The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1857-06-04

helped me pay two debts that have oppressed me very
much. [ cannot tell you what q sense of freedom |
feel. Yes, [ paid Penley last week the one hundred
dollars, and this morning the thirty. [ am free from
him entirely. And then this morning, too, as l was
going down to Barker's shop to pay him the remain
ing twenty that [ have owed him so long, something,
hardly know what, prompted me to call at Merrl-
helds. The first words | heard spoken were, 81
shall give fifteen dollars at the barn, or seventeen
delivered at my stable, in Exeter" l found it was
a man buying hay. [ entered into conversation with
him, and before [ came home had b~argained to sell
HIM on the NOW, one hundred and five dollars worth
of hay. He is to take it away Immediately, and paid
me for it on the spot. | laid the twenty dollars with
the one hundred and five, and then hunted out a ten
which | had laid by for a coat, making one hundred
and thirty-ive in adjust the sum I owed John
Dayton. l turned about, and on my way home called
at his Office, and delivered it. So, since last Friday,
| have brought my Indebtedness down from five hum
dred and fifty, to two hundred and eighty-five dollars. "
"Why, husband,'' exclaimed Mrs. Washburn,
Joytullv, " that ought to encourage you You have,
sure, reason to be thankful, - and she looked as if
she, at least, If nobody else, could say on that Thanks
giving day, Praise the Lord, O, my soul, for all his
benefits. But | do not understand, Wilton, how
| have helped you so much as you have given me
credit for"
Why, Mary, darling, you helped me by your
hrIn, determinate resolution, your continuing, your
mahfRS 40 this, and doing 1UithOut that. You have
heIped me by encouraging me, and Turing me on to
trust III Providence, and to labor and to pray
when | was half despairing myself 1t always helps
me to hear you say, Find what your duty is, and
Providence will do the rest 1t encourages me to
work, and also to spare, when | am feeling as if |
could not go any farther. Why, [ can't tell you
exactly lchat the help is, always, but l wish every
Woodworking man had as much to strengthen and
encourage him as in your dear mother, Bessie
and he quickly turned upon the rosy pet at her
mothers side. "What was it? Let us hear i'll
saw something in that smile-what was it?'
Bessie raised her blue eyes to her mothers Grim
soning face, and then smiling back at her father,
81 was thinking, papa, of my morning text"
well, and what was it, birdie 20
" Her children arise and call her blessed; her
husband, also, and he praiseth her"
There was silence for a moment, and the clatter of
knives and forks almost ceased, as all eyes involun-
tarily turned to the mother whose praise had been
50 sweetly spoken; but she had eyes for none. She
evidently heard, but she was deep in the mysteries of
a "wishbone' which lay on her plate, and for which
little Bessie seemed waiting. Mr.. w. added, under
breath, and apparently wholly unconscious that
any one heard him, "EThe heart of her husband
doth safely trust in her."
Mrs. W. did not venture anything more relating to
her husbands affairs, and she looked gratefully at
Jenny, who next broke silence with another subject.
"Papa, [ wish you could have seen how happy
they are to-day at Mrs. Viewers. They did not say
much, but [ could see that their hearts were running
over with thankfulness. Sarah was just putting the
last dish on the table, and Nellie was jumping in and
out of q chair, all ready and waiting for dinner.
They both came and caught hold of my hands, and
kissed me without saying a word. Then Mrs. Weav-
er called me into her good, motherly arms-and,
mamma, she was at work upon some Of that very
flannel that you sent her, SO 1 know she needed it
very much, or she wouldn't have cut it out so soon.
O, mamma [ am so glad, so happy -
why, Jenny, it seems as if you are just learning
hoo to be thankful. Did you know before what it
meant?'
"No, mamma, nothing at all, but l know now,
and [ shall always remember, [ think. 1t seems as
if everything c~onspires, to-day, to make me thankful
and happy"
"And l should think mamma was happy too, only
the tears come, . said little Bessie. "Mamma, what
makes you almost cry"
At night, when they were alone, and recapitulating
the day, and the week, and the year, Mrs. W. said to
her husband:
"Wilton, this has been our happiest Thanksgiving.
And yet the cause has been, seemingly, in little
things. The lifting of those two debts has given me
new life, new energy, and [ know it has you. Then
our children have been made happy in the encourage
ment of their little, generous, loving impulses. We
are blessed in our children, and happy in each other,
and we have now new strength TO begin another
years labor with. How much to be thankful for -
cit is true. Mary, what you have often quoted to
me: God helps those who help Themselves and
[ believe we are finding it so. Jenny and Clare have
found, too, that it is more blessed to give than to
receive | have not heard Jenny once speak of her
own new things, while she is full Of delight at having
been instrumental in ministering to Mrs. Weaver's
needs
"Anotler year, Wilton, will pay ali our debts;
will it not?''
eyes, if nothing happens that we cannot now see.
| have even been contriving a way to-day, perhaps,
to pay another fifty. | believe l shall be able to pay
all before next year at this time; in six months, [
hope; and then, Mary darling, We'll have another
Thanksgiving"
Reader, this is a sketch without q moral, but
perhaps some good promptings may be CLEANED from
it. If 50. the actors will not have lived in vain.