Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/74

58 and thanked his cousin with many tears. He told him that he had been almost on the verge of insanity; that his case had seemed perfectly hopeless, and his sense of honor was so keen that his position was indeed galling. One night he had retired to his room, wound his watch and laid it on his dressing table, and then, sitting down, began to think over his trouble. All before him seemed dark, and he said to himself, “It is just as impossible for me to extricate myself from these difficulties as it would be for that watch to stop itself and then go on of its own accord.” At that instant his watch, which had been ticking loudly, suddenly stopped. He gazed on it in amazement, and saw that the second hand stood still. He waited what seemed to him several minutes, and then, without his having touched it, the watch went on again. He felt that God had given him a sign that relief would come for him, and in his cousin’s generous act he recognized the finger of God.

This cousin, Thomas Carter, was a man of high character, fine abilities, and thorough scholarship, but was hampered through life by extreme timidity. When he was teaching his cousin Robert, he was a student of divinity in the Secession Church. He completed his course, but at that time the rules of his church were very strict against reading sermons in the pulpit. He might have preached if he could have had his manuscript before him, but his diffidence would not permit him to get through the service without such anchorage. He tried to preach without notes, but to his great mortification failed. He was obliged to give up all idea of the ministry, and spent his life as a parish schoolmaster. He doubtless felt his life was a failure. Perhaps the angels saw in it a higher success than they could find in the lives of some men who with less talent and