I MUST not now attempt to detail the ways in which the LORD was
pleased--often to my surprise, as well as to my delight--to help me from
time to time. I soon found that it was not possible to live quite as
economically in London as in Hull. To lessen expenses I shared a room
with a cousin, four miles from the hospital, providing myself with
board; and after various experiments I found that the most economical
way was to live almost exclusively on brown bread and water. Thus I was
able to make the means that GOD gave me last as long as possible. Some
of my expenses I could not diminish, but my board was largely within my
own control. A large twopenny loaf of brown bread, purchased daily on my
long walk from the hospital, furnished me with supper and breakfast; and
on that diet, with a few apples for lunch, I managed to walk eight or
nine miles a day, besides being a good deal on foot while attending the
practice of the hospital and the medical school.
One incident that occurred just about this time I must refer to. The
husband of my former landlady in Hull was chief officer of a ship that
sailed from London, and by receiving his half-pay monthly and remitting
it to her I was able to save her the cost of a commission. This I had
been doing for several months, when she wrote requesting that I would
obtain the next payment as early as possible, as her rent was almost
due, and she depended upon that sum to meet it. The request came at an
inconvenient time. I was working hard for an examination in the hope of
obtaining a scholarship which would be of service to me, and felt that I
could ill afford the time to go during the busiest part of the day to
the city and procure the money. I had, however, sufficient of my own in
hand to enable me to send the required sum. I made the remittance
therefore, purposing, as soon as the examination was over, to go and
draw the regular allowance with which to refund myself.
Before the time of examination the medical school was closed for a day,
on account of the funeral of the Duke of Wellington, and I had an
opportunity of going at once to the office, which was situated in a
street on Cheapside, and applying for the due amount. To my surprise and
dismay the cleric told me that he could not pay it, as the officer in
question had run away from his ship and gone to the gold diggings.
"Well," I remarked, "that is very inconvenient for me, as I have already
advanced the money, and I know his wife will have no means of repaying
it." The clerk said he was sorry, but could of course only act according
to orders; so there was no help for me in that direction. A little more
time and thought, however, brought the comforting conclusion to my mind,
that as I was depending on the LORD for everything, and His means were
not limited, it was a small matter to be brought a little sooner or
later into the position of needing fresh supplies from Him; and so the
joy and the peace were not long interfered with.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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