The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1883-04-04

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Eva wrung her hands in helpless grief,
she had heard about Mrs. Allen, had felt
so sorry for her, and even impulsively
begged her father to put off buying her
piano if he had not the ready money,
saying she would rather do without her
piano five years than have this widow
turned out"
But papa, why did you not tell me
what the letter was? l should never
have forgotten it then. 1t was not di-
rected to Mrs. Allen"
mo, it was to the president of the
bank there, for he had some few hun
dreds of mine in his hand and l directed
him to make the payment on the mort
gage. AS to telling you the contents of
the missive, did not suppose that ne
cessary. l had hoped my daughter
would remember a wish or injunction
from me without my being obliged to
appeal to her own desires, without my
being obliged to say, In obeying me
now, you will gain something you are
also interested in. Hereafter | shall not
make the mistake, you may be assured. "
This was too much for the miserable
girl, never before had Mr.. Jay spoken to
her in that stern, sarcastic way; she
rushed out of the room up stairs to her
own little chamber, and there her mother
found her in wretched heap, suffering
from a severe headache and a worse
heartache
Mrs. Jay quietly stroked the dishev-
elled hair without offering any consola-
ton in words, till Eva laid her head in
her lap, and after many sobs, stammered
out " Mamma, mamma, what is the use
of my trying to do right? took Bear
ye one anothers burdens for my motto
this morning, and I prayed about it too,
q know you were going to ask me II l
did,; but in fulfilling my motto by help
ing Lena, l forgot something much more
important. In the same spirit hurried
to help Sallie about her ironing, not
thinking of my sachel, and so, much
more harm was done than if had not
tried to do any good. I am never, never,
going to try again.
my dear, please get your Bible and
read the 9th chapter of Galatians"
Eva wondering little, read as well as
she could through her tears, till she came
to the 5th verse" For every man shall
bear his own burden" where her mother
stopped her.
ibid you notice that verse, Eva?"
"Why no, mamma, what does it mean
by that? it seems contradiction almost
of the other.
"Let me tell you story. A company
of servants were journeying, each bear
ing basket containing bundles of differ
ent sizes, and the master would every
now and then give them other bundles
to drop in their baskets. One young
girls burden seemed particularly light,
all the bundles were so small, though she
had not put them in well, as they looked
ready to fall out. She was very kind
and tender-hearted, so seeing another
whose basket was much more burden
some, she offered to take one of her bum
dies. In putting 1t in, very tiny one
of her own was thrown out, but she care
lessly left it lying on the ground, think
ing it so small that she could pick it up
at any time. In her kindness of heart
she did this way several times, but alas
in minute or two the very ones she had
tried to help stumbled over the packages
she had thoughtlessly dropped, and fell,
injuring themselves more or less. You
understand, do you not?'
Yes, Jesus gives us our own burdens,
and mine is very easy to bear, but l have
no right to drop the most important one
he gives me to carry one belonging to
any other person, yet you said the pack
ages were not arranged well, and that
meant that with care could bear my
own and aid other weary workers
Don't you think the proverb gave
you as a subject for your composition ex-
plains these verses?' added her mother,
trying to turn her daughters mind to
more pleasant ideas than the misfortunes
of that day
Eva repeated it to herself: evil is
wrought by want of thought as well as
by want of heart" ut is certainly writ
ten in my brain in very black letters
now, yet, you do not think carelessness
as great sin as selfshness, surely p
"Carelessness, in my eyes, is form Of
selfshness, at least it is when it hurts those
around us, which it generally does for
it is forgetting others, even when it seems
to have been prompted by unselfshness.
1t is certainly laying aside what has been
given us to do, to do our own will, and
God does not give US that right"
1t seemed to Eva that the occurrences
Of the following week were intended es-
pecially to illustrate her subject; for the
papers were full Of accidents on sea and
land caused by want Of thought, acct