, 1880-03-03

soft stupor of ease and happiness. Could
it be true? She had given up. without any
further murmur or protest, the conditions
she brought with her, and which she had
meant to insist upon Lucy's fnal propo.
sal had aiken away her breath she had
not SAID anything against it, she had made
no femOnstrance, no reSiStances Her mind
was confused with happiness and case,
and the yielding which these sensatiolS
bring with them. So poor d careworn
woman, distracted with trouble and ankle
ty she had been when, with her veil over
her face to hide the tears that would come
against her will, she had been driven down
the same long slope of road, sick with
hope, II doubt, and terror, feeling every
stoppage of the slow, numbering machine q
new agony, yet half glad Of everything
which delayed the interview she dreaded,
the standardization which she could not
escape FROM. How different were her feel.
ings now! She could not believe in the
good. fortune which had befallen her it
removed all capability of resistance, it
seemed to trickle through all her veins
down to her very feet, upward to nOurish
her confused brain, d subtle calm, an All.
dlssolvlhg dew of happiness. Provided fOrI
was it possiblei was it possibles N That is
a fine description, but that is not the end
the good is really done, the 1amily is really
relieved, and flourishes /; and the widow,
writing to a second daughter, a governeSs
at a distance, tells her she has had q lega-
cy from a forgotten relative, and it ought
to have been twice as much! That was
her device for keeping her self-respect, and
but that the majority would not nave said
it, but only have let others think it, it is
eXquiSitely natural. The lext effort is q
total failure. Lucy Trevor offers the same
sum, or moro, to start a young man In life,
whose friends had thought his marriage
with her would lie o good thing for him.,
and is told that il would be impossible forG
him to receive it, quite a degradation, and J
rebuked for arrogance i'll venturlQg to make
her otter, but assured that she might,
nevertheless, procure him an appointment
"a very subtle distinction. Even an aunt
who thinks her nephew should have the
MONEY, suggests, as his only excuse for
taking it, that after all, Lucy is only q
trustee, which she is not In the third
case, she succeeds because the beneficiary
IS a relation, and she can plead that not
w~ithStanding its amount. her gift is only d
wedding present; and then she gives up
and marrieS, but not until she has learned
by q harsh experience that giving away
money, even in serious sums, is very diff
cult that all claimants are selfish that
there is a feeling, sound or unsoI I'D, among
the good against receiving such gifts, n
that this feeling Influences most strongly
those whom most donors would most corr
daily wish to help. This, We cay, is Mrs.
ELEPHANTS opinion of the facts, and we
believe most EngliShmen would entirely
agree with her. We are not quite sure we
do, thinking that if little tact were dis
played, this, the most attractive OF all
kinds of charity, would be possible to the
rich. But even we acknowledge the diff
~culties, and should start with the concession
that the more completely the donor were
above the dOnee, or removed from him, or
apart from him, the less would the effeco of
his git be- impaired by n sense of humilia-
ton, or of q demand for an unfelt gratitude.
One has such ~ right, in one's own thOdght,
to be provided for, that the providec seems
hardly entitled to thanks for acts SO Clearly
just, though also, no doubt. EonefceAt. If
the donor is a great grandee, OF so. rich as
to appear q ~Fortunatus, or in any way
royal, his gifts may be accepted without
annoyance; but if he is in al. ordinary
person, he will find that it requires q very
fine tact aud comprehension of persons to
distribute wealth in large charities without
making life intolerable,--at least, that is
true i'll ENGLAND, though in Catholic coun.
tries feeling on the subject is less morbid,
and the "benefactor" held to be g more
legitimate subject Of admiratioa.