Muscatine journal. [volume] (Bloomington, Iowa) 1849-185?, 1854-01-13

the sisters only remark, as she received the
money; but the peculiar tone in which the
brief words were uttered had in it an ex-
preston Of deep gratitude that no spoken
language could have conveyed. 0a
81 hope / shall be sble>to do better for
you one Of these days. he replied. q must
get higher salary before long, and then I
viii rent house 80 near the store that
can live with you, and make you great
deal more comfortable than you now are.'
i will try and be eontented as things are,
and 90 must you. Edward. How much worse
off might be than am. Suppose | had
no brother to care for mep' And the tears
came into the eyes of The sister as she felsa
momentary pang at she idea, called up so
yividly.s - sh@s. ~k~~rs
sYes, sister, it is betters Of course, to make
the best Of our condition, be it as it may
replied Edward, with deep inspiration.
'Have you as much work as you can do?' he
added in hanged tone. 81 81
sNo, not such as is profitable. Mrs. Ma
son has good deal of sewing for me; but
she has been so taken up with this fair for
the last two or three weeks, that she could
not find the time to get it ready. a nd Mrs.
Walker is in the same way. have lost,
too, three whole, days from the common
sewing which had on hand, in working the
body of child's slip, for Mrs. Mason to
present to the fair -e
Not for nothing, hopeP said the brother,
in tone of surprise. a aa lasi
'Yes, for nothing. Mrs. Mason throws
good deal in my way, and when she asked
me to do it, ] could not refuse.
sWell, indeed, Ellen, that is hard. 1t is
nothing more nor less than Mrs. Mason ia
king the bread out of your children's
mouths rea
slt has come pretty near to that the sis.
ter said with a sigh, sfor Twas put back SO
much with the slip that could not get home
any work until after we had eaten every
morsel of food in the house. have been
hard put to it this week, Edward.
sIndeed, indeed, that is too bad This
fair, | believe, is to pay for cushioning all
the pews in Mr.. IS church, and putting
new hangings about the pulpit. And to do
this, the widow and the orphan must be
robbed of their mite, and that, too, in the
name Of charityr
cit does seem little hard Ellen re-
marked. sBut then people don't think.
They are carried away by show and excite
ment.'
'But they ought to think; especially when
they profess to be acting from unsslfish
and charitable matiyeS As far ae can sse.
into them, these fairs are. in the general,
conducted upon wrong principles-and am
almost prepared to say that they have their
foundation in wrong principles. The frst
idea, in reference to fair, is the want of
money for specific purpose. The second
idea is, that an unwillingness exists on the
part Of the public to give the required sum.
The next is, that this unwilling public may
and shall be whsedled out of FIVE hundred
or three thousand dollars, in the name of
charity. And then the whole machinery of
a fair is set in motion, while the false no.
tion, that the end sanctifes the means,
seems to take full possession of all engaged
in putting it into operation. Every artlfce
and every form Of persuasion are resorted
to in inducing visitors to purchase worthless
triHes, at enormous prices.
money is taken from individuals, who
positively declare that they ore unable to
spare it, but who lack the frmness to refuse
to buy when pressed and persuaded on all
sides. All this is wrong in principle. True
charity includes justice to every one.'
Sand what is worse than ALL added Ellen,
sthese things are done in the name of reli-
gion.'
sYes, sister, that is truly its worst feature
Of the Gospel, too, are often
seen encouraging and giving their oounte-
nance, forgetful that any departure from
Justice is o departure from religious prin-
ciple. | never attended but one fair, and
thenI was weak enough to throw away Eve
dollars, because was jested with, ironi-
cally, for being miserly. Those five dollars,
sister, you stood much in need Of, and
had intended them for you. But suffered
the widows and orphans slender fund to
be taken from me, and given toward buy
ing splendid church. How wrong how
wrong rae sa. ar
q wouldn't think Of that-any moro, Ed
ward,' said his sister, kindly sit always
seems to worry you.'
sYes, it does worry me, Ellen, but then,
how canI help thinking about it2 In fact,
such thoughts will come into my mind. do
what will to Keep them away. Still,
know that it is for me to act right, myself,
in the present, without being disturbed at
the errors and wrong -1oings Of others and
this ! am ever trying to do, but have not
yet learned the happy art af
Gradually, Ellen led of the conversation
from the fair, and the brother and sister
spent an hour together in happy commu-
Mon. The poor need not be unhappy. Let
them cultivate gentle affections while they
live daily in the discharge OF every duty,
and peace will brood like an angel over
them. None but the evil need be miserable,
and, in fact, none but they who permit |
Of evil to rule in their minds, be |
their condi,ion what it may, are dlscon- |
tented.
IL was, perhaps, an hour after Edward !
Morton had returned home, that irwin, his !
came in.
$50 you have passed through the trial,
James, said the former, smiling.
sYes, and have acted like fool, as am!
he replied throwing his hat upon the table |
with An impatient and angry gesture.
Il suppose your pocket is ten dollars light