking for the food he just asked for a drink of water.
Lady could feel pangs of hunger on boy’s face so she brought him a large glass of milk. Boy was astonished and yet he could not resist his hunger. He drank the milk slowly and asked lady, ‘how much do I owe you?‘ Lady replied, ‘You don’t owe me anything. I have been taught never to accept pay for an act of kindness’. Boy was extremely touched and thanked her from the bottom of his heart. This incident left a profound effect on boy’s psyche. His faith in God and man further increased.
Many years passed after that small incident. The young lady became critically ill and local doctors were clueless about her illness. She was sent to the big city where specialists were called upon to diagnose and treat her problem. The mystery surrounding the illness forced doctors to call Dr. Howard Kelly. When Mr. Kelly first heard about the town she came from, he instantly remember the entire incident and rushed his way to check the patient.
Howard Kelly immediately recognised her and started doing everything in her capacity to save young woman’s life. After giving special attention to the case for quite some time, the lady started getting better. When it came to the matter of bill payment, Dr. Kelly requested hospital authorities to pass the final bill to him.
After carefully examining the bill details, he scribbled something on the edge of the paper and passed the bill to patient’s room. She was scared to have a look at the bill knowing it would take her rest of the life to pay for the expensive treatment. But when she finally opened the bill, she saw something written on the side of the bill,
‘Paid in full with one glass of milk’
Signed, Dr. Howard Kelly.
CAclubindia
