Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-03-14

maze, Mr.. Hopewell asked me what l was
going TO do with the money. He told me to
let him keep four dollars for me- to keep i've
myself and give you half and there, Lze, II
is and do believe we shall see better times
before we die"
Sweezer kept at his work. Every day he
found better things TO eat at homo every
day the house became neater and more Or
derly the children cleaner. Eliza seemed to
have found tho cunning that had made her
for years the valued servant at the mansion
in the village.
Friday night when the days work was
done, Sweezer was putting away the tools and
just starting for home when called by Mr..
'To-mouow, said ho, lends the second
week Of your work, and there will be due
you nine dollars again. How have you spent
the two dollars and q half you had of last
weeks wagesY
Sweezer had hard work to tell. He never
knew how his money went. By dint Of ef-
fort, aided by hints, he gave at last a salts
factory account of his expenditures.
"Well done :" said Mr.. Hopewell. ITO
morrow you'll have four dollars more for me
to keep for you. In the morning quit work
at eleven, take the eight dollars, go to the
village and put it in the savings bank" The
suggestion made old Sweozer laugh. He,
living for years from hand to mouth, helped
out by charity-ho to put money in the bank!
What would Mr.. Fairchild, the treasurer,
think? Sweezor's mind never moved so
quickly before. He began to believe he had
a mind. At supper ho told Lie what he was
going to do. She, poor woman, both laugh
ed and cried. IL was no new thing for old
Sweezer to walk from his house to the vii
lage. II had done it hundreds of times
but he never took such walk as this. He
had eight dollars in his pocket, all his own
earnings and, what was better, he had a
sense of himself as of worth, independent,
not an object Of charity. If you had seen
him on this memorable walk you would have
known something had happened TO him. His
gait was different, his bearing different. He
passed the corners where he had loafed solid
hours, passed saloons, walked straight to the
bank. Mr.. Fairchild looked up from his
ledger, saw old Sweezsr saw, too, that he
was changed.
Not at all abashed, Sweezer stepped to the
counter and said "Mr. Fairchild, 1 have
little money want to put in the bank. It is
my own earnings. You don't know, none of
the townsfolks know, what that city man has
done for me. He's made new man of me-
I'll tell you some day how it was done, and it
seems to me it might have been done before
But never mind, here's the money. l must
| De Dhch 10 WOrk.
The change in Sweezor and his wife made
a change in his miserable home. After the
! days work was done Sweezer would work as
long as there was light in his own garden and
yard Mr.. Hopewell helped make repairs
| Mrs Hopewel, who had been one in her
husbands experiment, helped Lie. Before
winter set in the old house was changed into
q comfortable cottage, and the inmates were
| we'll started in a new and better way of life
| Not that old habits were removed, or all their
effects counteractod A family had been
saved from begRary, an expense spared the
town, the schools had new pupils, the church
| new attendants.
The townspeople used to say it was a good
| thing for old Sweezer that Mr.. Hopewell
came. In fact, it was good thing for all Of
| US.
A summer evening, three years after Mr..
| Hopewell bought his farm, he aud his wife
were riding together. They passed old
Sweezer's home Clara" said Mr.. H.,
isn't there a change here? Do you remem-
Der what this spot was when you first saw
itl"
Indeed do! And, John, do you know
it needed only good sense, genuine kindli-
ness and some patience to make the change p
yes Clara, that is all. And do you know
that We have done nothing here which has
| given me so much true happiness as what
have done for old Sweezer and his family 2
think my ambition will be satisfied if shall
be known as the man who helped Sweezer
help himself. -. l.. jenkins in Christian
Union.