Guttridge's tears told the rest of the story. The worthy farmer knew they were entirely out of provisions again, and he forbore to ask any further questions, but told Bobby if he would go over to his house he would give him something to eat. Then turning to Jerry, said he, "Neighbour Guttridge, I've got four tons of hay down, that needs to go in this afternoon, for it looks as if we should have rain by to-morrow, and I've come over to see if I can get you to go and help me. If you'll go this afternoon and assist me to get it in, I'll give you a bushel of meal, or a half-bushel of meal and a bushel of potatoes, and two pounds of pork."

"I can't go," said Jerry; "I've got something else to do." "Oh, well," said Mr Frier, "if you've got anything else to do that will be more profitable, I'm glad of it, for there's enough hands that I can get; only I thought you might like to go, bein' you was scant of provisions."

"Do, pray go, Mr Guttridge!" said his wife with a beseeching look; "for you are only going over to the shop to ride them horses, and that wont do no good; you'll only spend all the afternoon for nothing, and then we shall have to go to bed without our supper again. Do, pray go, Mr Guttridge; do!"

"I wish you would hold your everlasting clack!" said Jerry; "you are always full of complainings. It's got to be a fine time of day if the women are a-goin' to rule the roast. I shall go over and ride them horses, and it's no business to you nor nobody else; and if you're too lazy to get your own supper, you may go without it; that's all I've got to say."

With that he aimed for the door, when Mr Frier addressed him as follows:- "Now I must say, neighbour Guttridge, if you are going to spend the afternoon over at the shop, to ride horses for them jockeys, and leave your family without provisions, when you have a good chance to 'arn enough this afternoon to last them nigh about a week, I must say, neighbour Guttridge, that I think you are not in the way of your duty."

Upon this Jerry whirled round, and looked Mr Frier full in the face, and grinning horribly, he said, "You old meddling vagabond! who made you a master over me, to be telling me what's my duty? You had better go home and take care of your own children, and let your neighbours' alone!"

Mr Frier sat and looked Jerry calmly in the face without uttering a syllable; while he, having blown his blast, marched out of doors, and steered directly for the grog-shop, leaving his wife to "pick up something" if she could, to keep herself and children from absolute starvation.

Mr Frier was a benevolent man, and a Christian, and in the true spirit of Christianity he always sought to relieve distress wherever he found it. He was endowed, too, with a good share of plain common sense, and knew something of human nature; and as he was well aware that Mrs Guttridge really loved her

husband, notwithstanding his idle habits, and cold brutal treatment to his family, he forbore to remark upon the scene which had just passed; but telling the afflicted woman he would send her something to eat, he took little Bobby by the hand and led him home. A plate of victuals was set before the child, who devoured it with a greediness that was piteous to behold.

"Poor cre'tur!" said Mrs Frier; "why, he's half-starved! Betsy, bring him a dish of bread and milk; that will sit the best on his poor empty starved stomach."

Betsy ran and got the bowl of bread and milk, and little Bobby's hand soon began to move from the dish to his mouth with a motion as steady and rapid as the pendulum of a clock. The whole family stood and looked on with pity and surprise until he had finished his meal, or rather until he had eaten as much as they dared allow him to eat at once; for although he had devoured a large plate of meat and vegetables, and two dishes of bread and milk, his appetite seemed as ravenous as when he first began.

While Bobby had been eating, Mr Frier had been relating to his family the events which had occurred at Guttridge's house, and the starving condition of the inmates; and it was at once agreed that something should be sent over immediately; for they all said, "Mrs Guttridge was a clever woman, and it was a shame that she should be left to suffer so."

Accordingly a basket was filled with bread, a jug of milk, and some meat and vegetables, ready cooked, which had been left from their dinner; and Betsy ran and brought a pie, made from their last year's dried pumpkins, and asked her mother if she might not put that in, "so that the poor starving cre'turs might have a little taste of something that was good?"

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Yes," said her mother, " and put in a bit of cheese with it. I don't think we shall be any the poorer for it; for he that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord.""

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Yes, yes," said Mr Frier; " and I guess you may as well put in a little dried pumpkin; she can stew it up for the little ones, and it'll be good for 'em. We've got a plenty of green stuff a-growin' to last till pumpkins come again." So a quantity of dried pumpkin was also packed into the basket, and the pie laid on the top, and George was despatched, in company with little Bobby, to carry it over.

Mr Frier's benevolent feelings had become highly excited. He forgot his four tons of hay, and sat down to consult with his wife about what could be done for the Guttridge family. Something must be done soon; he was not able to support them all the time; and if they were left alone much longer they would starve. He told his wife he "had a good mind to go and enter a complaint to the grand jury ag'in' Jerry, for a lazy, idle person, that didn't provide for his family. The court sits at Saco to-morrow; and don't you think, wife, I had better go and do it?"

His wife thought he had better go over first and talk with Mrs Guttridge about it; and if she was willing, he had better do it. Mr Frier said he "could go over and talk with her, but he didn't think it would be of the least use, for she loved Jerry, ugly as he was, and he didn't believe she would be willing to have him punished by the court.”

However, after due consultation, he concluded to go over and have a talk with Mrs Guttridge about the matter. Accordingly, he took his hat and walked over. He found the door open, as usual, and walked in without ceremony. Here he beheld the whole family, including Jerry himself, seated at their little pine table, doing ample justice to the basket of provisions which he had just before sent them. He observed the pie had been cut into two pieces, and one half of it, and he thought rather the largest half, was laid on Jerry's plate, the rest being cut up into small bits, and divided among the children. Mrs Guttridge had reserved none to herself, except a small spoonful of the soft part, with which she was trying to feed the baby. The other eatables seemed to be distributed very much in the same proportion.

Mr Frier was a cool, considerate man, whose passions were always under the most perfect control; but he always confessed, for years afterwards, "that for a minute or two he thought he felt a little something like anger rising up in his stomach!"

He sat and looked on until they had finished their meal, and Jerry had eaten bread and meat and vegetables enough for two common men's dinners, and swallowed his half of the pie, and a large slice of cheese, by way of dessert; and then rose, took his hat, and without saying a word, marched deliberately out of the house, directing his course again to the grog-shop.

Mr Frier now broached the subject of his errand to Mrs Guttridge. He told her the neighbours could not afford to support her family much longer, and unless her husband went to work, he didn't see but they would have to starve.

Mrs Guttridge began to cry. She said "she didn't know what they should do: she had talked as long as talking would do any good; but somehow, Mr Guttridge didn't seem to love to work. She believed it wasn't his natur' to work."

Well, Mrs Guttridge, do you believe the Scriptures?" said Mr Frier solemnly.

"I'm sure I do," said Mrs Guttridge; "I believe all there is in the Bible."

"And don't you know," said Mr Frier," the Bible says, 'He that will not work, neither shall he eat?'"

"I know there's something in the Bible like that," said Mrs Guttridge with a very serious look.

Mr Frier now represented to Mrs Guttridge the impropriety of her husband's behaviour-cruel towards her and her family, and unjust towards her neighbours. In short, though some

what against her will, he reconciled her to a plan he had in view for bringing Jerry to his senses; namely, that of suing him before the court.

Mr Frier returned home, but the afternoon was so far spent, that he postponed his visit to the court till next morning. Accordingly, next day, as soon as breakfast was over, he wended his way to court, to appear before the grand jury.

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Well, Mr Frier, what do you want?" asked the foreman, as the complainant entered the room.

"I come to complain of Jerry Guttridge to the grand jury,” replied Mr Frier, taking off his hat.

"Why, what has Jerry Guttridge done?" said the foreman. "I didn't think he had life enough to do anything worth complaining of to the grand jury."

"It's because he hasn't got life enough to do anything," said Mr Frier, "that I've come to complain of him. The fact is, Mr Foreman, he's a lazy idle fellow, and wont work, nor provide nothing for his family to eat; and they've been half-starving this long time; and the neighbours have had to keep sending in something all the time to keep them alive.”

"But," said the foreman, "Jerry's a peaceable kind of a chap, Mr Frier; has anybody ever talked to him about it in a neighbourly way, and advised him to do differently? And maybe he has no chance to work where he could get anything for it?"

"I'm sorry to say," replied Mr Frier, "that he's been talked to a good deal, and it don't do no good; and I tried hard to get him to work for me yesterday afternoon, and offered to give him victuals enough to last his family almost a week; but I couldn't get him to; and he went off to the grog-shop to see some jockeys swap horses. And when I told him calmly I didn't think he was in the way of his duty, he flew in a passion, and called me an old meddling vagabond!"

"Abominable!" exclaimed one of the jury. “Who ever heard of such outrageous conduct?"

"What a wretch!" exclaimed another.

"Well," said the foreman, "there is no more to be said. Jerry certainly deserves to be indicted, if anybody in this world ever did."

Accordingly the indictment was drawn up, a warrant was issued, and the next day Jerry was brought before the court to answer to the charges preferred against him. Mrs Sally Guttridge and Mr Nat. Frier were summoned as witnesses. When the honourable court was ready to hear the case, the clerk called Jerry Guttridge, and bade him hearken to an indictment found against him by the grand inquest for the district of Maine, now sitting at Saco, in the words following; namely:-"We present Jerry Guttridge for an idle person, and not providing for his family; and giving reproachful language to Mr Nat. Frier, when he reproved him for his idleness."

"Jerry Guttridge, what say you to this indictment? Are you guilty thereof, or not guilty?"

"Not guilty," said Jerry; "and here's my wife can tell you the same any day. Sally, haven't I always provided for my family?"

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Why, yes," said Mrs Guttridge; "I don't know but you have as well as

"Stop, stop!" said the judge, looking down over the top of his spectacles at the witness; "stop, Mrs Guttridge; you must not answer questions until you have been sworn.”

The court then directed the clerk to swear the witnesses; whereupon he called Nat. Frier and Sally Guttridge to step forward and hold up their right hands. Mr Frier advanced with a ready, honest air, and held up his hand. Mrs Guttridge lingered a little behind; but when at last she faltered along with feeble and hesitating step, and held up her thin, trembling hand, and raised her pale blue eyes, half swimming in tears, towards the court, and exhibited her careworn features, which, though sunburnt, were pale and sickly, the judge had in his own mind more than half decided the case against Jerry. The witnesses having been sworn, Mrs Guttridge was called to the stand.

Now, Mrs Guttridge," said the judge, "you are not obliged to testify against your husband anything more than you choose; your testimony must be voluntary. The court will ask you questions touching the case, and you can answer them or not, as you may think best. And in the first place, I will ask you whether your husband neglects to provide for the necessary wants of his family; and whether you do, or do not, have comfortable food and clothing for yourself and children?"

"Well, we go pretty hungry a good deal of the time," said Mrs Guttridge, trembling; "but I don't know but Mr Guttridge does the best he can about it. There don't seem to be any victuals that he can get a good deal of the time."

"Well, is he, or is he not, in the habit of spending his time idly, when he might be at work, and earning something for his family to live upon?"

Why, as to that," replied the witness, "Mr Guttridge don't work much; but I don't know as he can help it: it doesn't seem to be his natur' to work. Somehow he don't seem to be made like other folks; for if he tries ever so much, he can't never work but a few minutes at a time: the natur' don't seem to be in him."

"Well, well," said the judge, casting a dignified and judicial glance at the culprit, who stood with mouth wide open and eyes fixed on the court with an intentness that showed he began to take some interest in the matter-" well, well, perhaps the court will be able to put the natur' in him."

Mrs Guttridge was directed to step aside, and Mr Nat. Frier was called to the stand. His testimony was very much to the