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may seem, the woman discovered no gratitude, but rather made a rejecting motion.

She is too sick, madam,' said Jane, springing forward, 'to thank you as she would; but, if you will trust me, I will see that your bounty is properly applied to the wants of the family; they are suffering for almost everything.'

Certainly,' replied the lady; 'and I should esteem it a kindness if you or Dr Fulton would do me the favour to let me know how Martha goes on; my health does not often permit such exertions

as these.'

Jane, who had been maturing a little plan in her own mind for the benefit of the children, promised her she would call in a few days; and Frank, with a native politeness that quite won Mrs Hart, saw her not only to the bottom of the crooked stairs, but to her carriage, where her footman stood holding the door in waiting for his lady.

'How happy,' said Jane when they returned home, 'must Mrs Hart be; so benevolent and so rich!'

'How do you know, my dear, she is so rich?' said her husband. 'Why, did not you observe how costly her dress was?'

'That is no proof,' said Frank; 'you know she said, like us, she was more willing than able.'

'But you know her situation must be very different from ours. Why, her pelisse cost more than all my gowns put together, I will answer for it.'

'If she spends so much upon her pelisse,' said Frank laughing, 'I am afraid she has but little left to give away.'

'That is by no means a candid conclusion,' said Jane, assuming her sentimental air; 'on the contrary, when we see a person richly dressed, it is but just to suppose that they are wealthy.'

'It would be so if everything were governed by justice and right reason, and we were not continually drawing false inferences from appearances. You know Mrs Hart said she was very glad Martha had found friends "able and willing to assist her;" perhaps she thought we were very rich.'

'Oh, I am sure she could not,' said Jane with some vexation, ‘if she looked at my old straw bonnet and calico gown.'

'Well, dear,' replied Frank affectionately, 'I suppose she did not; she only looked at your bright blue eyes, and saw you feeding the hungry.'

In a few days things wore a more comfortable appearance at Martha's. By assistance of one kind or other, ostentatious in some, and benevolent in others, the poor woman's house resumed its wonted comfort; the fire blazed in the chimney as formerly, and Martha was able to sit up and employ herself in knitting. How little brings cheerfulness to the hearth of the industrious and deserving poor! In the meantime Dr Fulton pursued his course

with persevering industry. Martha's return from what her own class styled death's door, gave him celebrity with them; but a new case more convincing soon occurred. He was called to a man who was dying. He hastened to the place, and found the too frequent companions of the poor-superstition and ignorance. The sick man was stretched on his bed of straw; his family huddled round himgroaning, sobbing, and crying aloud; the room crowded by people drawn there from curiosity-for, strange as it may seem, there are those who, much as they dread the agonies of death for themselves, are eager to witness them in others. The doctor's first care was to clear and ventilate the room, and then to administer such restoratives as he thought judicious. The consequence was, that the man began to draw a longer breath; and, in the course of a few days, was spoken of as cured by Dr Fulton, after everybody had given him over!

Frank had now no want of employment from the poor; but, by degrees, those who could afford to pay began to apply; and at length a carriage, but little inferior in elegance to Mrs Hart's, stopped at his lodgings. Jane's heart fluttered as she heard Mr Harrington's name announced, for she knew that he was one of the wealthiest men of the city. His visit was that of a hypochondriac, who, after trying various physicians and various systems, had heard of the fame of Dr Fulton, of his wonderful success, and came hoping to get aid for himself.

Perhaps there never was a fairer chance for quackery; but Dr Fulton, to do him justice, had no tact for such little arts. He frankly told him that his restoration depended much more on himself than on a physician-suggested modes of exercise, of diet, cheerful society, and relaxation from business and care; and when the gentleman insisted on the doctor's success in curing desperate cases, he assured him that his most powerful agents among the poor had been what they could command without his aid-temperance and cleanliness. Mr Harrington was struck with the doctor's honesty and good sense, and felt moved by the apparent poverty of his and his young wife's situation. At parting, he did not confine himself to a regular fee, but said: 'As you practise gratis for the poor, it is but just that the rich should pay you double.' He requested Frank to visit him daily; and this he continued to do; and as he had leisure to make long calls, and engage him in cheerful conversation, Mr Harrington rapidly improved under the best of all systems for a hypochondriac.

Thus far we have followed our young couple in their struggle for a living. Not a debt hitherto had been incurred; and besides time and medicines, they had always found something to give. But as their pecuniary prospect brightens, our walks must enlarge. Dr Fulton was daily working his way into the more enlightened orders of society. His day-book and ledger began to be necessary, and

the gentle-hearted Jane was no longer obliged to beg a pittance for the poor.

We must now make an excursion to another part of the city. In a splendid apartment, ornamented with mirrors and girandoles, whose diamond-cut drops reflected the colours of the rainbow, hung round with paintings, and curtained with damask, in an elegant morning dress, on a cushioned divan, sat Mrs Hart. Twice she rang the bell, and twice a footman made his appearance.

'Have not the shawls come yet?' both times she inquired. 'No, madam.'

" Are

you sure you made no mistake?' 'Yes, madam.'

'Give me my Cologne bottle. Not that-the porcelain ;' and she poured the perfume over her handkerchief. So provoking!'

At that moment a man was ushered into the room with a box under his arm. The footman was ordered out, and the treasures of the box displayed. There were camel-hair shawls of different prices, from one hundred to three hundred dollars. The first were thrown scornfully aside. One for two hundred was elegant. It was, however, too dear. She could not afford it; but she must have some kind of a shawl. She was suffering for one. The man assured her that she never would repent taking one of them; and she began to think so herself. At length she decided to keep the one for two hundred, if there was no hurry for payment. Not the least,' the man assured her; but, perhaps, she had better look at another he had.' Another was displayed; but the cost of it was three hundred dollars. 'It was elegant-it was superb; but it was wholly out of her power to buy it; and yet, really, the one she had selected looked positively ordinary by the side of it;' and she cast a glance of indignation towards the two hundred dollar shawl. The man urged the merits of the three hundred one, and at length threw it over her shoulders. It hung gracefully to the hem of her garment. She surveyed herself before-turned-and, with her head over her shoulder, surveyed herself behind; she wrapped it round, and she flung it open; she disposed it over one arm in folds. This last effect was irresistible-it was truly Grecian drapery-it decided the matter. 'Very well,' said she; the shawl is mine. I must have one; and I suppose, in the end, this will be as cheap as any.' At that moment Mrs Fulton was announced. The man was hurried out, and the shawl thrown gracefully over the arm of the sofa. My dear Mrs Fulton,' said the lady, 'I have been expecting you to call and see me; I remembered your promise.'

6

Jane was delighted with her reception, and proceeded at once to mention her plan. It was to get up a subscription to supply clothing as well as schooling for a certain number of poor children, including Martha's.

'I thought,' said Jane, 'that you would approve of my plan. I

would not set it agoing till I was able to contribute my part by money as well as time. My husband has been successful beyond his expectations, and I have now a feeling of independence in asking.'

'How benevolent you are, my dear Mrs Fulton! I should be thankful to have the means of being equally so! But my time is wholly engrossed, and the claims upon my purse are constant. Perhaps none are so heavily taxed as the rich, or have less right to be called affluent. I declare to you,' said she, drawing forth her elegant crimson silk purse, and holding it suspended on her jewelled finger, 'I cannot command a farthing: you see how empty it is. But I approve of your plan. Perhaps you will be so kind as to advance the same sum for me that you pay for yourself. We will settle it when we next meet.'

Jane cheerfully assented, and took her leave; and Mrs Hart, with her three hundred dollar shawl, became the debtor of Jane.

'How strange it is,' said Mrs Fulton, as she related the circumstance to her husband, that, in the midst of such luxury, she had not five dollars to give in charity; for that was all I wanted!'

'You do not understand this thing, my dear Jane,' said Frank smiling; it seems to you incredible that Mrs Hart can be poor. I will demonstrate the matter to you. You admit that we are rich now compared to what we were two months ago. We have our next quarter's rent secure, are able to buy books, and have something left to give away. But if I were to make expensive purchases that would consume nearly all we have accumulated, and you took it into your head that you would have a pelisse as costly as Mrs Hart's, then you would be as poor as she was to-day, and could not afford to give anything away, instead of becoming her creditor.'

'According to your definition,' said Jane, 'those who live within their means are the only wealthy people.'

'They certainly are to all the purposes of present comfort; and so you must be thankful that you have married a man who has found out the philosopher's stone.'

'Better than that,' said Jane; 'who has the art of being rich with a very little money.'

The next day Jane went to see Mrs Barber, and propose to her the plan of clothing her children and providing a school for them. The woman expressed her gratitude; and Jane thought it but just to mention her benefactors. When she named Mrs Hart among them, Mrs Barber said: 'Indeed, madam, I do not ask her to give me anything, if she will only pay me what is justly my due.' Jane now learned with astonishment that the poor woman had washed ' in her kitchen' for nearly a year without being able to obtain payment.

It was for that, ma'am, I sent to entreat her to come and see me, hoping she might be moved by my distress; and she did, you know,

pay me a small sum. I have credited her for that; but it is a small part of what she owes me.'

'I hope,' said Jane, after a long pause, in which her countenance discovered the workings of her mind- I hope there are few such instances as this?'

'I never met with such a one-not exactly,' added she hesitatingly; 'but indeed, ma'am, the rich little consider how important our wages for a day's work are to us. It would be bad manners in us to insist upon being paid immediately; and yet many is the time when I have depended upon one day's wages for my children's food for the next.'

'It must be such a trifle to the rich, that if you only let them know you are going away, they will pay you.'

'It is because it is such a trifle to them, I suppose,' said the woman, 'that they cannot understand how important it is to us. Somehow or other, rich ladies never have anything they call change ; and they are very apt to say, "They will remember it," and "Another time will do as well;" and so it is as well for them, but not for us.' Mrs Barber's heart seemed to be quite opened by Jane's sympathy, and she went on. 'Indeed, ma'am, I sometimes think that there is more kindness than justice towards the poor. The ladies are very good in getting up societies and fairs to help us, but they very often seem unwilling to pay us the full price of our labour. If they would pay us well, and give us less, it would be better for us.' 'Perhaps you are right,' said Jane, 'about paying for work; but only think how much good has been done by fairs!'

'Yes, ma'am; good has been done to some, and injury to others. I know of a poor woman who was born a lady, and who was reduced in her circumstances. Her health was very feeble, but still she was able to earn a living by making those curious little things they sell at fairs but since the ladies have taken to making them, it is hard times with her; for she says the market is overrun.'

"The right way,' said Jane, 'would be to employ these people to work for others; and instead of the ladies making pincushions and emery-bags, to buy them ready made, and sell them again. Then charity would operate equally among the poor; for what one class could not make, another could, and labour would be exchanged.'

'I don't know how it ought to be settled. Perhaps it is all right as it is; but we poor folks think we have our wrongs. For instance, ma'am, I sometimes do washing for people at boarding-houses. They will appoint me to come about nine o'clock in the morning to get their clothes. When I go, very likely they are not up. Then I must wait till they are-sometimes an hour or more. All this is lost time to me; and time, to daily labourers, is money. My husband was a carpenter; and he used to say that he gave the rich a great deal more than he got from them; for he gave them time. One fine lady and another would send for him, and ask him if he could

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