Grenfell was put ashore and walked up the trail to the hut. The man
had long since died and been laid to rest. The wife and children were
still there. They had no provisions for the winter, and Grenfell, we
may be sure, did all in his power to help them and make them more
comfortable.
His plans had crystalized. He had determined upon the course he should
take. He would go back to England and exert himself to the utmost to
raise funds to build hospitals and to provide additional doctors and
nurses for The Labrador. He would return to Labrador himself and give
his life and strength and the best that was in him for the rest of his
days in an attempt to make these people happier. Grenfell the athlete,
the football player, the naturalist, and, above all, the doctor, was
ready to answer the human call and to sacrifice his own comfort and
ease and worldly possessions to the needs of these people. The man
that will freely give his life to relieve the suffering of others
represents the highest type of manhood. It is divine. It was
characteristic of Grenfell.
And so it came about that the ragged man in the rickety boat who led
Doctor Grenfell to the dying man in the mud hut was the indirect means
of bringing hospitals and stores and many fine things to The Labrador
that the coast had never known before.
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