London Normal School - Spectrum Yearbook (London, Ontario Canada)

Page 25 text:

ALBERT OF LAMBARENE Rugged of visage, almost unkempt, eyes shading from compassion to humour and deep set, hair luxuriant but only partly disciplined, lateral strands bracketing a forehead lofty but furrowed, and underlined with heavy brows, mustaches of brush - all seeming to mask the weariness of years consigned to others ' cares. Voice of the theologue turned to comfort or direction; Hands of the organist disciplined by setting bones, dispensing potions; Pen of the author, restricted by scribbling case histories or prescriptions; Mind of the philosopher unrestrained by weight of circumstance or frugal Lambarene- A complex being, yet man of simple ways. A life of more than ninety years impelled by firm convictions and a ready drive - reverence for life, all life; work an obligation, not a grim necessity; man ' s resources lie within himself, unparalyzed by magnitude of task, but rather by puniness of purpose; men do not choose to confer their benefits upon brothers in need, it is their duty, benevolence is, in truth, atonement; service supersedes self and the plaudits of recognition, good is done but for one reason, the doing; man must find and nurture mercy in himself- merely to live is not life, but to serve is divine. Man, giant or saint? Countless voices united by the fellowship of pain, And the eroding mouth of the Gabonese leper would answer, All . G. H.D.