A true story: the glass of milk

Voici un autre conte à transmettre le soir de Christmas, ou la veille, en attendant le Réveillon.

One day, a very poor boy, who was selling cleaning supplies door to door to pay for his studies, realized that he had only ten cents left in his pocket and that he was very hungry.

Lorsqu’il frappa à la prochaine porte, il prit son courage à deux mains pour demander quelque chose à manger. Quand une jeune femme vint lui répondre, il se sentit embarrassé et finit par lui demander un verre d’eau. Celle-ci devinant qu’il était affamé lui apporta plutôt un grand verre de lait.

The boy drank it greedily and asked her how much he owed her. She replied: “In my family, we were taught to never accept payment for a gesture of the heart.”He asked her name, thanked her sincerely, and left, his body and mind reassured. It must be said that before this incident, young Howard was on the verge of dropping out of school, but this encounter gave him the desire to continue.

A few years later, he finally completed his medical course. While working at the hospital, he was one day asked to consult with a patient who had just arrived. When he heard her name, a spark lit up his eyes. He went to see her and recognized the woman who had been kind to him. Determined to help her, he paid special attention to her health problem. After a few months, the woman recovered completely, and Dr. Kelly asked for a bill for the care she had received.

The lady, worried (because she was not very well off), opened the envelope and found a blank page on which were written these words: "Care paid in full...with a glass of milk."
(signed) Dr. Howard Kelly.