Smyrna times., 1893-07-05
SUSAN'S LESSON.

! y
what can be done with this room.
Everything is so shabby, it seems use
less to try to fix up anything.
Well, you know, my dear, said her
mother oheerfully, spring sunshine
will make the old things, which are
certainly not improved by the wear
and tear of winter. look old and faded,
but we must do the best we can to
freshen them up. We cannot afford to
get any new carpet, either this year
Oh, yes every year study ways and
means, and arrange and change the
old things to make them look like new
and the old things will not hold to-
gether very much longer. l think we
may as we'll succumb to the inevitable.
Why, Susan Marvin exclaimed her
mother | cannot bear to hear you talk
so. You would not have us sink down
and live in squalOr and wretchedness
simply because we cannot crafty all
our desires. That, she concluded in a
softer tone, would show sad lack of
faith in our heavenly Father
L am afraid | haven't very much
faith in anybody, replied susan bitterly
| want our home to look bright and
pretty like the homes of the other
girls. Faith means waiting with pa
tience for the good that may never
come. | don't want to be patie nt
Our home may not be as elegant as
some of your friends have but | think
it is always pleasant and cosy. Aud
the ingenuity my daughters have
shown in dPvising the little things that
add so much to the beauty of hOme
has compensated for the lack of costly
goods. | should be glad if we could
buy one or two articles Of furniture,
but let us not make ourselves unhappy
because we eau not.
You do not understand, mother. how
mOrtifying it is for me to have to en-
tertain my friends in a plane old cane
seated parlor. The tone in which Su-
san uttered these words would be i'm
possible to describe. She had heard
the same expression made by her con
hdant, Grace Nelson, few days before
and it had rankled in her bosom ever
since OF course she new Grace was
not thinking of her home, hut she
couldn't help remembering it.
Mrs. Marvin sighed If l had not
been sick all winter; the money that
had to 90 to pay my enormous doctor'-
bill might have been spent in refur
nishing our pGrlor. | do not see how
we can spare the money now, for you
know our home is not fully paid tor
| If Susan had not been so wrapped uI
in her own selfish wants, she would
have noticed the wearier look on the
patient loving face, would have
known that she was causing needles.
pain by her unfeeling words All m
conciously perhaps, Susan Marvin wa,
allowing the cares of this world t
make her Indifferent to the tender
cnurtesies that make the hardest trial.
easier to hear.
IL is always a doctors bill or some
thing else, she said. do not see VIII,
God allows poor people to be sick lonl
will all the other misfOrtunes the,
have to bear.
Susie, called her sister, pausing OF
her way to the kitchen. Come hell
me get supper.
Oh, Susie, she exclaimed, when the,
/ reached the kitchen. How could Yol
> speak 20 mamma that way! Yor
/ know she is such tender hearted liz
tie mother too.
Couldn't help il, Annie, replied Susar
in the same hard, cold tone Poo
people should have no hearts. The,
/ cam afford them any more than the
can any of the luxuries of life
! Annie made no answer, and the pre
paratiOns for tea went on in silence
: Susan spread the cover and set tn
table in the cosy little dining room
which was bright with plants an
flowers, and pleasant enough pleas
any that would be pleased.
/ But Susan's spirit of dissatisfa ctio
II had cast a gloom over the entire fam
lily, and when supper was ready an
mother was called, they sat down {
the evening meal very quietly. Some
how the love that sweetens the Dime
II of herbs had been chased away and tn
h cheerful talk that should form par
/. ofthe bill of fare at every board wa
;. wanting here.
n II Mrs. Marvin was d widow. AlttOug
E. not really poor, she had found it ne,
IT essaTy 10 exc out slender fortune b
If sewing, while her children were small
A. She bad worked so hard to educat
,s them that now her failing health mad
d anything beyond the lghtest hous,
hold work impossible for her. Annie
a. the youngest of her daughters woul
be graduated next year, while Susar
as yOn have seen, had already take
upon herself some of the cares of I'll
household. They were usually yer
happy family. and accepted the littl
D selfdenials and economies they wer
compelled to practice in the best po
sible spirit.
Susan had always been the sunnies
cheeriest little body, but lately hi
mother noticed that she was dispose
to fret over the little cares she used
bear so bravely. l must be patieI
= with her, she thought after this pa
. siOnate Outburst of feeling. She
j beginning to realize that her life
shOrn of many of the elegances tht
other girls regard as essentials.
or must pray to God to make her stror
to bear these little trials also
Are you going to the teachers NEE
ing, Susan? inquired Annie, as thC
cleared away the dishes.
OF course, / always 90. And the
sarcastieally: The poor have the gO
pei preached to them, you know.
Oh, Susan exclaimed Annie.
As hope you may find something in it tn
will hold you to night. know v
are having hard times just now, but '
will not come forth out of them refine
as gold when it is tried, if we let OF
4 hearts grow cold and selfish.
W Perhaps Susan was beginning to fe
some twinge of conscience. At al
rate she made no reply, and short
after the two were on their way to d
D. church.
The lesson was the miracle of Chris
healing the woman who had be-
.. bowed down with an infirmity eig
nd teen years They were soon deep
interested in tle discussion which {
several points Of the incident pi
n Voked.
III, Susan listened attentively TO all III
was said, and judging from the brigl
ened expression her face wore, VI
beginning to forget her perplexiti
- Are people ever bound by Sat
now some one asked.
\ Yes, replied the superintendent
think they are, only not in the sal
- way. There are great many peoy
who let some great affection that /
come into their lives overshadow th,
and they never smile or rejoice. Su
people are indeed bowed down, a
they can in no wise lift themselves.