One hot summer day a little more than 100 years ago, a young medical student was going from house to house in a farming community in Maryland, selling books to earn money to pay for his education.

Late one afternoon he called at a farmhouse where the only one at home was a teenage girl. After he made his presentation, the girl said, “I’m so sorry, but my mother is a widow and we can’t afford to buy books.”

The young man then asked, “Would you be so kind as to give me a drink of water?”

“Sure. But we have plenty of milk in the spring house. Wouldn’t you rather have a glass of cold milk instead?”

“I would be most grateful,” the young man replied.

Years passed. The medical student became a skilled physician. One day while making his rounds he thought he recognized a patient as the person who, as a girl, had been kind to him. She, however, was too sick to recognize him. Things began to happen. The young woman was moved to a private room and given the finest care medical science could offer.

One day a nurse said to her, “Tomorrow you’re going home.”

“I’m glad,” said the patient, “but the bill worries me.”

“Let me go get it, and we’ll see how much it is.”

The nurse returned with the treasurer of the hospital, who presented the bill to the patient. She glanced at the bottom line. She was shocked at the high amount! But then she noticed these words written across the statement: “Paid in full by a glass of milk. Howard A. Kelly, M.D.”

Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances dictate.

Thanks to WITANDWISDOM™ March 1996 subscribe-wit-wisdom@xc.org