While at Magdeburg Luther was taken sick with a violent and distressing fever. Although he suffered great thirst he was forbidden to drink water. But on a certain Friday, when all had gone to church, his thirst became so unendurable that he crept upon his hands and knees into the kitchen, seized a vessel filled with fresh water, and drank it with great relish. Then he dragged himself back to his bed, went soundly to sleep, and when he awoke the fever was gone.--Lack of support forced him to leave Magdeburg at the end of the year. 2. LUTHER IN EISENACH. After a short stay under the parental roof Luther complied with the wish of his parents and attended the high school at Eisenach. His mother had many relatives there, and hoped that they would do something for poor Martin. But these hopes were disappointed, and, therefore, at Eisenach also he lived in great poverty. Again he had to gain his daily bread by singing and saying prayers before the houses. The gifts so received were called particles, that is, crumbs. In after-years Luther said: "I have also been such a beggar of 'particles,' taking my bread at the doors, especially in Eisenach, my beloved city." At times, however, his poverty so depressed him that he determined to return to his parents and help his father in the mines. But at last God graciously provided for him. For some time already his earnest singing and praying had won for him the heart of a pious matron, Frau Cotta. One day, therefore, when, together with other scholars, he was again singing at her door she took him into her house and gave him a place at her table. Thus by God's wonderful providence he was relieved of this care for his daily bread and could now joyfully devote himself entirely to his studies. Luther never forgot his benefactress, Mrs. Cotta, and in later years, when her son studied at Wittenberg, he received him into his house. [Illustration: Frau Cotta Taking Luther into Her Home.]