1 files changed, 2165 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/17467.txt b/17467.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..12323a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/17467.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2165 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Effie Maurice, by Fanny Forester
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Effie Maurice
+       Or What do I Love Best
+
+Author: Fanny Forester
+
+Release Date: January 5, 2006 [EBook #17467]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EFFIE MAURICE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Clarke and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "Give it to the poor woman with the sick baby," whispered
+Effie--CHAPTER III]
+
+
+
+
+EFFIE MAURICE
+
+OR
+
+What do I Love Best
+
+A TALE
+
+
+London
+GALL AND INGLIS, 25 PATERNOSTER SQUARE;
+_AND EDINBURGH_.
+
+
+
+
+Contents.
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+   I. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
+
+  II. PLANS PROPOSED
+
+ III. NEW YEAR'S DAY
+
+  IV. THE MISER
+
+   V. THE POOR WIDOW
+
+  VI. GENEROSITY AND JUSTICE
+
+ VII. THE NEW BOOK
+
+VIII. ANOTHER OF MR. MAURICE'S LESSONS
+
+  IX. THE FUNERAL
+
+
+
+
+EFFIE MAURICE
+
+OR
+
+What do I Love Best
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.'
+
+
+'Mother,' said little Effie Maurice, on a Sabbath evening in winter, 'Mr
+L---- said to-day that we are all in danger of breaking the first
+commandment,--do you think we are?'
+
+'Did not Mr L. give you his reasons for thinking so?'
+
+'Yes, mother.'
+
+'Didn't you think he gave good reasons?'
+
+'I suppose he did, but I could not understand all he said, for he
+preached to men and women. Perhaps he thought children were in no danger
+of breaking it.'
+
+'Well, bring your Bible--'
+
+'O mother, I can say all the commandments, every word. The first is,
+"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." I thought this was for the
+Burmans and Chinese, and all those who worship idols where the
+missionaries go.'
+
+'The poor heathen are not the only idolaters in the world, my child; we
+have many of them in our own Christian land.'
+
+'What! _here_, mother? Do people worship idols in this country?'
+
+'Yes, my dear, I fear we do.'
+
+'_We_ do, mother? You don't mean to say that you, and papa, and Deacon
+Evarts, and all such good people, worship idols?'
+
+'Do you suppose, Effie, that all the idols or false gods in the world
+are made of wood and stone?'
+
+'Oh no, mother, I read in my Sunday-school book of people's worshipping
+animals, and plants, and the sun, and moon, and a great many of the
+stars.'
+
+'And gold and silver, and men, women and children, did you not?'
+
+'Yes mother.'
+
+'Well, if a man loves gold or silver better than he loves God, does it
+make any difference whether he has it made into an image to pray to, or
+whether he lays it away in the shape of silver dollars and gold eagles?'
+
+Effie sat for a few moments in thought, and then suddenly looking up,
+replied,--'Men don't worship dollars and eagles.'
+
+'Are you sure?' inquired Mrs Maurice.
+
+'I never heard of any one who did.'
+
+'You mean you never heard of one who prayed to them; but there are a
+great many people who prefer money to anything else, and who honour a
+fine house, fine furniture, and fine dress, more than the meek and quiet
+spirit which God approves.'
+
+'And then money is the god of such people, I suppose, and they are the
+ones that break the first commandment?'
+
+'Not the only ones, my dear; there are a great many earthly gods, and
+they are continually leading us away from the God of heaven. Whatever we
+love better than Him, becomes our God, for to that we yield our
+heart-worship.'
+
+'I never thought of that before, mother. Yesterday, Jane Wiston told me
+that her mother didn't visit Mrs Aimes because she was poor; and when I
+told her that you said Mrs Aimes was very pious, she said it did not
+make any difference, ladies never visited there. Is Mrs Wiston's god
+money?'
+
+'If Mrs Wiston, or any other person, honours wealth more than humble,
+unaffected piety, she disobeys the first commandment. But in judging of
+others, my dear, always remember that _you cannot see the heart_, and
+so, however bad the appearance may be, you have a right to put the best
+possible construction on every action.'
+
+'How can I believe that Mrs Wiston's heart is any better than her
+actions, mother?'
+
+'In the first place, Jane might have been mistaken, and money may have
+nothing to do with her mother's visits; and if she is really correct,
+Mrs Wiston may never have considered this properly, and so at least she
+deserves charity. I desire you to think a great deal on this subject,
+and when you understand it better, we will talk more about it.'
+
+'I think I understand it now, mother. Every thing we love better than
+the God of heaven becomes our god, and if we don't bow down to pray to
+it, we give it our _heart-worship_, as you said, and that is quite as
+wicked. But after all, mother, I don't think there is any danger of my
+breaking the first commandment.'
+
+'Do you remember the text Harry repeated at the table this morning? "Let
+him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."'
+
+Effie looked very thoughtful for a moment, and then laying her face in
+her mother's lap, she said: 'It is not because I am so good that I think
+so, mother; I know I am very wicked, but I am sure that I love my
+heavenly Father better than any thing else.'
+
+'I am glad to believe you do,' said Mrs Maurice, drawing the child
+nearer to her and kissing her cheek. 'I am persuaded that calmly and
+deliberately you would not prefer the world to Him. But perpetual
+distrust of self, with constant trust in God, is your only ground of
+safety. Those who do not fall, may for a moment slip, and you with all
+the rest of us must watch and pray.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+PLANS PROPOSED.
+
+
+The conversation that Effie Maurice had had with her mother made a very
+deep impression on her mind; but still, with all the confidence of one
+who has had but few trials, she was grieved that any one should suppose
+she could for a moment forget her heavenly Father, or prefer any thing
+to His glory and honour. She repeated what her mother had said to her
+brother Harry, and he increased her self-confidence by recalling a great
+many little sacrifices she had made, which he was quite sure other young
+persons would not do.
+
+'And now, Effie,' said the kind-hearted brother, 'we will talk no more
+about this, for it makes you very sober. Remember that to-morrow is New
+Year's day, and we've got the money to spend that Aunt Norton sent us,
+so we must be out early, or all the prettiest things will be sold. I
+went by Mr T.'s shop to-night, and it was all lighted up so that I could
+see great sticks of candy, almost as big round as my wrist, and jars of
+sweetmeats, and there was a rocking horse all saddled and bridled, and
+the neatest little whip you ever did see, and _such_ a little rifle--but
+I forgot, girls don't mind those things; let me think--I dare say there
+were dolls, though I didn't look for them, and then such a pretty little
+rocking-chair all cushioned with purple silk, just about big enough for
+dolly, and heaps of other nice things--so we must be out early, Effie.'
+
+'Harry--'
+
+'What is it, Effie?'
+
+'I was thinking--'
+
+'What about? Do you want something I haven't mentioned? I dare say it is
+there.'
+
+'No, I was thinking--I--I believe I will give my money to the
+missionaries.'
+
+'Now, Effie!'
+
+'Then I shan't make a god of it.'
+
+'But Aunt Norton gave you this to buy some pretty things for yourself.'
+
+'I know it, but--'
+
+'And you have given ever so much to the missionaries.'
+
+'Well, Harry, I don't know that I need any new toys.'
+
+'When you see Mr T.'s shop--'
+
+'I don't want to see Mr T.'s shop, that would be going in the way of
+temptation.'
+
+Harry was silent a few moments,--he was two years older than Effie, and
+although sometimes dazzled by appearances, as in the case of the
+attractive toy shop, when he waited to think, his judgment was usually
+very good for one so young. At last he looked up with a smile, 'I've
+thought it out, Effie, we don't need any new toys; we might buy books
+for our little library, but father has promised us two or three more
+soon. Then our subscriptions to the Missionary Society, and the Bible
+Society, and the Colporteur Society, are paid (to be sure it wouldn't
+hurt us to give a little more), but I have just thought what to do with
+this money (that is, yours and mine together, you know), which I think
+is better than all the rest.'
+
+'What is it?'
+
+'We'll make a New Year's present of it.'
+
+'To whom?'
+
+'Can't you think?'
+
+'To father, or mother?'
+
+'No, I should love to buy them something, but they would rather not.'
+
+'To old Phillis, then?'
+
+'Old Phillis!--it _would_ be a good notion to buy her a gown, wouldn't
+it, but I was thinking of John Frink.'
+
+'You didn't mean to give it to _him_, I hope, such an idle,
+good-for-nothing boy as he is?'
+
+'He isn't idle and good-for-nothing now, Effie. Since he began to go to
+the Sunday school he's as different as can be. Now if we could put our
+money together, and help him to go to school this winter (he can't even
+read the Bible, Effie,) I think it would do more good than anything else
+in the world.'
+
+'Perhaps it would, but I never liked John Frink very well. He will learn
+to read the Bible at the Sunday school, and if he did know any more, I'm
+not sure he'd make a good use of it.'
+
+'Perhaps he wouldn't, but we could hope, Effie, and pray, and then we
+should have the pleasure of knowing that our duty was done, as Mr L.
+said the other day. If John Frink should become reformed, only think of
+how much good he might do in that wicked family, and among the wicked
+boys here in the city, and then when he gets to be a man--'
+
+'But if he isn't reformed, Harry?'
+
+'That is just what Mr S. said to father, the other day, when he asked
+him for money to buy tracts for boatmen on the canal--"If they don't
+read them," said he.
+
+'Father told him that if we did our duty faithfully, it was all that is
+required of us, and we must leave the results in the hands of God. Now I
+think just so of John Frink, only that I can't help believing that he
+will reform. The Bible says, "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the
+evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall
+prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good."
+Now, maybe, all the money you have given this year will do good, but
+perhaps this to John Frink most of all.'
+
+'I believe you are right, Harry,' said Effie, 'but you will give me
+to-night to think about it.'
+
+'Oh yes, to be sure, you could not give the money, with your whole
+heart, unless you believed it was to do good, and so you may think just
+as long as you please. Now your kiss, Effie, for I must go to bed. We
+will be up early, if we _don't_ go to Mr T.'s shop.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+NEW YEAR'S DAY.
+
+
+Harry Maurice was out 'bright and early,' wishing everybody a 'Happy New
+Year,' and making them happy at least for the moment, by the expression
+of his ruddy, laughing face. We love to see in children cheerfulness and
+contentment. Harry's head was full of plans for doing good, and though
+more than half of them were visionary, they seemed realities then, and
+so being in good humour with himself, he could not fail of being so with
+everybody else. Effie refused to go with him to Mrs Frink's, for she had
+her own little gifts to dispense, but she consented to take a walk with
+him in the afternoon, and even to call at Mr T.'s shop, for she
+concluded there could be no danger in looking at the toys after they had
+disposed of their money.
+
+Harry's account of his reception at Mrs Frink's was anything but
+satisfactory to Effie, for although he evidently endeavoured to make the
+best of it, he said not a single word of John's gratitude. 'I am afraid,
+Effie,' he rather mischievously whispered, 'if you had gone with me to
+Mrs Frink's you would have thought dirt was her god, for I believe she
+loves it better than anything else.'
+
+'O Harry, I am sure it is wicked to make fun--'
+
+'I didn't mean to make fun, Effie, but I'm sure I couldn't help thinking
+of the old man in Pilgrim's Progress with the muck rake, refusing the
+crown, all the time I was there.'
+
+'Father told me that the man with the muck rake, meant the miser.'
+
+'Well, I suppose it does, but I should think it might mean any body that
+is not a Christian, for such people, you know, are rejecting a heavenly
+crown for worldly things, which are in reality worth about as much as
+the trash the old man is raking together in the picture.' Effie stared
+at her brother in complete astonishment, for she could not but wonder
+how so small a head could contain such a wondrous amount of knowledge.
+Harry endured a stare for a moment with considerable dignity, but he was
+naturally a modest lad, and finally added, 'That is pretty nearly the
+substance of what Frank Ingham told me about it--I can't remember the
+words quite.'
+
+After dinner was over, and Harry and Effie had distributed the remnants
+of it among several poor families that lived on an adjoining street,
+they set out on their walk. The day was extremely cold, but clear and
+still, and altogether as beautiful as any day in the whole year. Effie
+in cloak, hood, and muff, seemed the very picture of comfort as she
+walked along beside her brother in his equally warm attire, towards Mr
+T.'s shop.
+
+'Are you cold? What makes you shiver so?' inquired Harry. Effie did not
+answer, but she drew her hand from her muff and pointed with her gloved
+finger to a little girl who stood a few yards from her, stamping her
+feet, and clapping her red bare hands, and then curling them under her
+arms as if to gain a little warmth from thence. 'Poor thing!' said
+Harry, 'I should think she would freeze, with nothing but that old rag
+of a handkerchief about her shoulders, and that torn muslin bonnet. I
+don't wonder you shivered, Effie, it makes me cold to look at her.'
+
+'Let us see if she wants anything,' said Effie.
+
+By this time the attention of the little girl was attracted by the
+children's conversation and glances, and she came running towards them,
+crying at every step, 'Give me a sixpence, please?'
+
+'We have no money, not even a penny,' said Harry, 'are you very hungry?'
+The girl began to tell how long it was since she had had anything to
+eat, but she talked so hurriedly, and used so many queer words, that the
+two children found it very difficult to understand her.
+
+'She is in want, no doubt,' whispered Harry to his sister, 'but father
+would say, it was best to give her food and clothing, not money.'
+
+'I wish I had a sixpence, though,' said Effie.
+
+The wealthy and the gay, the poor and the apparently miserable, went
+pouring by in crowds, and some did not hear the beggar-child's plea,
+others that heard did not heed it, while many paused from idle curiosity
+to gaze at her, and a few flung her a penny, and passed on. Harry and
+Effie too went on, frequently looking back and forming little plans for
+the good of the child, until their attention was attracted by other
+objects of compassion or admiration. Sleighs were continually dashing
+past them, drawn by beautiful horses, and filled with the forms of the
+young, the gay, and the happy. Old men, bowed down by the weight of
+years, hobbled along on the pavements, their thin blue lips distorted by
+a smile--a smile of welcome to the year that, perhaps, before its
+departure, would see them laid in the grave--and busy tradesmen, with
+faces strongly marked by care, or avarice, or anxiety, jostled by them;
+ladies too, in gay hats and large rich shawls, or the more
+comfort-seeking in cloaks and muffs; and poor women, with their tattered
+clothing drawn closely around their shrinking forms, were hurrying
+forward apparently with the same intent. Every variety of the human
+species seemed crowded on those narrow pavements.
+
+Harry and Effie were only a few rods from Mr T.'s door, when Mr Maurice
+overtook them, on his way to some other part of the city. He smiled, as
+he always did, on his children, then putting a few pence into Effie's
+hand, whispered something about '_temptation money_,' and passed on.
+
+'I shan't be tempted, though,' said the child, holding the coin before
+her brother's eyes.
+
+'No, Effie,' replied the boy, 'it isn't wrong to spend this money for
+yourself, so you can't be tempted to do wrong with it. This is every
+body's day for pleasure, and you ought to enjoy it.'
+
+'I have enjoyed it,' said Effie, looking upon her brother smilingly,
+'and I guess somebody else has helped me.'
+
+'I guess so, too,' was the reply, 'I think we have been a great deal
+happier than if we had come here in the morning.'
+
+Children though they were, they were demonstrating the words of the Lord
+Jesus, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
+
+Mr T.'s shop was crowded to overflowing with children, a few grown
+people intermingling: and every one, from the errand boy, that, with his
+hard-earned pittance in his hand, was estimating the amount of good
+things it would purchase, to the child of the wealthy merchant,
+murmuring because the waxen doll she contemplated adding to her store,
+was not in every respect formed to suit her difficult taste, seemed
+intent on pleasure.
+
+Harry and Effie were as much pleased as any one, and some, who had seen
+with what readiness they had parted with their money in the morning,
+would have wondered at their taste for toys; but these children had one
+talent which a great many grown people as well as children would do well
+to imitate. It was not absolutely necessary that they should _possess_ a
+thing in order to _enjoy_ it. They had been taught when very young, to
+distinguish beautiful things from those that were merely novel, and
+although they liked (as I believe is natural) to call things their own,
+they could be pleased with what was calculated to produce pleasure,
+without envying its possessor, just as you would look upon a beautiful
+sunset, or a fine landscape, without thinking of becoming its owner. But
+Effie had a little money to spend, and this occasioned a great deal of
+deliberation, for to tell the truth, the little girl was so pleased with
+her day's work, that she was still determined on self-denial.
+
+'Take care,' whispered Harry, as he watched her examining some trifles
+which he was pretty sure were intended for old Phillis, 'take care,
+Effie, that you don't get proud of your generosity--there is more than
+one way to make self a god.'
+
+Effie blushed, and calling for some nuts, threw her money on the
+counter, saying to her brother, 'We can share them together in the
+evening.' The nuts were scarce stowed away in reticule and muff, when a
+poorly-clad young woman, very pale and thin, bearing in her arms an
+infant still paler, pressed her way through the throng, and gained the
+counter. She inquired for cough lozenges. It was a long time before she
+could be attended, but she stood very patiently, though seemingly scarce
+able to support the weight of her own person. Harry involuntarily
+glanced around the shop for a chair, and as he did so, his eye rested on
+a bright-faced little girl, close beside his sister, who was choosing
+and rejecting a great many pretty toys, and now and then casting a
+glance at the well-filled purse in her hand, as if to ascertain after
+each purchase the state of her finances.
+
+'Beautiful!' she exclaimed, her eye glistening with pleasure at the
+sight of the purple cushioned rocking-chair of which Harry had told his
+sister.
+
+'Is that all?' inquired a sad, low voice, and again Harry's eye turned
+to the poor woman who was purchasing the lozenges.
+
+'Yes, ma'am, to be sure,' replied the pert shopkeeper, 'and a pretty
+large all too--what could you expect for a penny?'
+
+The poor woman made no reply, but the hurried glance she gave her infant
+with its accompanying sigh, seemed to say, 'God help my poor baby then!'
+
+Harry involuntarily thrust his hand into his pocket, but he quickly
+withdrew it, and glanced at the little girl who was purchasing the
+rocking-chair.
+
+'This chair has cost so much,' she said, addressing the shopkeeper,
+'that I have only a shilling left.'
+
+'Oh, then,' whispered Effie, emboldened by her brother's looks of
+anxiety, 'give it to the poor woman with the sick baby.'
+
+The little girl stared at her somewhat rudely, then turning to the
+woman, exclaimed, 'What! _that_ one, with the horrid looking bonnet!'
+and, shaking her head, laughingly replied, 'Thank you, Miss, I have a
+better use for it.'
+
+Effie was really distressed. The poor woman looked so pale and sad, and
+yet so meek and uncomplaining withal, that both brother and sister found
+themselves strangely interested.
+
+'O how I wish we could do something for her,' whispered Harry. 'Will
+you please exchange my nuts for cough lozenges?' inquired Effie in a
+faltering voice, of the shopkeeper.
+
+'Rather too busy, Miss.'
+
+'But it will oblige me very much.'
+
+'Happy to oblige you on any other day, Miss, but we really have no time
+for exchanges now.' By this time the poor woman had gained the door, and
+Effie, looking round, observed that her brother too was missing.
+
+'He followed the woman with the baby,' said the little girl who had
+purchased the rocking-chair; then pursing up her mouth with an
+expression as near contempt as such a pretty mouth could wear, she
+inquired, 'Is she your _aunt_?'
+
+The angry blood rushed in a flood to Effie's face, but she quickly
+subdued it, and with ready thought replied, 'No, my _sister_.'
+
+It was now the turn of the stranger girl to blush, and at the same time
+she cast upon her new companion a slight glance of surprise. She then
+turned over with her fingers her new toys, glanced at the rocking-chair,
+and seemingly dissatisfied with all, again turned to Effie.
+
+'Please give her this,' she said, putting the remaining shilling in her
+hand. 'I know what you mean, my mother taught me that, but--she is dead
+now.'
+
+'If Harry finds where the poor woman lives,' returned Effie, 'we will go
+there together.' The little girl seemed to waver for a moment, then said
+hastily, 'No, I must go home--give the money to her,' and hurried away
+as fast as the crowd would permit. In a few moments Harry returned. He
+had found out where the poor woman lived, but it was a great distance,
+and he was too considerate to leave his sister alone. Harry was not one
+of those philanthropists who, in doing a great amount of good, become
+blind to trifles; for his father had taught him, that duties never
+interfere with each other, and he knew that he owed Effie every care and
+attention. I have often observed that those children, who are the most
+kind and considerate to brothers and sisters, always shew more justice
+and generosity to others, than those who think such attentions of but
+little importance.
+
+Harry found out but little more of the woman, than that she was poor,
+and sick, and friendless. Her baby too, her only comfort, was wasting
+away before her eyes, whether of disease or for lack of food, she did
+not tell, and there was none to help her.
+
+'We will speak to father about her,' said Harry, as they proceeded
+homeward, 'perhaps he can do something for them,--it is a sweet little
+baby, Effie, with a skin clear and white, and eyes--oh, you never saw
+such eyes! they look so soft and loving, that you would think the poor
+thing knew every word you said, and how I pitied it. I could hardly help
+crying, Effie.'
+
+'I am glad you followed the poor woman.'
+
+'So am I. But Effie, you don't know how vexed I was with that selfish
+little miss, that bought the rocking-chair.'
+
+'Harry!'
+
+'Now, don't go to taking her part, Effie, it will do no good, I can tell
+you; she is the most selfish and unfeeling little girl that I ever saw.
+Because the woman wore an _old bonnet_, she couldn't help her--only
+think of that! how mean!'
+
+'She--O Harry! now I know what mother meant when she talked to me so
+much about having charity for people, and told me that we could not
+always judge the heart by the actions. I thought as badly of her as you
+at first, but I'm sure now she is not unfeeling.'
+
+'Well, if she has any feeling, I should like to see her shew it, that's
+all. I tell you, Effie, if anybody ever made a god of self, it is that
+little girl we saw to-night. She thought her gratification of more
+consequence than that poor baby's life.'
+
+'No, Harry, she is one of the thoughtless ones mother tells us so much
+about. If you had seen her when she gave me this money,' putting the
+silver piece into her brother's hand, 'you would never call her
+unfeeling.'
+
+'Did you tease her for it?'
+
+'No, I didn't ask her again, for I did feel a little vexed--yes, a good
+deal so, at first, but, Harry, I don't feel vexed now, I am sorry for
+her. There was a tear in her eye, I am pretty sure, though she was
+ashamed to have me see it, and her lips quivered, and she looked--oh, so
+sad, when she told me her mother was dead; I wish you could have seen
+her, Harry.'
+
+'I would rather not see her again, for I can't bear proud people--'
+Effie was about interrupting her brother in defence of the little
+stranger girl, but at that moment a new object attracted their
+attention. It was a fine sleigh drawn by a pair of beautiful gray
+horses, that, with proudly arched neck and flowing mane, stepped
+daintily, as if perfectly aware of the fact that they were gentlemen's
+horses, and carried as fashionable a load as New York afforded. A little
+girl leaned quite over the side of the sleigh, and smiled and nodded to
+Effie, then waving her handkerchief, to attract still more attention,
+dropped something upon the ground. It was the child they had seen at the
+toy-shop. Harry flew to pick up the offering, and gave it to his sister.
+
+'Now, what do you think of her?' inquired Effie, as her eye lighted on
+the self-same purse she had seen but a little while before; 'I knew she
+must be kind-hearted--did you ever see anything so generous? Here is
+ever so much money, and all for the poor woman and her sick baby--why
+don't you speak, Harry?'
+
+'Because--I--'
+
+'You don't think she is selfish now, I hope?'
+
+'I don't think anything about it, Effie, because I don't know. If she
+gave her own money she is generous, but if she begged it of somebody
+else to give--'
+
+'If she begged it of somebody else, it was generous in her to give it to
+this poor woman, instead of putting it to some other use.'
+
+'Well, Effie, the money will certainly do the poor woman a great deal of
+good, and I rather think the little girl feels better for giving, so I
+am sure we ought to be glad.'
+
+'I wish I could find out her name,' said Effie, 'perhaps it is on the
+purse.' Harry drew the silken purse from his pocket, and after examining
+it closely, found engraved on one of the rings the name of 'ROSA
+LYNMORE.'
+
+In the evening the children related the events of the day to their
+mother, and found her approbation a sufficient reward for all their
+self-denial. The conduct of Rosa Lynmore was duly canvassed, too; and,
+while Mrs Maurice praised her generosity, she endeavoured to shew her
+children the difference between this one impulsive act, and the
+constant, self-denying effort which is the result of true benevolence.
+'This little girl,' she said, 'may make but a small sacrifice in parting
+with this money, not half so great as it would be to go and seek out the
+poor woman and administer to her necessities, but still we have no right
+to find fault with what is so well done, and I am sure, my children,
+that you do not desire it.'
+
+'No, mother,' said Effie, 'I see now why you told me not to judge Mrs
+Wiston by appearances; if I had come away a little sooner, I should have
+thought this pretty Rosa Lynmore one of the most selfish little girls in
+the world. But now I know she was only thoughtless.'
+
+'Well, I hope, my child, you will always remember not to judge hastily,
+and without sufficient reason; yet to be utterly blind to the apparent
+faults of those around you, is neither safe nor wise. It is not safe,
+because by being too credulous you may easily make yourself the object
+of imposition; and not wise, because, by such indiscriminate charity,
+you lose a useful lesson.'
+
+'I think, mother,' said Harry, 'that I can see the lesson we can learn
+from Rosa Lynmore's faults.'
+
+'I don't see that she has any faults,' said Effie, earnestly. 'I am
+sure, Harry, you ought not to make so much of that one careless little
+word about the bonnet; it _was_ an ugly bonnet, with so deep a front
+that I dare say Rosa didn't see the poor woman's pale face.'
+
+'You call it a careless word, Effie,' said Mrs Maurice, 'you admit that
+this little girl was guilty of thoughtlessness, and surely you cannot
+consider _that_ no fault--but under certain circumstances this fault is
+more pardonable than under others. Now you know nothing of these
+circumstances, and so could not, if you wished, be Rosa Lynmore's judge.
+But, taking everything as it appears, you may draw your lesson without
+assuming a province which does not belong to you. Now, Harry, we will
+hear what you have to say.'
+
+'It was not what Rosa _said_, that I meant, mother,--I was thinking of
+what we might learn to-day from all her actions, and I am sure I didn't
+want to blame her more than Effie did.'
+
+'I supposed not, my son.'
+
+'But, mother, Harry had reason to blame her more, for he didn't see how
+sorry she looked, and how her voice trembled when she said, "She is dead
+now."--meaning her mother, I shouldn't think a little girl would ever do
+right, without a mother to teach her.'
+
+'Such children deserve pity, my love, and I am glad you have a heart to
+pity them, but I suspect that all little girls have wicked thoughts and
+feelings that they must strive against, and whether they are blessed
+with parents, or have only a Heavenly Father to guide them, they will
+have need to watch and pray. But Harry has not given his lesson yet.'
+
+'Father told me a story the other day--an allegory he called it--about
+impulse and principle.
+
+'Principle went straight forward, and did whatever was right, and tried
+to make her feelings agree with it, but Impulse hurried along in a very
+crooked path, stopping here, and then bounding forth at the sight of
+some new object--one minute neglecting every duty, and the next, doing
+something so great that everybody was surprised, and praised her beyond
+all measure. Principle very seldom did wrong, and made so little show,
+that she was quite unobserved by the world in general, but Impulse was
+as likely to do wrong as right, and according as good or evil
+predominated, received her full share of praise or censure. Principle
+had an approving conscience, and however she might be looked upon by the
+world, she was contented and happy, while poor Impulse was half of the
+time tossed about by a light thing called Vanity, or gnawed by a monster
+named Remorse. I liked the story very much, and I couldn't help
+remembering it to-day, when the little girl dropped the purse over the
+side of the sleigh. I thought she was governed by Impulse, and though
+this is a good act, unless she has a better heart than most people, it
+is no true sign that the next one will be good.'
+
+'Very true, my son, but you have not explained to Effie what you mean by
+impulse and principle.'
+
+'You can explain it better than I can, mother. I don't remember half
+that father said about it.'
+
+'Well, tell me as much as you can remember then.'
+
+'Why, principle means ground of action, and people who are governed by
+principle always have some good reason for what they do, and do not act
+without thinking. Father says old people are more apt to be governed by
+principle of some kind, either good or bad, than children, for he says
+children generally act first, and think afterwards.'
+
+'And impulse?' inquired Effie.
+
+'People that act from impulse are altogether at the mercy of
+circumstances, and are driven about by their own feelings. They never
+wait to inquire whether a thing is right before they do it, but if it
+seems right for the minute it is sufficient.'
+
+Harry's explanation seemed quite satisfactory to his mother, and what
+was just then of more importance, to Effie, who, it was but natural,
+should find some fault with a definition which seemed to throw anything
+like discredit on her new favourite. Any further allusion to the subject
+was, however, prevented by the entrance of Mr Maurice, who, as he had
+been out all day, making charitable and professional instead of
+fashionable calls, had some very interesting stories to relate. But
+there was one so strange, and to the children so new, that it threw the
+rest quite into the shade, and absorbed their whole stock of sympathy.
+It was late before Mr Maurice finished his story, and as it may be late
+before our readers get to a better stopping-place, we shall reserve it
+fer another chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE MISER.
+
+
+'In passing through a narrow back lane,' said Mr Maurice, after relating
+several tales of minor importance, 'I paused to look upon a low
+building, so old that one corner of it was sunken so much as to give it
+a tottering appearance, and if possible it was more dark and dismal than
+the others. It seemed to be occupied by several families, for a little
+gray smoke went straggling up from two or three crumbling chimneys, but
+the rooms were all on the ground floor. As I stood gazing at it, I was
+startled by a boy (about your age, Harry, or a little older perhaps) who
+came bounding from the door, and grasping my coat untreated me to go in
+and see his grandfather.'
+
+'Did you go, father?' inquired Effie, 'wasn't you afraid?'
+
+'Afraid! what had he to be afraid of?' exclaimed her brother, 'I should
+just as lief go as not.' Yet, notwithstanding the little boy's vaunt
+there was a slight tremor on his lip, and his large blue eyes grew
+larger still and darker where they were dark, while the whites became
+unusually prominent.
+
+'Of course I went,' resumed Mr Maurice, in a sad tone, 'and a fearful
+spectacle did I behold. I had expected to see some poor widow, worn out
+by toil and suffering, perchance by anguish and anxiety, dying alone, or
+a family of helpless ones, such as I had often visited, or a drunken
+husband. I had often glanced at guilt and crime, but never would my
+imagination have pictured the scene before me. The room was dark and
+loathsome, containing but few articles of furniture, and those battered
+and defaced by age, and with a rickety bed in one corner, on which lay
+stretched in mortal agony the figure of a wrinkled, gray-haired old man,
+apparently approaching the final struggle. O my children, poverty,
+loneliness, want, are the portion of many on this fair, beautiful earth,
+but such utter wretchedness as appeared in that man's face, can only be
+the result of crime.' Mr Maurice was evidently deeply affected, and his
+wife and children were for a moment silent.
+
+'Was he dying, father?' at length Harry ventured to inquire, in a
+subdued tone.
+
+'He seemed very weak, except now and then when he was seized with
+convulsions, and then he would writhe and throw himself about, and it
+was more than I could do to keep him on his bed--I do not think it
+possible for him to survive till morning.'
+
+'Didn't he say anything, father?'
+
+'It was a long time before he said anything, but after I had succeeded
+in warming some liquid, which I found in an old broken cup, over the
+decayed fire, I gave him a little of it, and in time he became much
+calmer. Between his paroxysms of pain, I induced him to give some
+account of himself, and the circumstances that brought him to his
+present situation, and what think you was the prime moving cause of all
+this wretchedness?'
+
+'I suspect he was very poor,' said Effie.
+
+'Something worse than that I should think,' added her brother, 'perhaps
+he was a gamester.'
+
+'Or a drunkard,' suggested Effie.
+
+'Or both,' responded the mother, or perhaps he commenced by being merely
+a time-waster, and money-waster, and finally was reduced to what persons
+of that stamp are very apt to consider the necessity of committing
+crime, by way of support.
+
+Mr Maurice shook his head. 'It was neither poverty, nor play, nor
+drunkenness, nor indolence, nor extravagance, that made that old man
+wretched, and yet he was the most wretched being I ever saw.'
+
+'He was poor, though, wasn't he, father?'
+
+'Poverty is but a small thing, Effie, and in our land of equal laws and
+charitable institutions, very few suffer from absolute want, but that
+old man was richer (in gold and silver I mean) than I am.'
+
+'What! and lived in that dreadful place, father?'
+
+'Oh! I see it,' exclaimed Harry; 'he is a miser.'
+
+'Yes, Harry,' returned Mr Maurice, 'you are right, the love of money is
+the cause of all his misery. He came to this city a great many years
+ago, (he could not himself tell how many, for his memory evidently
+wavered,) and commenced business as a linen draper. He had one only
+daughter then, and he lavished all his earnings on her at first, but
+finally she married, and from that time he became wholly engrossed with
+self. He was never very fond of show, and so did not become a
+spendthrift, but he adopted the equally dangerous course of hoarding up
+all his savings, until it became a passion with him. After a while he
+retired from business, but the passion clung to him with all the
+tenacity of a long established habit, and he became a usurer. He was
+known to all the young profligates, the bad young men who throng our
+city, and became as necessary to them as the poor avaricious Jew was in
+former days to the spendthrifts and gamesters in London. He told me
+frightful stories, my children, of tyranny and fraud, of ruined young
+men led on by him till they committed self-murder, of old men shorn of
+their fortunes through his ingenious villainy--'
+
+'O father!' exclaimed little Effie, covering her eyes with her hands.
+
+'All this,' said Mr Maurice, solemnly, 'was the result of the indulgence
+of a single bad passion.'
+
+'But the little boy?' inquired Mrs Maurice.
+
+'The husband of the daughter proved to be a miserable, worthless
+fellow, and for some time the old man sent them remittances of money,
+but after a while his new passion triumphed over paternal love, and the
+prayers of the poor woman were unheeded. Two or three years ago she came
+to the city on foot--a weary distance, the old man said, but he could
+not tell how far, bringing with her the little boy that first attracted
+my attention to-night. Her husband was dead, and her elder children had
+one by one followed him to the grave, till there was only this, the
+youngest left. She had come to the city, hoping that her presence would
+be more successful than her letters had been in softening the old man's
+heart, but she only came to die. Her journey had worn her out, and she
+was to be no tax upon the old man's treasures. She died, and the
+miserable grandfather could not cast off her only son. The little
+fellow's face looks wan and melancholy; as if from suffering and want,
+and he seems to have passed at once from a child into an old man,
+without knowing anything of the intermediate stage.'
+
+'Poor boy!' said Mrs Maurice 'you didn't leave him alone with his
+grandfather, I hope?'
+
+'No, I engaged a neighbour to spend the night with them, and called at
+my office on my way home to write a letter to a brother, of whom the old
+man told me, who is now residing in the country. The little grandson
+will probably be wealthy now, but I do not believe the enjoyment of it
+will make up for his past suffering.'
+
+'I hope he won't be a miser,' said Effie.
+
+'I shouldn't think it very strange if he should be,' replied her
+brother, 'the example of his grandfather is enough to spoil him.'
+
+'But you forget, Harry,' said Mrs Maurice, 'what a terrible example it
+was. I think the little fellow will be likely to avoid it.'
+
+'Very probably,' added Mr Maurice, 'there is more danger of his going
+into the opposite extreme.'
+
+'I am sure, father,' said Harry, 'that it can't be so bad to spend money
+foolishly, as to hoard it up the way that old man did.'
+
+'No,' said Effie, 'for he made a _god_ of it, and it is better to care
+too little about it, than too much.'
+
+'But the man that spends his money in frivolous pursuits, or what would
+be called slightly criminal adventures, who lavishes the money which God
+has given him to do good with, upon himself, seeking only his own
+gratification--'
+
+'O father!' interrupted Harry, 'he made a _god_ of himself.'
+
+'Such a man,' continued Mr Maurice, 'may be led on from one step to
+another until he becomes as guilty as the old man of whom I have told
+you to-night.'
+
+'If I were a man,' said little Effie, shuddering, 'I should be afraid to
+do anything lest I should do wrong.'
+
+'And why so?' asked Mrs Maurice; 'you forget, my dear, that you, too,
+are exposed to temptations, that none of us are exempt from trials, and
+our only hope is in the promise that the child of God shall not be
+tempted above what he is able to bear.'
+
+'Remember,' added Mr Maurice, taking the family Bible from its shelf
+preparatory to their evening devotions, 'to love not the world, neither
+the things that are in the world. And remember, when you are searching
+your hearts to discover their hidden idols, that the same Divine Being
+has said, "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
+him."'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE POOR WIDOW.
+
+
+The next morning, in accordance with his children's wishes, Mr Maurice
+accompanied Harry to the residence of the poor woman they had seen at Mr
+T.'s shop. It was a miserable hovel, but after all there was an air of
+cleanliness and comfort about it, that the most abject poverty can
+seldom of itself destroy. A white curtain, mended it is true, in very
+many places, yet looking quite respectable, still shaded the only window
+of the apartment. There were a few coals, on which was laid a single
+stick of wood, in the open fire-place, but it sent forth but a small
+quantity of heat, and the room felt damp and chilly. On a narrow bed
+drawn close to the fire lay the sick child, and beside it sat the mother
+plying her needle steadily, and every now and then casting an anxious
+eye upon her babe. She arose when Mr Maurice and Harry entered, and her
+reception of the boy was truly affecting. She told again and again of
+his following her the day before, and how kindly he had inquired if he
+could do anything for her, and then bursting into loud sobs, and leaning
+over the bed, she said nobody could do anything unless it was to cure
+her baby. Mr Maurice took the hand of the little sufferer, but it was
+burning hot, and the face, which was the day before pale, was now so
+flushed that Harry could scarcely recognise it.
+
+'He has a fever,' said Mr Maurice.
+
+'A fever! oh don't say so,' shrieked the poor woman, 'it was of that his
+father died--it is a cold, nothing but a cold! Oh, how could I be so
+foolish as to take him out!'
+
+What could Mr Maurice do, but soothe her, and promise to be the child's
+physician? In a few moments she became calmer, and then she told him
+that her baby had been failing for a long time--day by day she could see
+that he grew poorer, but she could not tell why, till at last a cough
+had come, and concluding that it was occasioned by a cold, she had given
+the usual remedies, but without effect. The day before, having no one
+with whom to leave him, she had taken him out, and the fever that ensued
+was the result.
+
+'Do you think I have killed my baby, sir?' she inquired mournfully; and
+she looked so long and earnestly into Mr Maurice's face for an answer,
+that he was obliged to reply 'No.' It was easy for him to discern that
+the death-blow was before received.
+
+'Oh thank you,' replied the poor mother, joyfully, 'I was sure he must
+get well.' Mr Maurice was about to speak, but interrupted
+himself--should he undeceive her? Should he tear from her her last hope?
+perhaps it was weakness, but he could not do it. The blow was too
+sudden, too heavy, and it must be softened to her. She said nothing of
+poverty, but he knew by the rapidity with which she plied her needle in
+the intervals of conversation that she was toiling for her bread and
+fuel, and he secretly resolved to place her in a condition to devote
+herself entirely to the care of the child.
+
+As Mr Maurice glanced around the room, noting each article it
+contained, and gaining from thence some item of knowledge concerning the
+character of its owner, his eye fell upon a shelf on which lay a few
+tracts, a Bible, and a hymn-book. 'I see,' said he, pointing to them,
+'that whatever trial you may be called to pass through, you are provided
+with a better comforter than any earthly friend.'
+
+The poor woman shook her head, 'They were my husband's, sir.'
+
+'Your husband was a pious man, then?'
+
+'He used to read the Bible and have family worship. Sometimes I went
+with him on Sunday to hear the minister, but I was always tired and
+drowsy, and could not keep awake.'
+
+'I suppose you don't go at all now?'
+
+'No, sir'
+
+'Nor read the Bible?'
+
+'No, not very often--I don't get time.'
+
+'You surely have time on the Sabbath-day?'
+
+'Oh, sir, that is the only leisure day I have, and then I like to take
+little James, and go with him to his father's grave, and when I get
+back, there's tea to make, (I never have tea but on Sundays, sir,) and
+somehow the time slips away till dark, when I go to bed. I can't afford
+to light a candle on Sunday nights.'
+
+'Do you never visit your neighbours on that day?'
+
+'Oh no, sir, since my husband died, I have not cared for going out, and
+a lone woman like me is but poor company for others, so they never come
+to see me.'
+
+'You tell me of visiting your husband's grave--when you stand over it,
+do you ever think of the time you will meet him again?'
+
+'Not often; he used to talk to me about it, but I never can think of
+anything but _him_, just as he lived, and I remember a great many kind
+things he used to say, and speak them over to the baby (little James--he
+was named for his father, sir,) in his own words.' And the poor woman
+bent over her work, and plied her needle faster than ever.
+
+'It is natural,' said Mr Maurice, kindly, 'that you should remember your
+husband as he was when living, but it is strange that you so seldom
+think of seeing him again.'
+
+'Oh, sir, that looks like a dream to me, I can't more than half believe
+it, but I know the other to be reality.'
+
+'Yet one is as true as the other.' The woman sighed, and her countenance
+looked troubled, but she made no answer.
+
+'You believe the Bible?'
+
+'Ye-es, sir--my James believed it, and so it must be true.'
+
+'Then you will allow me to read you a chapter, I suppose.'
+
+'If you please, sir, but it always seemed to me a very gloomy book, and
+I am afraid it will make me low-spirited.'
+
+'No, I think not, it may raise your spirits.' Mr Maurice took down the
+Bible, and opened it at the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians. A
+piece of torn paper lay between the opened leaves, and a few of the
+verses were marked with a pencil. As Mr Maurice proceeded to read, the
+face of the poor woman was gradually lowered till it almost rested on
+her bosom, and at last, yielding to the intensity of her feelings, she
+buried her face in the bed-clothes, and did not raise it again till the
+chapter was finished.
+
+'Oh, many and many is the time he has read it to me!' she exclaimed,
+'and he put in the mark only the day before he died, so that I might
+find it; but I could not, oh I couldn't bear to read it!'
+
+'And why not?'
+
+'Oh, I know it is true! I know I shall see him again! but, sir, he was a
+_Christian_.'
+
+'And so prepared to die, was he not?'
+
+'Yes, sir, and my poor baby--'
+
+'If it is taken away it will go to him in heaven.'
+
+'Oh no, oh no! my baby must not die! My James was good, and has talked
+to me hours, and hours, about being ready to die, but I used to laugh at
+him--_that_ goes to my heart the worst, sir, to laugh at _him_ who was
+as gentle as that baby, _him_ who is in his grave now. Oh if I could
+forget _that_! He is in heaven, sir, but I--I shall never get there!
+It's of no use to read the Bible to me, and talk to me--James used to
+pray for me, but it was of no use, I am too wicked. But if you can save
+the baby, sir, if God will let the child live, I shall have a little
+comfort.'
+
+Mr Maurice had succeeded in rousing the poor woman's feelings, but he
+found that she felt more acutely than he imagined, and he now brought to
+his aid the still small voice of the Gospel. He told her of the fountain
+in which sin might be washed away, he told her of the place where the
+weary might find rest, and pointed her to the Lord Jesus Christ, for
+mercy; but though she appeared to listen, her thoughts were evidently
+fixed upon her husband and child, and the truths he uttered fell
+unheeded on her ear. After talking some time, he again read a portion of
+the Bible, prayed with the poor woman, and went away.
+
+'Oh, how I pity her, father,' said Harry, when they were on their way
+home. 'Do you really think the little baby will get well?--I do hope it
+will.'
+
+'That is a natural wish, my child; but God knows what is best, and if He
+should see fit to remove it, we have no right to murmur.'
+
+'No, father, but poor Mrs Gilman will feel so dreadfully, for then she
+will be entirely alone. She told us, you know, that before she married
+James Gilman she was a poor servant girl, and an orphan, and she don't
+know whether she has any relatives or not. It will be very hard for her
+to see everything she loves taken from her and buried in the grave.'
+
+'So it will, my dear boy, and she deserves all our sympathy; but it may
+be that a kind Heavenly Parent, since she has no earthly ones to guide
+her, is using these means to draw the poor widow nearer to Him. If this
+chastisement is sent by His hand, it will undoubtedly be in love and
+mercy.'
+
+'Do you think, father, that Mrs Gilman loves her little James too well?'
+
+'I will answer your question by asking another, Harry. Do you think her
+love for the child interferes with that she owes to God?'
+
+Harry was for a few moments silent. At last he answered, 'She certainly
+loves him better than she does God, and that is not right; but you
+always told Effie and me that we could not love each other too well.'
+
+'And I told you right, provided _that_ love is made subservient to a
+holier one. But your first duty is, in the words of our Saviour, "to
+love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." Obedience to this precept
+involves a great many other duties, but none of these should interfere
+with the great first command.'
+
+'But, father,' inquired Harry, 'if Mrs Gilman should become a Christian,
+would she love her baby less.'
+
+'No, she might love it more, but not with the same kind of affection
+she bears it now. This is a blind idolatry--her child is her all, and
+she cannot bear to part with it, even though it should join her lost
+husband, and wear a crown in glory. If she were a Christian, she would
+be able to say, "Thy will be done," and to place entire confidence in
+the Divine Master, and bow in submission to His requirements, even
+though they should call on her to resign this treasure.'
+
+'Oh, how happy we should be, if we loved God better than anything else!'
+said Harry.
+
+After they had arrived at home, and while Mrs Maurice was engaged in
+preparing some comfortable things for the poor woman, Harry was heard to
+whisper in his sister's ear, 'Poor Mrs Gilman makes a god of her baby,
+Effie.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+GENEROSITY AND JUSTICE.
+
+
+Several days passed away, and little Effie was watching every
+opportunity for making applications of the truth her mother had taught
+her, but yet, (such is the deceitfulness of the human heart,) she still
+considered herself out of danger. If any little boys or girls who may
+perchance read this story, are as confident as Effie, we only ask them
+to watch over their thoughts and actions for as long a time as she did,
+and see if they do not discover their mistake. One day Mrs Maurice went
+to make a call on a lady of her acquaintance, and as Harry was engaged
+with his father, she allowed Effie to accompany her. It was a beautiful
+parlour into which they were ushered, and Mrs Town received them with
+due politeness. They were scarce seated when the servant announced
+another visitor, and a lady with whom Mrs Maurice was very well
+acquainted entered, and immediately stated the object of her call--to
+obtain subscriptions for a charitable society.
+
+'I am tired of these societies,' said Mrs Town, 'do not you think, Mrs
+Maurice, that individual charity is preferable?'
+
+'Undoubtedly, in many instances, but societies have done much good, and
+I am therefore disposed to countenance them.'
+
+'But don't you think,' said Mrs Town, 'that a person is very apt to
+think by being a member of a society she is freed from individual
+responsibility?'
+
+'There may be such people,' was the reply, 'and undoubtedly are, but
+they are those who give merely because they are expected to do so, and
+this is the easiest mode of cheating the world and themselves that could
+be devised.'
+
+'Well,' replied Mrs Town, 'I have always made it a point never to place
+my name on a subscription list, so I shall be obliged to decline. I
+hope,' she said to the disappointed lady, who had been advised to call
+upon her because she was rich, 'I hope you will meet with better success
+elsewhere.'
+
+'I hope I shall,' the lady could scarce forbear saying, as Mrs Town
+curtsied gracefully in answer to her embarrassed nod, but she soon
+calmed her excited feelings and passed on.
+
+'Poor Mrs D.!' said Mrs Town. 'This must be very unpleasant business. I
+can't see what could induce a lady of her respectability to engage in
+it.'
+
+'I know of no one who could perform the task better,' said Mrs Maurice.
+
+'Certainly not, but--' Mrs Town paused, and then added, hesitatingly,
+'it seems a little too much like begging.'
+
+'It surely is begging,' said Mrs Maurice, with much animation, 'begging
+for the poor, the weak, the desolate, the unfriended--these have claims
+upon those who to-morrow may be in their places--and more, Mrs Town, it
+is begging for our brethren, our sisters--these have claims upon us that
+cannot be waived--but above all, it is begging for the King of kings,
+Him who hesitated not to give His own Son for us, and His claims cover
+all others. Not only our gold and silver are His, but ourselves.'
+
+'Oh, my dear Mrs Maurice, I would not have you to suppose that I object
+to _giving_--by no means--it is only from an ostentatious display of
+charity that I shrink--this is a duty that should be exercised in
+private, a--' Mrs Town was interrupted in the midst of her vindication
+by a servant who entered and placed a note in her hand, which she folded
+closer and was about putting in her pocket--'Please, ma'am,' said the
+servant, 'she wishes you to read it now, and say if you can see her.'
+
+Mrs Town glanced at the note and coloured slightly, but she had been too
+long accustomed to concealing her feelings for a stronger manifestation.
+'Tell her to come to-morrow,' said she.
+
+The servant was gone a moment and again returned, 'Please, ma'am,' said
+he, 'the woman won't go away, she says she _will_ see you, for her
+husband is sick, and her children starving, and she must have her
+_pay_.' Mrs Town started from her seat: this was a strange comment upon
+her beautiful theory of individual charity. Mrs Maurice retired as soon
+as possible, and as she passed through the hall she saw a miserably-clad
+woman with a face extremely haggard and care-worn, whom she supposed to
+be the person claiming--not _charity_, but _justice_, of Mrs Town. Effie
+saw that her mother's face was unusually clouded, and she did not
+venture to comment upon the past scene, but she said to her brother as
+soon as they were alone, 'I am glad we are not rich like Mrs Town,
+Harry, lest we should make a _god_ of our money.'
+
+Mrs Maurice did not, however, neglect at a suitable time to fix upon
+Effie's mind the impression she had received from the scene at Mrs
+Town's. 'Remember, my child,' she said, 'if you should ever live to
+become a woman, that _justice_ should be preferred to _generosity_, and
+never talk of _giving_ while some poor person may be suffering for that
+which is her just due.'
+
+'Mother,' said Harry, 'Elisha Otis told me to-day that his father thinks
+people who talk so much of giving, are all hypocrites.'
+
+'People who make a great noise about any good act which they perform
+appear somewhat pharisaical, but we have no right to condemn them upon
+that score _alone_, for it often proceeds from a great desire to do
+good. You know we are very apt to talk of that which most occupies our
+thoughts, Harry. But where did Elisha Otis's father get such notions of
+charitable people?'
+
+'That is what I was going to tell you about, mother. You know how much
+Deacon Brown, gives--he heads all the subscription papers, and I heard
+father say the other day that he was a great help to the church; but Mr
+Otis says that he is never willing to pay people that work for him their
+full price, and then they have to wait, and dun, and dun, before they
+can get anything.'
+
+'I am sorry to hear this, my son, very sorry.'
+
+'Isn't it true mother?'
+
+'It is true that Deacon Brown in some instances has seemed more generous
+than just, and this case is very good to illustrate what I before said;
+but Mr Otis makes it appear much worse than it is.'
+
+'Then he don't cheat his workmen, mother?'
+
+'No; but, by procrastination, thoughtlessness, or even perhaps the
+desire which business men may have to make a good bargain, he may do
+wrong, and so lay himself open to all these remarks. Bad qualities, you
+know, shew much plainer in a good man than a bad one, and are almost
+always made to appear worse than they really are. But let this be a
+warning to you, my boy--remember that _good_ (not _great_) actions
+seldom cover faults, but faults obscure the lustre of many good actions,
+and destroy the usefulness of thousands of really good and pious
+people.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE NEW BOOK.
+
+
+'A present for you, Effie,' said Mr Maurice, a few days after the
+foregoing conversation, 'a present from your uncle William! it is in
+this nice little packet, now guess what it is.'
+
+'O father--'
+
+'No, but you must guess.'
+
+'Why it's a book--say a book, Effie,' interposed Harry, 'with sights of
+pictures, I dare say, and may be pretty gilt letters on the back, too.'
+
+'Is it a book?' inquired Effie, her little eyes dancing with pleasure,
+'and from uncle William, too? Oh how good he is to remember a little
+girl like me!'
+
+By this time Mr Maurice had unwound the cord and unfolded the paper, and
+displayed a neat little book--what think you it was? 'Peter Parley's
+Stories,' says one, 'The Love Token,' says another. No, you are both
+wrong. Effie Maurice was almost a woman before these books were written.
+Mrs Sherwood was then the children's friend, and some beautiful stories
+she told them, too. The book had neither pictures, nor gilt letters, but
+this did not spoil it for Effie, and she was soon so busily engaged in
+reading that she forgot that there was anything in the world but herself
+and the delightful book--more still, she forgot even her own existence,
+and thought only of the people about whom she was reading. A half-hour
+passed away and then Mrs Maurice reminded Effie of her room, and told
+her it had better be put in order.
+
+'Yes, mother, in a few minutes.' The few minutes passed away, and Mrs
+Maurice spoke again.
+
+'I will, mother.' Mrs Maurice saw that Effie forgot these words almost
+as soon as spoken, but instead of telling her at once to put up the
+book, and do as she was bidden, she allowed her to pursue her own course
+for this once, hoping by this means to cure her of a very bad habit.
+
+Soon after, Mrs Maurice descended to the kitchen to give some
+directions, and Effie was left alone. Once the thought entered her mind
+that she had promised to visit Mrs Gilman that day, but she immediately
+concluded another time would do as well, and so continued her reading.
+After a while Harry, who had been out with his father, entered in great
+haste, with a packet of medicine in his hand.
+
+'Effie,' he said, 'father wants you to take this to Mrs Gilman's when
+you go, it is for her little James, and I--'
+
+'I am not going to-day, Harry.'
+
+'Can't you go? Oh do! don't mind the book! you can read it another
+time.'
+
+'So I can go to Mrs Gilman's another time.'
+
+'Oh, but the medicine, Effie.'
+
+'Can't you take it as well as I? It is too bad for me to have to be
+running there all the time.' It was very unusual for Effie to speak so
+peevishly, but Harry was in a very happy mood, so he merely exclaimed,
+'Why, Effie!' and glanced at the book as much as to say, 'did you learn
+it there!' Effie saw the glance, and ashamed of her ill nature said, 'Oh
+it is such a good story, Harry! but if you can't go to Mrs Gilman's, why
+not send a servant?'
+
+'Father said some of _us_ ought to go; so do, Effie, just put up your
+book for this once. The medicine is to prevent the convulsions that
+frightened us so yesterday, but father is going out into the country (it
+is delightful sleighing!) and he says I may go. You know it isn't every
+day I can get a sleigh-ride, Effie.' And the delighted boy gave his
+sister such a very hearty kiss that she could not forbear answering good
+humouredly, especially as she had some suspicion that she had not spoken
+pleasantly at first, 'Well, I will go, Harry, but don't hinder me now, I
+shall get through the chapter in a few minutes.' 'Well, don't forget,
+and when I come back I will tell you about all I see.'
+
+Effie finished her chapter and thought of the medicine, and wondered if
+it was really so important that it should go immediately; but she was
+now in the most interesting part of the story, and she continued to read
+a little farther. So the time stole away--I can't exactly tell how, but
+perhaps some of my little readers (especially if they have read the
+little book that delighted Effie so much) can imagine--till the dinner
+hour. By this time Effie had finished her book, and her father and Harry
+had returned from the sleigh-ride, the latter particularly in excellent
+spirits. Effie thought of the medicine as she sat down to the table, and
+in a moment all her enjoyment vanished; for she had been guilty of
+procrastination, she had broken her word, and what excuse had she to
+offer for her neglect? That she had scarcely known what she was about,
+was no excuse at all, for she knew she ought to have known. She could
+not, however, prevail upon herself to confess her fault, until after she
+had repaired it, and so decided to go to Mrs Gilman's immediately after
+dinner, and when she had set all right again, to tell the whole affair
+to her parents and brother.
+
+Harry was full of stories about his ride, and she heard as well as she
+could about the farmer's big dog that at first wouldn't let them come
+in, and afterwards shook hands with them, and the cat that could open
+doors, and the hens and rabbits, but she forgot all about them in a
+moment, and only wished she could slide away from the table and nobody
+see her. At last the meal was ended, and they were about rising from the
+table when they were startled by a message from Mrs Gilman's. Her little
+boy was in convulsions.
+
+'I will go immediately,' said Mr Maurice, 'poor little fellow! nothing
+can save him now--that medicine was my last hope.'
+
+'Oh, father!' exclaimed Effie.
+
+'Nay, my child--' Mr Maurice began, but he saw that it was not mere pity
+that produced so much agitation, and inquired hastily 'what is the
+matter?' Poor Effie attempted to speak, but burst into tears.
+
+'Oh, Effie!' exclaimed her brother, grasping her arm, 'you couldn't have
+forgotten the medicine.' The poor child only sobbed the harder, and
+Harry, turning to the table, pointed to the little packet, thus
+explaining the mystery!
+
+'And so for a selfish gratification you have endangered a
+fellow-creature's life,' said Mr Maurice, sternly.
+
+'Oh, father!' exclaimed Harry, 'she's so sorry! Don't cry, Effie, don't
+cry!' he whispered, at the same time passing his arm around her neck,
+'father didn't mean to be so severe, he is only frightened about little
+James--I am very sorry I didn't go, for it was too bad to make you leave
+the book.'
+
+But all Harry's soothing words could not make Effie blind to her own
+neglect, and when she saw her father go out with an anxious, troubled
+face, and her mother looked so sorrowful without saying a single word to
+her, she could not help going back in her thoughts to Mrs Town, Rosa
+Lynmore, and even the miser, and thinking she was worse than any of
+them.
+
+Her brother Harry still clung around her neck, and kept whispering she
+was not to blame, the fault was his, till Mrs Maurice called him away,
+and then very reluctantly he quitted her side. Poor Effie, thus left
+without sympathy, crept away to her own little room, and sat down, not
+merely to weep, but to enter into a regular self-examination. The truths
+she thus discovered were exceedingly humiliating, but the child began to
+feel that she needed humbling, and she did not shrink from the task. I
+do not know but Effie's self-condemnation was greater than the fault
+really called for, but it certainly was of great use to her, and made
+her humbler, and gentler, and more forgiving than she ever was before.
+
+Effie did not see her father or Harry again that night, but when her
+mother came to see if she was warm in her little bed, she whispered in
+her ear, 'Oh, I have so many faults: and my heart is full of false gods.
+I am afraid I never really loved my Heavenly Father.'
+
+'Yet, Effie, a great many children, and some grown people, would
+consider this neglect of yours to-day a very small thing.'
+
+'Oh, mother! I know it is not small, though I never thought it was so
+very wicked before.'
+
+'And what makes you think it is wicked now?'
+
+'Because it has led me to do so many wicked things. In the first place,
+it was wrong to read immediately after breakfast, for then is the time
+that you desire me to work.'
+
+'Well, do you see any bad effect that the neglect of this rule may have
+on your future life?'
+
+'I suppose I should make a very useless woman, if I should grow up in
+ignorance of work.'
+
+'Yes, certainly you would; when I insist upon your attending to your few
+duties at a particular time--can you imagine the reason of this? Why not
+read the book this morning, and make up the lost time this evening?'
+Effie could not tell, and Mrs Maurice went on to explain the necessity
+of _order_ in the distribution of time, and shewed her little daughter,
+that it was as necessary in the government of a house as in the
+government of a nation. 'But that is not the only bad effect,' she
+added, 'of your self-indulgence.'
+
+'Oh no, mother, it made me disobedient to you, though I am sure I didn't
+think of being so at the time.'
+
+'I dare say not, but you see when we once go wrong, we are like a
+traveller who has lost his path, and can be certain of nothing.'
+
+'Then I forgot my duty to poor Mrs Gilman--I even made myself believe
+that there was no need of going to see her; and I was cross to Harry,
+and so selfish, that if I had not been ashamed to own it, I would have
+had him give up his ride and go with the medicine.'
+
+'And he would rather have gone ten times than--'
+
+'I know it, mother, rather a hundred times than have the baby die.'
+
+'Or see you do so very wrong.'
+
+'Oh, Harry has been crying about it, I know, though he can't feel half
+so badly as I do. But that was not all, mother--last of all, I broke my
+promise. I told Harry I would go as soon as I finished the chapter.'
+
+'And all this,' said Mrs Maurice, 'is the result of what, under other
+circumstances, would be a mere innocent gratification, a pleasant
+pastime, and a useful exercise.'
+
+'But, mother, when I once begun, I thought I could not stop.'
+
+'Then that was the very moment when you should have stopped, and this
+one victory would have made others easier. Now I am not afraid, my dear,
+of your being led astray (at least at present) by things which you know
+to be wrong; your danger lies on the unguarded side, and yet it is as
+likely to prove fatal to your peace of mind, your piety, and your
+usefulness.'
+
+'It never seemed to me before, that so much evil could come from such a
+small thing.'
+
+'Then you have learned an all-important lesson, which I trust will not
+be soon forgotten.'
+
+'But, mother, I shall always be afraid of doing wrong now--I don't even
+know what is right.'
+
+'That shews me, Effie, that you begin to look upon yourself as you
+really are. If you are left to yourself, you will do wrong; but if you
+distrust self, and place all your confidence in God, and at the same
+time study to do right, you will not, for any long time, be left in
+darkness.'
+
+The conversation of Mrs Maurice continued to a late hour; but as the
+remaining time was spent in encouraging poor Effie, who needed all that
+could be said to her, we will pass it over, and merely inform our
+readers that she awoke in the morning wiser, and even happier; for the
+joy that is felt in heaven over a repenting sinner, is reflected upon
+that sinner's own heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ANOTHER OF MR MAURICE'S LESSONS.
+
+
+'Father,' said Harry, after the little family had gathered around the
+fire as usual, on the ensuing evening, 'it seems strange that people can
+love good books too well.'
+
+'I believe they are not very apt to, Harry, especially boys who are so
+fond of snowballing and sliding, as a certain little fellow I met
+to-day.'
+
+'Oh you mean me, now, father, but I thought you liked to have me play.'
+
+'So I do; only look out that the books and play go together. One is for
+the mind, and the other is for the body, and both should be cared for.'
+
+'Well, father, Mr Titus tells the boys, that the mind is the only thing
+worthy of attention, at least he talks as though he thought so; and so
+some of the larger boys think it is not scholarlike to play, and sit
+mewed up in the house from morning till night, like so many drones.'
+
+'And so grow pale and sickly-looking, do they not?'
+
+'Yes, sir; and what's more, I don't think they learn a bit faster than
+some of the rest of us.'
+
+'Very likely, Harry--for whether they think proper attention to the body
+important or not, the state of the mind depends very much upon it. A
+healthy mind, that is, a perfectly sound, active, and energetic one,
+cannot dwell in a diseased body; and so your play, while it amuses you,
+and seems to others to be mere waste of time, invigorates the body,
+affords rest to the mind, and is in reality as essential to your
+well-being as the food you eat, or the clothing you wear in winter.'
+
+'I wish Mr Titus could hear you say that, father.'
+
+'Perhaps it would not be safe to talk so to all his boys, for I presume
+the most of them would at present be more benefited by what he says.
+Children seldom love study too well. Even our little book-worm, Effie,
+would never become too much engaged in anything but a story.'
+
+'Father, Thomas Marvin says that he can't get to school for a while,
+and he can't spend the time in exercise; as he says fun takes his mind
+off his books, and makes him lose a great deal. He is intending to teach
+a school when he goes away from here, but I don't believe he will, for
+he looks sickly now. But he thinks it is very foolish to spend time in
+jumping about, and all that, when there are things so much more
+important to be done.'
+
+'The body, which God has so wonderfully made, and which He watches over
+with such tender care, is very far from being beneath our notice, Harry;
+and while we should give the greater care to the immortal part, we
+should not neglect the other. I have been visiting a scholar to-day, who
+I doubt not was once of young Marvin's opinion in these things, and,
+poor fellow! he does not even see his folly now.'
+
+'Please tell us about him, father,' said Effie, with interest, 'did he
+study so much to make him selfish and wicked?'
+
+'I will tell you the story, and then you must be the judge,' returned
+Mr Maurice. 'I believe, however, that in this case selfishness was more
+out of the question than usual; he had too much zeal, "a zeal not
+according to knowledge." Lewis Varden was the son of a poor widow, who
+contrived to support a large family in comfort and to give them a good
+education. He was the youngest son, and perhaps from the circumstance of
+being too tenderly nurtured, and perhaps from some constitutional
+defect, was never so strong and muscular as his brothers, and so his
+mother determined that he should study a profession.
+
+'Lewis was particularly pleased with the arrangement, as he had a
+natural fondness for sedentary employments, and at sixteen had become so
+extensive a reader, as to be a kind of family encyclopedia. The
+question, however, remained to be decided whether he should study law or
+medicine, the only professions which among us are at all lucrative.
+
+'While he was yet wavering between the two, he lost his mother, and
+suddenly the whole object of his life, even his own character, became
+changed. Mrs Varden was what is usually called a good woman, that is,
+with a sharp eye upon her worldly interests, she maintained her standing
+in the church, and bore a fair reputation; but she was a worldly-minded
+Christian, and as such had not sufficiently encouraged in her children
+any peculiar love for holiness. She was, however, a devoted,
+self-sacrificing mother, as far as their worldly interests were
+concerned: and never was a lost parent more sincerely mourned.
+
+'From that time forth, Lewis seemed to lose all connection with the
+business part of the world, and he devoted himself more closely than
+ever to his books.
+
+'Yet among these books, the Bible now found a place, and occupied a
+large share of his attention. From reading it, because it suited his now
+serious thoughts, he began to love its contents, and finally he made
+them the guide of his life. He became a member of the church in the
+little village where he resided, and was soon regarded as a very
+promising young man.
+
+'His new friends were exceedingly anxious that he should study for the
+ministry, and he entered with alacrity upon his new duties. But not
+content with what he considered the circuitous way to usefulness usually
+taken, he determined by industry to cut it short, and so the noonday sun
+and midnight lamp found him at the same task. When worn out by his
+incessant mental labours, he would throw himself down and sleep for a
+little time; but his dreams were only a continuation of his waking
+thoughts, so that even in sleep he was studying still.
+
+'When his fellow-students expostulated, he laughed at the idea of his
+health being injured by incessant application, and seemed to be afraid
+that variety of employment would distract his attention. So he went on
+from week to week, and month to month, preparing his mind for
+usefulness, but his body for the grave. His pale brow grew yet paler,
+his cheek hollow, and his hand thin and colourless, but still he
+declared himself to be in perfect health, and no one knew his danger.
+
+'Finally, he was attacked by a cold, a very slight one, he at first
+thought, but it clung to him, and could not be shaken off. The poor
+fellow is now wasting away by consumption, but I cannot convince him of
+his danger, and to-day when I called on him at the house of his brother,
+I found him surrounded by books and papers, his large dark eye
+absolutely glowing with enthusiasm, and a deep red spot burning on
+either cheek.'
+
+'Oh, father, what did you say to him?' inquired Harry, earnestly.
+
+'A short time ago I recommended quiet and relaxation, telling him
+plainly that his disease was beyond the reach of medicine, so he
+understood my look of painful surprise at once.
+
+'He only shook his head, laughingly, and said, "Ah, Doctor, this life is
+too short to throw away, and so I have gone to work. But you must not
+blame me," he said, observing that I was about to speak, "I am only
+planning a few sermons I intend to preach next summer."
+
+'And then he went on to talk about his intentions, and inquired my
+opinion of some particular sentiments that he had been writing down,
+until he became so much excited that I was obliged to order the removal
+of all his papers. Poor fellow! he will never preach a sermon. In his
+impatience to become useful, he has destroyed his power to do good.'
+
+'I don't think,' said Effie, 'that poor Mr Varden makes knowledge his
+_god_ exactly, because he does it all for good; but it would be very
+wicked for Harry or me to do so, because we know how wrong it is. I wish
+everybody that praised people for studying too hard could know it is
+wicked.'
+
+'But remember,' said Mr Maurice, 'that where one person's cheek is
+paled by hard study, fifty make themselves utterly useless by neglecting
+the bodily exercise which _moderate_ mental effort demands. It is
+aversion to active employment, and not the love of knowledge, that has
+slain its hundreds and crippled its thousands.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE FUNERAL.
+
+
+It was a bright and sunshiny day, and so warm as to make the snow moist
+and yielding beneath the foot--such a day as children love and choose
+for their happiest sports; but to at least two children it was anything
+but a day of pleasure. Poor Mrs Gilman's little James had lingered on
+beyond all expectation, and finally died, calmly and quietly, as if he
+had been composing himself for sleep. And so it was--a long sleep.
+
+This was the day on which the little one was to be buried, and Harry
+and Effie were sincere mourners. Not like the poor mother--oh no, no one
+could feel like her--but they wept as one child of adversity weeps for
+another, all through life, from the cradle to the grave.
+
+Children are sad when they see those of their own age falling like the
+spring flowers around them; and when the little infant grows cold and
+lifeless in its cradle, beneath a loving mother's eye, and is borne away
+to the silent, lonely graveyard, they insensibly grow thoughtful, and if
+they have been deprived of previous instructions, death becomes their
+teacher, and for a little time they grow wise beneath the influence of
+his lessons.
+
+But Harry and Effie had not been thus deprived, and as hand in hand
+they followed the little coffin to the grave, through their tears of
+sadness and sympathy there gleamed out a bright and elevated expression,
+almost a happy one, which shewed that they looked beyond these
+sorrow-claiming objects, and saw the suffering child they had loved and
+pitied a redeemed spirit of light. They could see that the little
+flower, which had drooped and faded in the atmosphere of this world,
+grew bright and beautiful in the sunshine of immortal love. They knew
+that the kingdom of God was made up of just such little children--those
+who had died before they knew anything of the sin and wickedness of this
+world; or having known it, having grown old and gray beneath its heavy
+burden, had laid all at the feet of Jesus, and in spirit gone back to
+helpless, guileless infancy again.
+
+They knew that their little friend now dwelt with that dear Saviour,
+who, when on earth, blessed little children, who gathers the lambs in
+His arms, and carries them in His bosom. Yet it was a sad day for them,
+for they mourned the dead, as mortals always mourn when mortals die,
+although they did not wish him back, and they pitied the living. More
+tears were indeed shed for Mrs Gilman, than for the child.
+
+The contents of Rosa Lynmore's purse had been reserved by Mr Maurice for
+this sad occasion, he having supplied all previous wants; and it had
+been sufficient to give a decent burial to the little boy, who slept
+quietly at his father's side--to be awakened only when you and I, my
+dear reader, shall be aroused from the same slumber.
+
+Mr Maurice was right when he said if Mrs Gilman was stricken, it would
+be in mercy; for her heart being weaned from the world, at last found a
+refuge from its loneliness in the consolations of religion, and left the
+broken reed of earthly love, on which it had leaned too confidently, for
+the Rock, Christ Jesus, the friend that never fails.
+
+She entered Mr Maurice's family as a domestic, and has grown gray in its
+service.
+
+Harry Maurice, it was for a long time thought, would become a preacher
+of the Gospel; but when he became old enough to judge, he decided in
+favour of his father's profession, declaring that he who fails to do
+good in one situation in life, would most decidedly fail in another.
+
+Sweet little Effie! Her struggle with her heart on the occasion of the
+book was not the last; it was difficult for her to learn its
+deceitfulness, and she required repeated lessons.
+
+As she grew older, however, she was always complaining of her own
+sinfulness, while every one else thought her the meekest, the gentlest,
+and most self-sacrificing being that ever lived. She had, indeed, become
+remarkably sharp-sighted to her own faults, and, in proportion,
+forgiving to those of others.
+
+But at last a trial came. She was called on to leave all she loved on
+earth, and carry the Gospel to a far off benighted land.
+
+She wept at parting with her parents, but even then she whispered in her
+mother's ear thanks for the early lessons she had received, and added,
+'But for these I might never have learned true self-denial, and might
+have preferred my dear home to the service of my Master.'
+
+Effie loved her home sincerely, but she loved her Saviour who gave it to
+her better, and she will have her reward.
+
+And now, my little readers, I have not told you this story simply to
+amuse you, although I should like to see you interested in its perusal,
+but I had a better object.
+
+It is not enough that you should see your own faults, and try to mend
+them yourself; neither is it enough that you should pray, 'lead us not
+into temptation;' but you must '_watch and pray_' also, always
+remembering that however pleasant and beautiful this world is, there is
+a brighter and a better, where little children and old men may equally
+sit down together in happiness, having one God and one Father.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Effie Maurice, by Fanny Forester
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EFFIE MAURICE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 17467.txt or 17467.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/4/6/17467/
+
+Produced by David Clarke and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.