father," the sufferings of my poor and numerous flock have been greatly aggravated; there is much sickness among them, and I should not have felt justified, certainly, in sending you a sum to be spent on a mere amusement, which is required by them for actual necessaries. There is a 'woe' pronounced against those 'that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; that chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music; that drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief ointments; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.' You will find this passage in the prophet Amos. Now, I do not suppose, my dear boy, that either you or your school-fellows were going to indulge in any of these costly luxuries; but the sin on my part would have been as great, if I had, to indulge you in a mere amusement, deprived myself of the power of assisting even one of my poor

parishioners. Had you borrowed the money, you would have involved yourself in a sea of troubles.' The sum required would, most probably, in the end have far exceeded what you had calculated upon; and it is not possible to tell to what galling and degrading trials those who go in debt expose themselves. True indeed is it, that the borrower is servant to the lender.' May God bless you, my beloved boy, and give you strength through your future career, whatever it may be; to say no, whenever to say yes, would be either weak or criminal.”

And Arthur's cheek flushed with pleasure, and his heart beat high, when he read, added by the yet weak and trembling hand of his mother, the assurance that the joy his conduct had afforded her, would contribute, she thought, more towards her recovery, than all the tonics or cordials which could be given her.

CHAPTER VIII.

"Happy the man who sees a God employed
In all the good and ill that chequer life!
Resolving all events with their effects

And manifold results, into the will
And arbitration wise of the Supreme.

Did not his eye rule all things, and intend

The least of our concerns (since from the least
The greatest oft originate) could chance
Find place in his dominion, or dispose
One lawless particle to thwart his plan,
Then God might be surprised, and unforeseen
Contingence might alarm him, and disturb
The smooth and equal course of his affairs."
-THE TASK. Book 2nd.

"My dear Mary,-As I know you are rather romantic on the subject of friendship you will be rejoiced to hear that good has already come out of my late 'troubles,' as Frank calls them, for I have gained a friend.'

The head boy in the school, young Aubreysuch a nice fellow !—has declared himself my friend; he has been only waiting, he says, to see how I should bear the trial, and whether I should persevere, and hold out to the last. The play is to be acted to-night, and the day after to-morrow (little Rose will be singing, 'Oh, that will be joyful,') we shall, we hope, be at home. I do not know why, because I know he wrote to his father on the subject, and received some money from him for his dress, but my cousin Leonard has been very urgent with me to promise him that I will not say anything on the subject to my uncle, and he hoped that you, none of you, knew anything about it; of course I said you did, and I could not make any promises, as to not speaking about it before my uncle, though I would not certainly, as he did not wish it, speak unless I was obliged to do so."

Thus wrote Arthur to his sister, and great was the delight of all the house when the day of their return home for the Christmas holidays arrived. Various were the visits

paid to their rooms, to see that all was warm and comfortable; numerous were the little gifts, meant "to surprise them,” placed in their appropriate positions; and even Carlo, a beautiful Newfoundland dog-which, from his being the constant companion of his walks when he was at home, was looked upon more especially as "Arthur's dog,"-seemed to know that something was going to happen, for he had been bounding for joy, and frequently had rushed out of the gate, with every dog-like demonstration of delight, as if to welcome some one expected, and having at last become troublesome, had, by order of the cook, been confined by his chain to his kennel.

Mr. Murray had called at the Parsonage in the morning upon some business, and while congratulating Mr. Greville upon the number of prizes which Arthur had gained, and the progress he was making at the school, could not resist the opportunity of adding, "You never guessed, I suppose, he would be a great actor-I hear he quite excels in that line."