The influence exercised by kind words from certain people
can not be measured. I have in mind a retiring, modest man,
singular in aspect and manner, who every Sunday visited the
house of a friend where the head of the family, a superior man
of great position, always bade him “Good-evening,” and kindly
asked after his health. His simple words were so valued by this
lonely man that when his friend died and he could no longer
receive his kindly greeting, he left his employment and the
city, dying in his turn of sorrow, in some obscure and unknown
place where he had sought refuge.--DORA MELEGARI,
“Makers of Sorrow and Makers of Joy.”
(1716)