Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1852-07-21

the direction in which she was coming,
led him to hope that he might sing Eureka
at last. When he entered the shop, Leah
stood behind the counter, as usual, look
ing very staid and demure but all she
said was, "Good mornings" and when
he inquired ifany body had been there,
she quietly answered, 'No, nobody"
Mr.. Benjamin was confirmed in his
axiom; but he consoled himself with the
idea, that as the girl was doubtless very
poor, the guinea might be Of some use to
her. In the mean time, Mary was boi-
ling the Cruel for her fathers breakfast,
the only food she could afford him, till
she got few shillings that were owing
to her for needle-work.
"Well, father, dear, how are you this
morning.
4" I scarce know, Mary I've been
dreaming and it was so like reality, that
l can hardly believe yet it was dream /;
and his eyes wandered over the room, as
if looking for something.
"What is it, dear father? Do you
want your breakfast? 1t will be ready in
FIVE minutes"
"I've been dreaming of roast fowl
and glass of Scotch ale, Mary. l Thought
you came in with the fowl, and bottle
in your hand, and said: "Sce, father,
this is what I've bought with the guinea
we found in the meal!"
"But could't do that, father, you
know. 1t wouldn't have been honest TO
spend other peoples money"
Nonesense!' exclaimed John.
Whose money is it, l should like to
know? What belongs to no one, we may
as we'll claim as any body else.'
"BuC it must belong to somebody and
as knew it was not ours, I've carried it
back to Mr., Benjamin"
"You have ?" said Glegg, sitting up
in the bed.
'Yes, have, father. Don't be angry.
I'm sure you wont when you think better
of it."
But John sOas very angry indeed.
He was dreadfully disappointed at losing
the delicacies that his sick appetite hun
gered for, and which, he fancied, would
do more to restore him than all the doc
tors stuff in London and, so far, he was
perhaps right He bitterly reproached
Mary for want of sympathy with his suf.
ferings, and was peevish and cross all day.
At night, however, his better nature re-
gained the ascendant; and when he saw
the poor girl wipe the tears from her eyes,
as her nimble needle flew through the
seams of shirt she was making for a
cheap warehouse in the Strand, his heart
relented, and, holding out his hand, he
drew her fondly toward him.
"You are right, Mary" said he, "and
Pm wrong but Pm not myself with thi:
long illness, and often think if had
| 1SNIF IL, III III l.. IL l.
to do something for myself. 1t falls hard
upon you, my girl and often when see
You shaving to support my useless life,
wish l was dead and out of the way and
then you could do very we'll for yourself
and think that pretty face of yours
would get you husband perhaps"
Mary flung her arms about his neck
r and told him how willing she was to worl
0 for him, and how forlorn she should b.
, without him, and desired she nigh
i never hear any more of such wicked
8 wishes. Still, she had an ardent desire I,
a give him the fowl and the ale he haC
!, longed for, for his next Sundays dinner
n but, alas she could not compass it. Blu
1 on that very Sunday, the one that sue
Z ceeded these little events, Leah Leet ap
+, peared with a smart new bonnet and gown
: at a tea-party given by Mr.. Benjamin t
n three or four Of his intimate friends. II,
It was in the habit of giving such small in
n expensive entertainments, and he made il
! point to invite Leah partly because sh'
J, made the tea for him, and partly because
e he wished to keep her out of other soci
: ETY., lest she should get married and leav'
d him-a thing he much deprecated on al
It accounts. She was accustomed to hi
o business, he was accustomed to her, and
y above all, she was so honest!
It But there are various kinds Of honesty
), Mary Glegg's was Of the pure sort it wa
), such as nature and her pether had in
: stilled into her; it was tbtsdhonesty o
high principle. But Leah was honest
because she had been taught that honesty
f is the best policy and as she had he
e living TO earn, it was extremely necessary
e that she should be guided by the axiom
: or she might come to poverty and wan
e bread, like others she saw, who lost gooC
e situations from failing in this particular.
t Now, after all, this is but a sandy foun
2 dation for honesty because a perso VIII,
!. is not actuated by higher motive, will
b naturally have no objection to ailittle pee
ulation in safe way-that is, when they
' think there is no possible chance of beinI
d found out. In short, such honesty is bu
t a counterfeit, and, like all counterfeits,
It will not stand the wear and tear Of til,
genuine article. Such, however, wa
c Leah's, who had been bred up by world
t ly-wise teachers, who neither taught no
+ knew any better. Entirely ignorant 0
Mr.. Benjamin's eccentric method Of seek
y ing what. two thousand years ago, Dio
a genes thought it worth while to look fo
g with q lantern, she considered that tht