Micah looked at his daughter in surprise, and his face assumed an expression of grievous anxiety. None knew better than he how little chance there seemed of excusing Ruth from the work she did in the forge. The bellows must be blown. The lad could not attend to two pair at once; nor could he, Micah, afford to pay another hand. Things seemed almost desperate with him.

'Come, my wench,' he said nevertheless, with a tone of tenderness that in the grimed and wrinkled man was very touching, 'keep up thy heart; joy cometh in the morning, the Book says. -Bring her in, Adam, lad, to her dinner. I wouldn't be surprised, not I, if there was to be a bit of pork on the table to-day. Thou wert allers a good little un for pork, Ruth.'

The girl surrendered herself to Adam. 'I'm so tired,' she whispered. 'I didna mean to bother poor feyther.'

Adam stooped and kissed the pale face, where a tear was beginning to run. Your father's right,' he said. 'Never fear; it'll be better byand-by. I had a black dream last night-it goes by contraries, you know, dear. I'll work the extra this evening, and you shall go at five.'

The tear-dimmed look that Ruth gave him was enough reward to Adam for his offer of self-sacrifice.

Then they went in to dinner, which did in fact include some salt pork with the potatoes. Salt pork, potatoes, and bread do not make up a great meal; but they dined worse three days in the week.

Yet another shock was destined, however, to come upon Micah Daggle that afternoon. They had hardly begun to work again when a blackcoated young man appeared with a paper. Branstone has sent me with this, Mr Daggle,' he said. 'I'm sorry to have to bring it.'

'Mr

'What is it, sir?' asked the chain-maker, looking about for his iron spectacles. "There be no papers due yet awhile.'

It's about the mortgage. Those people want to build another factory; and unless you can pay, I'm afraid they mean to foreclose, take possession, you know, and just pull down your place.'

'Pull down this 'ere house, which was my gran'feyther's?' exclaimed Daggle.

That's just it, Mr Daggle. But you must try and find the money.'

'I canna do that, sir. I'd as well hope to find a gold mine. Well-a-day, it be hard-How much time do they give me ?'

A month, Mr Daggle.'

'One month-only a month. Well, if the Lord dunnot provide in that time, they shall have their will o' me, sir.-I wish you good-day.'

II.

August opened very wet in Stent. The black brook of the Rathole surged in its bed with a riotous music that was never heard except in flood-times. For a week it rained daily-heavy tempestuous downpours, with big drops. It was good weather neither for farmers nor chain

makers.

Micah Daggle and all in his shop were, however, less concerned about the weather than about

the calamity that was impending over them. On the 14th of the month, if money was not found, they would have to go elsewhere.

It'll just break my heart, though I winna say nowt about it,' said Micah to Adam one day. To which young Gray made no reply. What reply could he have made?

There were snatches of talk between them about America, or joining one of the large factories as paid hands. It would have to be one or the other. There was no money for the passage to New York. The issue, therefore, seemed a foregone conclusion. But it was a sad comedown for Micah, whose father and grandfather had both been independent employers of labour themselves.

'If only,' began Adam one evening as they sat in the gloaming under a stunted old apple-tree, and listened to the tumult of the stream if only I could get some one to take up this idea of mine!'

Adam had the self-contained temperament of the inventor. He had already made two or three clever improvements in the domestic machinery, which, from his ignorance of common protective measures, had soon become public property. Of late, however, he had, as he fancied, conceived a plan by which chain-production might be increased in a very simple manner. He was so fearful that this also should get appropriated, that he let no one into the secret except just Micah and Ruth. Money was necessary to test it fairly, and he had nothing like enough money for the purpose. Hardly had he said these words, when they both heard a cracking sound. Immediately afterwards Mrs Daggle and Ruth came running down the little puddly garden path.

'Th' house's falling, Micah !' cried Mrs Daggle. They stood all together by the ancient appletree and watched.

A thin smile stole over Micah's face. I knew,' he said, as my gran'feyther 'ud never let owt but Daggles have to do wi' it.'

Still, it would be such a pity if it was to break down now,' added Adam. It's the damp. There's been crownins' in all over Stent. You know that pub. by Rachel Row, the Gammon of Bacon. Well, it sank three feet last Sunday night, and none on 'em knew about it till they got up and found the sitting-parlour windows level with the ground.'

Ruth had instinctively ranged herself by Adam, whose arm, also instinctively, was round her neck.

'Tales like them bean't over-comforting,' observed Mrs Daggle snappishly. It 'ud be fine and nice to be wi'out a roof to our heads-in this rain and all.'

They waited for half an hour; then, no further symptoms of collapse having declared itself, they slowly re-entered the house."

'It's a mossul o' one side,' said Micah with a forced laugh as he lurched against the right-hand wall. But that's nothing,' he added hastily. There's a many houses in Stent as has been like that for years an' years, an' never the worse for it.'

Adam looked dubious, and his eyes wavered between Ruth and the tallow candle in the kitchen, which could be seen guttering at a considerable angle on the table. 'I'll fetch Jake

Carter,' he exclaimed as he snatched up his cap; 'he'll know if it's safe.'

Jake Carter soon came, laughed at the idea that there was any real danger in a house so slightly tilted, and then went away, refusing the glass of beer that was offered to him.

An hour after this the house was wrapped in utter darkness. The Daggles and Adam were all abed, and the heavy rain and the noisy brook echoed about it.

But Jake Carter's wisdom on this occasion was at fault. Towards one o'clock, when the heavens seemed like to be wholly liquidated upon the earth, there was another resounding crack throughout the house, and in an instant the back part of the building, on the side which had already yielded, broke into the ground. The loss of equilibrium sent the chimney-pots flying; and one of the inner walls fell with a crash. The lesser noise of breaking china and sliding furniture could also be heard, followed by a scream from Ruth, and Micah's and Mrs Daggle's voices intermingled.

Adam slept on the ground-floor, in the room in which Micah's father had died. It was just here that the subsidence was most emphatic. He awoke with a sense of calamity upon him, heard the clamour of the general ruin, and was then sensible that his head was much lower than his heels. In this uncomfortable position he heard something else. If it was not the chink of gold pieces in numbers, then his recollection of the sound as he had heard it in the bank when he had changed a cheque for Micah was much disordered for the moment. However, he did not heed this agreeable music. He was much encumbered, and all his wits were necessary to enable him to get out of bed and grovel upon his hands and knees towards the door. Ruth's cries much stimulated him.

An hour passed, and then all the four members of the household were reunited outside in the drenching night. No one was hurt. Ruth had been merely frightened. She was quite calm again, now that Adam had her in charge.

They went to a neighbour's house, where they were given such accommodation as was possible. Here it was that Adam recalled to mind the noise of gold pieces.

'Micah,' he said, 'if there is not money in the house, my hearing is at fault. It was like bagfuls of it breaking against each other.'

At first the chain-maker made light of the matter. Thou wert but half awake, lad, an' it was the glasses bursting thou heardst.' Later, however, he suddenly became serious. See,' he whispered; the daylight is here, an' it doan't rain so much. What dost say-us two'll just step across an' look at th' ould place.'

Mrs Daggle, too, wished to accompany them, mindful of her Sunday gowns, a favourite kitchen clock, and certain other articles she wished to secure from possible ruin. But Micah bade her lie down again and keep Ruth company.

They had much ado to get into the building, and could move in it only on their hands and knees. But the moment they were in Adam's room the truth of his tale was evident. A timber had started from the wall and knocked out several bricks; and with the bricks three boxes had come out. These latter lay in a heap in the sunken corner with a number of sovereigns still

'It's my feyther's savings-there bean't a doubt in the matter,' retorted Micah. Praise the Lord, for sure good hev come from this evil.'

Then they set to work and collected the coins. They replaced them in the boxes, which were just ordinary workshop boxes for chain-litter, and without lids. And carrying them in their arms, sweetly conscious of their weightiness, they returned to the house, where Mrs Daggle and Ruth lay awaiting them.

'See what we've found, my dears,' cried old Micah joyfully as he plumped his burden upon the floor. 'We're rich for life-all four on us.An' we'll hev your invention put up in Lunnon, Adam, where they're all fine an' honest, I've heerd tell. An' you shall hev the wench here whenever she likes to say "I'll hev you."'

Adam laughed somewhat shyly. Mrs Daggle was too much occupied with the gold to heed anything else.

'I think, Master,' said Adam, 'I'll be wise to strike while my chance is warm.-Will it be "Yes," Ruth, if I ask you now this very minute?' He took the girl's hand, she assenting, with a happy light in her eyes. 'I've loved you ever since you were a mite-you know I have,' proceeded Adam. Will you be my wife for better or worse, Ruth?'

The 'Yes, Adam' of her reply was fully as cordial as the young man could have desired it to be.

There were six thousand five hundred sovereigns in the boxes-quite enough, as Micah said, to set up a big chain-factory if he had a mind to build it. But he preferred to live on the interest of it in a snug house outside Stent. The five hundred pounds that were appropriated to further Adam's invention turned out a remarkably good investment. It did not result in a fortune, but it brought in a very comfortable living for Adam and his wife.

A CURIOUS CALLING.

WHAT! never heard of a "husher?" Then we'll

interview one.'

My friend who made this remark had been employed as an enumerator during the last Census, and his work had brought him into contact with men and women following remarkably curious occupations in order to procure the means of existence. Of these the trade of a husher is certainly not the best known to the general public.

Hushers, I discovered, was a name given to those men who make a living by raking away the accumulated mud from the walls and grubbing and hunting for unconsidered and other trifles in the sickening effluvium of the metro

politan sewers. The reader might well be pardoned if he imagines that these men are small and emaciated, with pallid countenance and onefoot-in-the-grave appearance. That this is not the case was vouched for by the singularly strong and robust individual we interviewed. He had worked some thirty-five years as a husher, and had never experienced a day's illness in his life. His appearance was so florid and healthy, that I suggested he might be an exception among those who followed this odorous occupation. Not so, however; as a class, these men are remarkably healthy, and escape sickness of all kinds in a manner astonishing. This fact, as true as it is unaccountable, has always been a puzzle to doctors generally. The hushers themselves never tire of declaring they receive great benefit from the gases they inhale in the sewers. Be this as it may, their lot does not seem to be a particularly happy one, although the average earnings of each man in a gang of five or six are better than those of an ordinary artisan.

For several reasons, hushers invariably work in gangs, each gang being accompanied by an old hand, who knows every inch of the ground, and is capable of conducting them all over underground London. Under his guidance-without which they would soon lose themselves-they travel long distances, and are enabled to scour not only the main sewers but also many of the smaller branches. A good lookout man is also posted at the entrance. The absolute necessity of this individual may be judged by mentioning the fact that should a shower of rain come on suddenly, the hushers would, unless warned, be washed into the river.

Until recently, the not very prepossessing entrances to the main sewers could be seen by any one travelling down the river by boat, and the general public could enter them if they so wished. These entrances have now been blocked by the authorities. The hushers are therefore 'barred' by heavy iron gates from entering the main sewers direct, and have consequently to make their way first of all through the smaller passages before reaching their hunting-grounds.

Before commencing operations each man in a gang provides himself with a bull's-eye lantern, a canvas apron, and a pole some seven or eight feet in length, having an iron attachment at one end somewhat in the shape of a hoe. For greater convenience, the lantern is invariably fixed to the right shoulder, so that when walking, the light is thrown ahead; and when stooping, its rays shine directly to their feet. Thus accoutred they walk slowly along through the mud, feeling with their naked feet for anything unusual, at the same time raking the accumulation from the walls and picking from the crevices any article they see. Nothing is allowed to escape them, no matter what its value, provided it is not valueless. Old iron, pieces of rope, bones, current coin of the realm, and articles of plate and jewellery-all is good fish which comes to the husher's net.

With 'finds' in the way of coins of course the 'humble penny' predominates. Sixpences and shillings, however, often increase the value of the collection; and at rare intervals-too rare to please the husher-half-sovereigns and even sovereigns are discovered. Like the flies in

amber, the mystery is how they got there. Among other articles of intrinsic worth, silver spoons are most often found, although shirt-studs, diamond rings, silver drinking-vessels, and many other quite-out-of-place articles swell the list from time to time. Lucky finds such as those above mentioned do not deter the husher from keeping a sharp lookout for less valuable articles as they float by. His 'eagle eye' from long practice is capable of judging the worth of the Hoating refuse before it would be even discernible to the ordinary observer. Mile after mile does the sewer-hunter traverse underground, until a tolerably heavy bag is a result of his labour. Night or day is all one to the husher. Some gangs enter the sewers at night and work on until morning, while others carry out the search only during the daytime. Rats abound everywhere, some of them being of enormous size, large enough to frighten any beginner at the game. The experienced husher, however, takes no notice of them; and the rats are only too pleased to sneak away in the darkness.

When a gang has done a fair day or night's work and leave the sewer, the first business is to sort and divide the spoil. The saleable goods, such as bones, rope, rags, &c., are disposed of to the marine-store dealer; and any articles of silver plate or jewellery are pledged. The proceeds are then added to any money found during the work, and the whole is equally divided among the gang. The average earnings, taking the year through, are about seven shillings per day each man, this sum being greatly exceeded if a man happens to join a 'lucky' gang. This peculiar line of business has not as yet suffered from over-competition.

SOMETIMES.

SOMETIMES, when life seems wonderfully dear,
When heart and spirit bound with untold mirth
For very gladness of our God-given birth,
And all the happinesses round us here;
When blossoms throng our pathway, skies are clear,
And loved and loving ones are by our side,
Until it seems in all the horizon wide
No touch of sorrow ever could appear;
Then sometimes, in a moment, at a word,

Some memory-a child's sad, lonely cry-
The mournful note of some wild stricken bird-
A look of anguish in some dumb thing's eye-
Will fill the heart with such a weight of grief,
That bitter tears alone will bring relief.

FEODORA BELL.

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