The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1858-03-03

satin dress, and 1t Is Jpst the same pattern
that is to be put on the vest but she
could not do it, cause her eyesight is
poor, and the spangles shined So"
My tongue was silent. Gould it be
these very articles which were to be worn
at my Elias wedding? For did L not
pay for two ounces of spangles yesterday,
and what vas it that vexed Ellen 80 but
because she could not find any body TO sew
them on when she returned? She said
Mrs. Taggard was almost blind.
my little g'rl," said I, f" is your
name Taggard 2"
/" Yes sir, 'Gusta Taggard, and we live
down in Bleak Court. Are you going
home with me ?;'
/ was a sensible conjecture, for why
else should follow on ?
g l am going to see you safely at the
door aud help yen over all the crossings.
/" There's only one more, sir, a. here
it is-we live down there, at No. 8, in the
third floor back.''
The child looked kindly, aud as she
sweetly badO me good bye, sir thrust
my hand in my pocket and drew from 1T
| all the change it contained, which was
palm. "Gusta Taggard,' gave me her
|
sight.
An Lour before, I had started from
my home an invalid. l had long delib-
Grated whether an exposure to chilly
Feast wind would not injuIe rather thar
improve me. l was melancholy, too; my
only daughter was about to be married.
there was confusion all over the house
the event was to be celebrated in fash
4 IL,
what would have been fortune to this
poor seamstress, and / moralized. But
I had forgotten myself-the cough which
bad troubled me was no longer oppressive,
I breathed quite freely; and yet [ had
walked more briskly than 1 had done for
months, without so much fatigue as slow
motion occasioned-so that whom 1 re-
turned, my wife rallied me upon looking
ten years younger than when left her in
/ the morning; and when [ told her the
specific lay in my walk with little prat-
tier, and the satisfaction Of having left her
happier than 1 found her, she took oeca-
sion to press the purchase of diamond
brooch, affirming if the gift of half
crown made me SO much happier, and
that to little errand girl, what would
| fifty times the amount confer upon ones
OulJ uads5HeOli oP0H tnS otO VI ASi AoA
riage?
/ gave the diamond brooch-I paid the
most extravagant bills to uplIolsterers,
confeetioners, aud musicians, with which
to euiiven the great occasion, and yet l
found more satisfaction in providing for
the real wants of 'Gusfa Taggard aud her
mother, than in all the splendid outlay at
tho wedding ceremony; aud it was not
IL. l. 81,
faction, but it was that all extravagant
outlays, In the very nature OF things, are
unsatisfactory, while ministering to the
necessities of the truly needy and indus
trious, eonfersi its own reward.
[ have seen the glittering spangled
dress-but it was made ready BY some
emaciated sufferer, who toiled on in pa
tient trust, and the embroidered vest was
finished by the strained vision and
aching heap OF another, who was emphat-
ically one of Gods poor, upon whom blight
and disgrace had not fallen, save by His
appointment; and the diamond brooch
was borne off by admiriDg throDgs, but to
be envied and coveted, while the simple
coin bestowed upon my little street ac-
quaintance, had introduced me to a
new species of enjoyment which never
cloys IN the retrospect, or causes uneaSl-
ness in the prospective. I had learned
to DO good iu small ways-my morning
walks have now an object and aim. |
pass by splendid palaces to hasten on to
Bleak Court, aud thence on to yet other
sources of enjoyment, SO that my iuya-
lidism isfast leaving me by the new di-
rection which is given to my thoughts.
1 am free to acknowledge, that while
l cheerfully Pay for flannel robes and
whale bone skirts, and opera hats and
jewels and silver ware and Servants and
all the requirements which fashion i'm
poses, 1 derive far less enjoyment from
surveying them, than in sitting beside
some worthy recipient of charity, who
tells me that !" the little sum you gave
me, saved me from despair and self de
struction, and enabled me to become help
full, so that no other assistance is now
necessary" Such confession fills a void
which administering to luxury never can;
and all this satisfaction originated In first
helping little child over the crossing.
WISE REPLIEs.-Thales was one of the
'swiss men of Greece" A sophist wish
/