Earlier text: DIVES AND LAZARUSMrs. Gaston was one of the cheeriest, liveliest, most hopeful little women that ever lived. But on this particular morning her brow was shaded by something that resembled a frown, her voice had lost its cheerful ring, and there was a mopishness about her movements that did not agree with her usual briskness. To tell the truth, Mrs. Gaston had an attack of the blues. As soon as her daughter Maud, a bright girl of twelve, had given her a good-by kiss and started to school, and Mr. Gaston and their son were safely out of the way, Mrs. Gaston sat down on the edge of the bed, drew a letter from her pocket, and began to read. But the shade on her brow deepened, and the lines about the pleasant mouth increased, as her eye ran over the page. Then she folded the letter and said aloud: "It's too bad, anyway. I'm not envious, but it is hard to think that Ellen can have everything, while I must drudge and drudge, and have nothing after all. If we had only stayed in Boston, I believe we might have been well off to-day. Just to think of her presents on New Year's—a diamond ring and a silver tea set, and a piano for Mary! I don't want a silver set nor a diamond ring, but I do care for the children. What will they ever be, brought up in the society about here? And as for myself, I am just rusting out." She sat for a long time with her hands folded in her lap and her countenance the picture of discontent, until, glancing at the clock, she saw it was time to prepare dinner. Getting up in a listless sort of way, she put the room in order and went to work at the dinner, all the while contrasting her humble three-roomed house, with its humble furniture, to her sister's stately mansion in Boston. True, that mansion stood on a very poor foundation, for Henry Graham, her sister's husband, was a wholesale liquor dealer, and by no means an abstainer himself. A very different man from John Gaston, for he was "almost a fanatic about temperance," the neighbors said. Then, as she thought of the diamond ring, she glanced down at her own hard, stumpy, brown hands, and thought of Ellen's soft, white ones, and sighed again. But her eyes caught sight of the gold band on her finger. It was worn thin, but it was as bright as on the day when John had slipped it there and called her his queen. It was just like John—plain, and honest, and pure: and the sight of it led her back to the days when she and John were first wed. He was then a book-keeper in the same store where Harry Graham was clerk. But the confinement of his position was wearing on his health. The doctor had said that a change must be made or he would soon be a consumptive. She remembered distinctly how she had urged him to sell out their stock of worldly goods and seek a home on the free wild prairie. John had objected at first to going. He knew what it meant to be a farmer in a new country, and was loth to take her away from kindred and society to bear the toils and privations of a poor farmer's wife. But the subject of his health was dearest to her heart, and she overruled every objection, and hopefully, bravely, urged the change. But somehow even this failed to comfort her this morning, and time after time she found herself sighing and wishing they were back in Boston. A loud knock at the door startled her. She opened it quickly, and saw her nearest neighbor. "Good morning, Mis. Gas'on." "Good morning, Mr. Thomas. Walk in." "I can't; I reckon my feet's too muddy," he replied, glancing down at his number tens in a questioning way. "I come over, Mis. Gas'on to git ye to come over to our house a spell this afternoon." "Is Mrs. Thomas or the children sick?" inquired Mrs. Gaston. "Waal, no. You see the ole woman's kind o' down in the mouth. Got discouraged like, and wants cheerin' up a bit; and you're just the one can do it," and a wan smile lit up the man's face as he glanced at Mrs. Gaston, whose heart palpitated faster as she thought what a poor condition of mind was hers to think of cheering up any one. But she answered: "Well, I'll come over a while after dinner, Mr. Thomas." "All right. Thankee. Pears like she's got onsatisfied or sumthin'." "Oh, no, she hasn't," said Mrs. Gaston, cheerily. "She just wants to talk to some woman. We'll have a good chat. I'll go over as soon as I can, after dinner." "That's the blessedest little body that ever got into this yer country," soliloquized Mr. Thomas, as he trotted his angular nag over the smooth prairie road. "She never gits down in the mouth, I know she don't, cause there's never a wrinkle in her face, and her hair is never tumbled lookin', and she's allers got a collar on, and John Gaston allers looks like a 'squire instead of a farmer. Mighty high folks fur this country." Somehow the idea of cheering up poor Mrs. Thomas, and the pleasant intercourse of the family while at dinner, went much towards restoring Mrs. Gaston's spirits, and setting things to rights again. It was not the first time she had gone to Mrs. Thomas on a similar errand. They had been neighbors for some years, and to Mrs. Gaston's friendly counsel and helping hands they owed many of their comforts. Formerly, they had no ambition beyond bare floors and dusty windows. Mrs. Gaston had suggested rag carpet, and even helped to make one. Then they had taken pattern from her own neat home, and had put forth an effort to make their own home more attractive. Hanging baskets, winter bouquets and rustic frames, had found their way to these rude homes, and now adorned the once dingy, cobwebby walls. It was like a gleam of sunshine crossing the threshold when Mrs. Gaston appeared before Mrs. Thomas that day. The sad look vanished as she said: "I'd ruther see you comin' in than my mother. The sight of your face always does me good." "Then I am glad I came. How nice your curtains look!" said Mrs. Gaston, glancing at the windows. "Yes. I took your plan, and made them out of old sheets and things. They look a heap better'n paper ones; but I reckon they'll need washin' 'bout every week," replied the woman, a flash of gratification lighting up her eyes. "Oh, they're very little trouble to do up," said Mrs. Gaston. "Then they always look as nice as new when they're clean." Then sitting down, Mrs. Gaston drew her knitting out of her pocket and commenced knitting away vigorously while she told Mrs. Thomas about the temperance society the young folks and old folks, too, were talking about forming. Then of Mrs. Tucker's new baby; and when everything else was exhausted, she told her about her sister's letter. Told in a way that made her listener think how wonderfully Mrs. Gaston was blessed in receiving such pleasant letters. "You have given me a world of comfort," said Mrs. Thomas, as her visitor at length rose to go. "Somehow I always feel stronger after having talked with you." "Do you? Well then we'll have many a good chat, won't we?" As she walked briskly homeward, she wondered why her heart felt so full of joy, and how even the sunset clouds, which had grown purple and dark in the short twilight, were seemingly tinged with a soft beauty. "It must be because spring is so near," she said half aloud, as she glanced over the wide prairie, which was already covered with greenish gray, a token that vegetation was beginning to spring up under the warm March sun. That evening, as the family were all gathered around the cheerful fire, Mr. Gaston said:— "Mother, what do you think I heard neighbor Stines say to-day?" "What was it?" asked Mrs. Gaston, while the children looked up from their books in questioning surprise. "He said John Gaston's wife was the bravest, cheeriest, helpfullest woman in the neighborhood. That his wife would have been discouraged and gone back East long ago only for her. She was always on the bright side and never got the blues." "We all knew that before, didn't we mother?" said Maud, laying her head in her mother's lap. But Mrs. Gaston did not reply. She was thinking of her "spell" of the morning, so she only stroked the bright young head and inwardly rejoiced that she had not betrayed herself to them. "I believe mother's secret lies in this, she is always counting her blessings," said Mr. Gaston, smilingly. But that night in the quiet of their own room, Mrs. Gaston told her husband her experience of the morning. "I was wishing myself back, John. I was envious of my sister's comforts, and in cherishing my envy, lost sight of you, of myself, and God. I could not see any Providence in our being out here, deprived of society and friends. But I see now, and am satisfied to fill my appointed place, and God will see to it that our children fill theirs also." KITTY had a birthday present which pleased her very much indeed. What do you think it was? A sandal-wood work-box from Uncle Curtis, with scissors, thimble, needles, and everything it was proper for a complete work-box to have. It gave a great spur to Kitty's love of sewing. She did not like a needle and thread before; now, she did. And Kitty undertook to hem a dozen towels. A dozen towels was a pile, to be sure; but she well knew it was only a stitch at a time; and a stitch at a time is perfectly within the compass of a small child to do. Kitty was on the first towel, doing it all herself, even to turning down the hem, and had hemmed half of one end when she took it to her papa.287 "Papa," she asked, "is not that hem even?" Papa took his eyes from his newspaper, looked at the hem, then looked at his little Kitty as much as to say, "Do you think it is, Kitty?" "Don't you think it is almost even?" asked Kitty, guessing his meaning, and blushing. "What is almost even?" asked papa, stroking his little girl's hair. "What is almost even?" repeated Kitty, with a look of surprise in her blue eyes. Kitty thought a moment, and her father waited for the thought. "It is uneven," replied Kitty. "Yes," replied papa; "almost even is uneven. The hem is uneven." "Then it must be picked out and done over," said Kitty, with a disappointed hitch; "I want to do it right." "Of course," replied her father. "Papa is setting himself up to be a great judge of hems," thought Kitty. She did not believe her mother would be so exact. However, since she asked him, she could not do less than act on his judgment. Kitty went back to her window-seat, picked out her stitches, which nobody allows to be pleasant work, and carefully began the second time. She did not dare to go beyond two inches before coming to show it. Her father took the towel in his hand and examined the hem. "This is even," he said; "the stitches are in a straight line; the work is done right." And Kitty, I am sure, was more pleased than if she had succeeded at first; and much more than if her father had thoughtlessly said, "Very well," when it was done ill. "Kitty," said papa, taking her small hand in his, "there is a straight line running through life, and on one side of it is the wrong side; on the other is the right side; and everything is on one side or the other. There is no such thing as almost right. Almost right is always wrong; almost good is bad; almost true is an untruth, a lie; as almost even is uneven." "Yes, papa," Kitty added, "and an almost perfect lesson is an imperfect lesson. I told the girls so. Because, if you miss once you lose your place." "Exactly so," said papa; "and as God is a truth-loving God, he likes to have things called by their right names. He wants us to see the truth, and to speak the truth; and, in order to do so, we must be exact in our words and expressions."—Congregational Journal. HEAVIER the cross, the nearer Heaven;
No cross without, no God within—
Death, Judgment, from the heart are driven
Amid the world's false glare and din.
Oh! happy he with all his loss
Whom God hath set beneath the cross. Heavier the cross, the better Christian;
This is the touchstone God applies.
How many a garden would be wasting,
Unwet by showers from weeping eyes!
The gold by fire is purified;
The Christian is by trouble tried. Heavier the cross, the stronger faith;
The loaded palm strikes deeper root;
The vine-juice sweetly issueth
When men have pressed the clustered fruit;
And courage grows where dangers come,
Like pearls beneath the salt sea foam. Heavier the cross, the heartier prayer;
The bruised reeds most fragrant are;
If sky and wind were always fair
The sailor would not watch the star;
And David's psalms had ne'er been sung
If grief his heart had never wrung. Heavier the cross, the more aspiring;
From vales we climb to mountain-crest;
The pilgrim of the desert tiring
Longs for the Canaan of his rest:
The dove has here no rest in sight,
And to the ark she wings her flight. Heavier the cross, the easier dying,
Death is a friendlier face to see;
To life's decay one bids defying,
From life's distress one then is free.
The cross sublimely lifts our faith
To him who triumphed over death. Thou Crucified! the cross I carry,
The longer may it dearer be;
And lest I faint while here I tarry,
Implant thou such a heart in me
That faith, hope, love may flourish there,
Till for the cross my crown I wear.
—From the German. —There are 124 theological seminaries in the United States. —There are 385 missionaries of all denominations now laboring in Africa. —Niagara county, N. Y., has shipped 1,500,000 barrels of apples to Europe during the past year. —It is estimated that Iowa farmers will lose $2,000,000 this year, in consequence of using bad seed. —In the three days ending June 18, there were ten cases of sunstroke in New Orleans, six of them fatal. —On Friday, June 17, the steamer Rodgers left San Francisco for the Arctic regions, in search of the Jeannette. —A Havana dispatch says that the Home Government will send $1,000,000 for the relief of the Cuban Treasury. —There are now 50,000 tons of wheat at Mission Rock, S. F., and 30,000 have been loaded from there since January 1st. —Twenty-six Frenchmen, belonging to the department of the Inspection of Telegraphs, have been massacred in Algeria. —In the Chamber of Deputies recently, a grant of 14,000,000 francs for the Tunisian expedition, was unanimously voted. —Forty persons were injured, thirteen of them dangerously, by an explosion of gasoline, at Springfield, Mass., on the 1st of June. —On the 15th, a fire in a bonded warehouse in Brooklyn, N. Y., resulted in the loss of two lives and $300,000 worth of property. —A Catholic school building in Honolulu recently fell, killing one boy. The priest and the architect were both charged with manslaughter. —Since the local option law went into effect in Massachusetts, 46 towns have voted not to grant liquor licenses, and eight towns to license sales. —By the recent fire in Quebec, 642 houses were burned, 1,211 families and 6,025 individuals rendered homeless, and mostly without provisions. —The number of persons engaged in the fisheries of the Pacific States and Territories, is 16,745. The total value of boats, outfits, etc., is $1,788,383. —James H. Marr, chief clerk in the post-office department in Washington, celebrated his 50th anniversary of service in that department, June 1. —The exports of domestic breadstuffs for the 11 months ending May, 1881, were $244,955,370, against $253,876,826 for a corresponding period last year. —The South Dublin guardians have resolved to send 37 able-bodied paupers to America. They have been in the work-house from three to twenty years. —In Urugua a decree has been issued, forbidding newspapers to discuss politics, under penalty of a heavy fine. Two printing-offices have suspended publication. —A cotton-mill in North Carolina, containing 4,000 spindles, 100 looms, and employing 200 hands, was burned June 16. The fire was caused by the explosion of a lamp. —A telegram states that 100 persons have been killed, and 60 injured, by an earthquake which recently devastated a number of villages in the Pashalic of Van, Armenia. —The German Government, having prohibited the use of tobacco to boys under sixteen years of age, is now considering the matter of interdicting the use of beer in the army. —The ex-president of the First National Bank of Brattleboro, Vt., has been sentenced to six years imprisonment in the House of Correction, for making false returns to the government. —According to the report of the special census agent on wealth, debt, and taxation, the net debt of the 309 cities of the U. S., exclusive of Washington, having a population of 7,500 and upwards, is $570,471,373. —The bill imposing a tax of one dollar a head on immigrants arriving in New York, has become a law. The tax is to be collected from the steamship companies, who deny the constitutionality of such a law. —H. F. Nebas, father of the five children who were run over and killed at the railroad crossing, near San Lorenzo, on the 2d day of May last, has filed a complaint in the Superior Court to recover the sum of $101,100 as damages. —Sixty thousand Jews talk of emigrating from Russia to Spain. The king of Spain has sent word to the Spanish minister at Constantinople that he will gladly receive in his dominions all the persecuted Hebrews who desire to leave Russia. —It is estimated that the number of mission schools at present exceeds 12,000, and that the Bible has been translated into 226 languages and dialects, while its circulation during the past eighty years has reached an aggregate of 148,000,000 copies. —A number of dead bodies, many of them bearing marks of violence, have lately, at intervals of a few days, been discovered in the Missouri river at Kansas City. It is suspected that there is an organized band of desperadoes at some point above. —The pneumatic tube system is being well developed in Paris, and giving satisfactory results. Fifty miles of tubing are now being operated from six central stations, and about 400,000 packages a month are being sent at an average cost of less than ten cents. —The “Salvation Army” in Great Britain and Ireland, has now 6,180 trained speakers, and 3,770 services are held every week. The number of buildings occupied is 224, having accommodations for 141,900. The number of people reached in the open-air gatherings, is 3,000,000. —A North-western Canal Convention has just been held in Iowa, in the interest of a proposed canal from the Mississippi to Lake Michigan, starting at Rock Island, and joining the present Illinois and Michigan Canal at its terminus, La Salle. The cost of this water-route is estimated at $4,500,000. —An Italian mob recently broke into the Protestant church at Marsala, carried out the books and furniture, and made a bonfire of them on the piazza, and tried to kill the minister. They afterwards entered the Roman Catholic cathedral, and received the solemn benediction of the archbishop and clergy. —The London Religious Tract Society recently held its eighty-second annual meeting. The total circulation of books, tracts, and periodicals, during the year was 81,089,460. Total, since the formation of the Society, 2,012,047,900. The tracts, and other publications, were printed in about 150 different languages. —Morillo, Dictator of San Domingo, says that every citizen attempting to disturb the actual order of the political institutions legally established, shall be tried by Court-martial as a conspirator. Also, that every citizen apprehended with arms in his hands shall be condemned to death after identification and proof of guilt. —Several States have lately been visited by severe hurricanes. Of one in southern Kansas, which resulted in the loss of several lives and a great deal of property, the dispatch says: “During the cyclone, large hailstones fell in immense quantities and a hot wind prevailed, making it difficult to breathe, and turning the leaves of corn as black as dirt.” —During the four years from July 1, 1873, to June 30, 1877, the number of postal cards issued was 550,619,500; from July 1, 1877, to June 30, 1881, the number will reach about 990,000,000; and for the four years commencing July 1, 1881, it is estimated that the number required will be 2,000,000,000. The contract for supplying them for the next four years has just been awarded to a New York firm. —Russia has fallen upon a period of great financial depression. The cotton mills have nearly all been compelled to close, the imports of raw cotton have largely decreased in consequence, the cloth and iron trades are at a stand-still, and many English merchants, after enduring for five years bad trade and political uncertainty, are closing up their affairs preparatory to removal from the country. A SWEDISH RELIGIOUS MONTHLY.—PUBLISHED AT BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN, AND CHRISTIANA, NORWAY. ADVENT HAROLDEN is devoted to the proclamation of the second coming of Christ, the explanation of Prophecy and Bible doctrines in general, and the defense of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Its family department is filled with instructive reading, accompanied with beautiful illustrations, and also gives valuable hints with reference to the preservation of health and the treatment of disease. TERMS, INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
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